Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Indonesia needs up to US$39 billion in fresh funds to build new power plants capable of producing a total of 35,000 megawatts of power to meet requirements in 2015, a minister says. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantorosaid the new power plants are part of a program to provide electricity to every citizen by 2020. Currently an estimated 44 per cent of the country's population of around 220 million have no access to electricity.

Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - The Bali provincial administration intended to limit the number of cars on the island by imposing higher taxes in order the keep the island`s threshold in balance. "By controlling the number of cars, we also hope to maintain the road infrastructures and decrease the accident rate," Bali Governor Dewa Beratha said here on Thursday.

I think there is no turning back for China; they tasted capitalism they liked it and liking it more and more. I read that China is in the second place in terms of the number of richest billionaires. With Alibaba and PetroChina that are just recently going IPOed, no turning back for China. I think the GM of JMG, Van Hien, was on the money about Indonesia; the outside world perception on Indonesia is pretty "poor" (no pun intended).

How was the survey conducted? Did the pollsters ask the same households consistently over a certain period? I am really skeptical about the numbers and what the numbers really mean? probably nothing. All I know is that my 1,000,000 Rupiah doesn't go along way; my carrefour basket is half full or is it half empty? either way I'm pissed (inflation is eating my moola fast)

JAWA garbage slide, which killed nearly the same number of people as the Bali Bomb...

Indonesia needs up to Rp360 trillion (US$39 billion) in fresh funds to build new power plants capable of producing a total of 35,000 megawatts of power by 2015, a minister says. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Wednesday the plan was part of a government effort to help realize its ambitious plan to provide electricity to every citizen by 2020.

Consumers in the country are getting jittery from a possible domino effect from the lately pick-up in inflation to growth and beyond, putting their confidence on the economy at a down again, said a recent survey from the Danareksa Research Institute. Overall consumer confidence fell further in October to its lowest in the past four months, as concerns of slowing growth clouded the outlook for job creation.

Indonesia has a brighter investment future than China, but global perception underplays the reality in Indonesia, according to an executive of the European Business Chamber of Commerce (Eurocham). Eurocham vice chairman Leonard van Hien said here Wednesday that from many perspectives, investing in China is riskier than in Indonesia.

Set your dreams as high as the stars in the sky -- but also try to keep a firm grip on reality. That has been the philosophy long followed by entrepreneur Abidin, the president director of electronics assembly company PT Sat Nusapersada, the biggest business of its type in Batam. The company, which plans to launch on the stock exchange, claims an asset base of Rp 500 billion (US$54 million).

Who would have thought that patrolling Jakarta's most glamorous shopping centers to investigate the latest fashion designs could put such a dampