The dream to have a public transportation is looking to true. The City Council of Jakarta on Tuesday approved two ordinances that will become the legal basis for the development of the city's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. This choice is eliminate other idea about MRT, subway that look need high cost. The other project is Jakarta monorail, that stopped because lack of budget.
Following month-long deliberations, the council's seven main parties agreed in a plenary session on the establishment of PT MRT Jakarta -- a city-owned company -- and the city's investment in it. The ordinances were initially scheduled for approval in early May but were delayed because of opposition from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
The US$800 million project is part of a joint effort by the administration and the government to address Jakarta's abysmal traffic conditions. About 85 percent of the funding (Rp 8.3 trillion) will come from loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
The government will pay for 42 percent of the loans at an annual interest rate of 0.4 percent. The administration will cover the remainder.
The project's first phase, estimated to cost Rp 200 billion, consists of feasibility studies, the establishment of MRT Jakarta and the construction of a 14.3 kilometer line from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta.
The second phase of development will be the construction of a line from Dukuh Atas to Kota in West Jakarta.
The MRT is expected to be in operation by 2015. If this project is finished, we will have two mass transportation moda, busway dan MRT.
the jakartapost.
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Jakarta MRT Ordinance is Approved
Thursday, August 2, 2007
ASEAN, Southeast Asian ministers endorse former Thai minister as next ASEAN chief
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have endorsed Thailand's nomination of its ex-foreign minister, Surin Pitsuwan, to become the group's next secretary-general, officials said Wednesday.
ASEAN's heads of state are expected to approve Surin's nomination at a summit in Singapore in November, Philippine diplomat Benito Valeriano said.
Surin will assume the post in January if his nomination is approved.
The post, which has a five-year term, is currently held by Ong Keng Yong of Singapore. The job is rotated among the 10 ASEAN members in alphabetical order.
ASEAN, founded in 1967, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
(THEJAKARTAPOST.COM)
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Jakarta Election, 1.17 Milion Voters not Registered
Are you the citizen of Jakarta, have you been registered to vote on the election?
If not, you are about 1,17 milion people in Jakarta that not registered. Its not strange, becaus ethis is Jakarta, the capital of the republic of Indonesia. dense City, city with most unofficially citizen.
Here, everything can be hold by money. Whos have money, he or she will hold many, law, civil administration, job, karier, project, etc. So, on registering ID (Kartu Tanda Penduduk). With give some money to office administrator, you can easily get an citizen ID card.
So, its not a strange if Jakarta have most gost citizen, or in this election Gost Voters, because of the easy of adminsitration bisnis, easy by money.
so, where the election will go? Do you concern about this?
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Jakarta Reject GAM's Party
Indonesia Goverment reject GAM's party name "Partai GAM", (Partai Gerakan Aceh Merdeka/ the Free Aceh Movement) include the use name, symbol and Flag of GAM.
Vice president Jusuf Kalla said, that party with use GAM siymbol is contradictory with Helsinki Agreement, peace agreement between Indonesia Goverment and GAM.
"We allways say no (using the name and symbol of GAM), due to the peace spirit between us," said Jusuf Kalla, as written by korantempo (10/06).
The establisment of that party mean, they try to life up GAM. whereas, by the Helshinki Agreement, there is no more organisation called GAM, or GAM is removed. So, none of the point of agreement contain the establishment of GAM's Party, but local party. And All must be under the constitution of The Republic of Indonesia.
Similar with Jusuf Kalla, former Chairman of MPR (Indonesia Assembly), Amin Rais ask to goverment to rejeck the GAM's party. He affraid, the use of GAM's name tend to threat our unity. "If local party is stronger, its proof NKRI in a danger," he said.
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Monday, July 9, 2007
East Timor Election, Next Goverment Will Be a Coalition
The Fretilin Party,has 28 percent of the vote counted, according to preliminary results posted on the electoral committee's Web site at 11 a.m. Dili time today. The National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, (CNRT), formed by former president Xanana Gusmao, has 23 percent.
By no party has a majority vote, Next Goverment Will be a Coalition.
``They will have no other choice but to build a coalition,'' Martinho Gusmao, spokesman for the Southeast Asian nation's electoral committee said today from Dili, as writen by bloomber.com. ``No party has reached a single majority.''
According to East Timor constitution, to form a single majority government, a party must win at least 50.01 percent of vote, or 33 of the 65 seats in parliament.
The final results will probably be known later today, said Maria Sarmento, the electoral commissioner.
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Wednesday, July 4, 2007
East Timor Election, FRETILIN Takes Early Lead
FRETILIN leading in vote with 29.1% of the vote, followed by Xanana Gusmao's party, the National Congress of East Timor's Reconstruction (CNRT) with 22.5%, the Association of Timorese Democrats-Social Democrat Party (ASDT-PSD) coalition with 16.2%, and the Democratic Party (PD) with 11.6%.
On Saturday (30/06), voters chose between 14 parties competing for control of the 65-seat legislature. Its the first general election to vote parliament members of this country.
The latest news from the Timorese electoral commission (with around 75% of the vote counted) show FRETILIN leading with 29.1% of the vote, followed by Xanana Gusmao's National Congress of East Timor's Reconstruction (CNRT) on 22.5%, the Association of Timorese Democrats-Social Democrat Party (ASDT-PSD) coalition on 16.2%, and the Democratic Party (PD) on 11.6%.
Those numbers are only going to get worse for FRETILIN - their heartland has mostly been counted, while Dili, solid CNRT territory, is less than 50% complete. As for the eventual government, the three large non-FRETILIN parties had agreed before the election to form a united front, so unless there is a dramatic change in the direction of the count, they seem certain to form a coalition government with Gusmao as Prime Minister.
No party was expected to win enough votes to lead the government alone, and coalition negotiations were likely.
"I don't care who wins or loses in this election," said Santino Dare Matias, 62, after attending Sunday mass in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic state. "Most important for common people like me is peace and security, so we can live our lives without intimidation," as writen by cnn.com.
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Jakarta Election, Two Couples Candidate Assigned
Province General Election Comission (KPUD) DKI Jakarta, have assigned two couples of official candidate of the next governor and vice gonernor of DKI Jakarta Province, on Sunday (1/06).
And last night(3/06), those have been quote for ordinal number, with tthe result, Candidate number one is Adang Daradjatun-Dani Anwar, and Fauzi Bowo - Prijanto become candidate number two.
Since Sunday, all of campagin material must be removed from any place. As we know, all candidate is spread rheir cmpaign material such us poster, spanduk, eventhough the campaign period is have been started. So, when the oficial candidate is assigned, all of material campaign have to wacth by election wacth comission (Panwas). The candidates and their campaign teams must now bow to a set of regulations that include a stop to all of the unofficial activities that have colored the city for the past few months.
"We will make an agreement with the poll commission and the campaign teams that they will pull down all of their campaign materials before the public order officers do it for us," said watchdog chief Suhartono, as writen by the jakartapost.com.
if you interest with this celebration, this is their profile and vision:
Adang Daradjatun - Dani Anwar
Fauzi Bowo - Prijanto
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Monday, June 18, 2007
Is India ready to be part of Southeast Asia again?
The evolving geo-strategic framework inexorably impels countries in Southeast Asia to accept China and India as major regional powers.In the first case it is a question of accommodating the inevitable. In the latter, it is a necessary consequence of the former.
China and India are not only the great powers of tomorrow but of yesteryear. Each represents ancestral cradles of Asian civilization.
China in recent years has been an example of diplomatic transformation in turning regional perceptions. Not long ago the rhetoric on China was one of "containment" and "threat".
Now, everyone in Southeast Asia can think of nothing but a full-blown engagement.
Beijing has also shown an unequaled zest in its economic diplomacy with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN.
Delhi on the other hand has been a late bloomer.
More than just friends, India and Indonesia are actually fraternal allies beyond the two following each other in country lists in the almanac or encyclopedia. The kinship sinks deep into the psyche -- China dominated our culinary regime, India underpins the customs which define our culture.
For Indonesia, culture plays an important role, particular in bilateral ties with India.
The Indian sub-continent is home of the bajaj, the rhythmic source of dangdut music, the land where Rama lost and regained Sinta, the plains of the great Mahabharata wars.
Our laymen are obsessed with Bollywood, as children learn of Gandhi and Nehru as they would Sukarno. India is the great, imperfect democracy Indonesia aspires to be.
Modernity may have sharpened distinctiveness between India and Indonesia, but the similarities more important than the differences.
Hence it is extraordinary that with its comparative softpower advantages India has not projected a stronger preponderance in this region.
Despite the initial activism of the Nehru era, India became self-preoccupied leading to a latent detachment from Southeast Asia.
It was not until the introduction of the "Look East" policy in 1992 that Delhi again began giving this region due importance in foreign policy.
While the policy suggests a strategy of global power, decades of disconnection from Southeast Asia has made alternating India's own self-perception from an Indian Ocean power to a regional one difficult.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the Look East policy as "a strategic shift in India's vision of the world".
However Indians themselves seem hesitant as to their place in ASEAN's security architecture.
Rarely displayed is the enthusiasm within India towards this role the way Indonesia, for example, perceives its leadership of ASEAN as providence.
One reason seems to be the fear that an assertive India would be misconstrued by its neighbors, particularly China and Pakistan.
"If India takes the lead it will be seen as an Indian hegemony again," Sujit Dutta, Senior Fellow at India's Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, told The Jakarta Post recently in New Delhi.
"So it has to be done indirectly," he added.
With India-Pakistan relations entering a period of positivism and India-Sino ties also on an upward trend, perhaps there is now more room for Delhi to maneuver.
Dutta also points out that China was more prepared for engagement with Asia given its hastier and stronger economic rise, while India has only recently acquired the necessary economic clout.
Then there is the domestic debate within India that is common in many fast growing developing nations: That of the growing disparity between the prospering few and marginalized many.
In the words of one Indian politician, perhaps it is more important to address the inequities between "shining India" and "suffering India" before exerting itself beyond established frontiers.
Since becoming a full dialog partner to ASEAN in 1995 and joining the ASEAN Regional Forum in 1996, cooperation between India and the grouping has hastened, albeit with very moderate influence.
In 2003 India acceded to Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. It has also inked several arrangements to underscore its commitment with ASEAN. Among them is an economic cooperation agreement to establish an FTA and a Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity.
Nevertheless there is still lingering uncertainty on whether India truly acknowledges and accepts the kind of role Indonesia and ASEAN hopes it to play in the strategic environment.
Indian officials and analysts are reluctant to openly talk about "balance of power", cognizant that such rhetoric could pit them in adversarial terms with China. But in private, they acknowledge China has some ways to go before it proves to be a responsible regional power.
ASEAN's logic has been to strategically include major powers in regional security arrangements which then offset any single power from dominating. This in turn allows ASEAN to remain independent as the primary driving force in its own region.
India needs to be active here in a peaceful and productive manner to become a psychological deterrent to China's increasing influence and gradual domination of this region.
That is why Indonesia was so adamant three years ago about including India in the East Asia Summit process.
"Chindia" corresponds to the two wings of ASEAN's future flight into peace and prosperity.
Today's talk here between the foreign ministers of India and Indonesia, capping off a series of senior official meetings, is another opportunity for India to enhance bilateral relations and raise its comfort level in engaging ASEAN.
ASEAN wants India's presence as much as India needs to be active in the region.
To realize its role as a global power India requires the economic access points provided by ASEAN's network to the world's fastest growing region of East and Southeast Asia.
Furthermore ASEAN makes available a strategic framework and regulated forum with which India can bluntly interact with economic powers Japan and South Korea along with fellow regional power China.
This is an opportunity in which Delhi must not be hesitant. It cannot afford to miss the boat again.
[Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, The Jakarta Post, New Delhi]
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Indonesia plays down U.S. Congress talks on military assistance cut
Indonesia has branded calls to cut U.S. aid to the country's military as superficial because they only represent the interests of a few human rights groups.
Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said Monday the human rights groups and U.S. congresswoman who proposed the aid cut have not taken into account recent reform progress made by the Indonesian Military (TNI).
"We are not concerned because so far only one congresswoman has proposed an aid cut, and her case is based on input from non-governmental organizations which for the last eight years have been antagonistic toward the TNI," he told reporters.
He said Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First and the East Timor Alliance Network (ETAN) were groups to have constantly criticized Indonesia's human rights record.
Juwono said he clarified relevant issues with U.S. lawmakers and organizations when he visited the U.S. in April.
"I explained that the TNI is not the same as before, and that we have made progress in the area of reform. However, it seems they did not listen. They will not admit we have made progress because then they will lose their source of income," Juwono said.
The U.S. Congress began to discuss last week a proposal from Democratic Party Congresswoman Nita Lowey, the head of the powerful Appropriations Sub-committee, to cut 25 percent of military aid to Indonesia over alleged violations of human rights.
Details of the Congress' deliberations are yet to be made public and the new proposal still has several congressional rounds to go through before potentially being passed in September.
An Indonesian official said recently the country's embassy in Washington is lobbying lawmakers in the U.S. Congress in an effort to block the proposal.
Observers said Lowey has traditionally held a hostile view of the Indonesian Military, influenced by human rights activists who link aid to the issue.
Their main complaint is the lack of progress in prosecuting senior TNI officers, such as former military chief Gen. Wiranto for his alleged complicity in the violence that followed the 1999 independence referendum in East Timor (now Timor Leste).
Concerns were heightened after the murder of noted Indonesian human rights campaigner Munir last year and the recent incident in Pasuruan, East Java, in which Navy officers shot dead four civilians.
"The Pasuruan case was an accident and it has nothing to do with TNI reform. What they want is for the role of Gen. Wiranto and several others in the Timor Leste case to be clarified, as well as proof the TNI is on a path to reform," Juwono said.
On various occasions since the early 1990s, Washington has curtailed or completely cut off military training in Indonesia. Ties between the countries were scaled back further after the East Timor imbroglio, with the U.S. imposing a ban on weapons sales and aid to the TNI.
That ban was lifted in 2005 after intense lobbying by the Bush administration, which regarded Indonesia as a key ally in the war on terror.
[Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta]
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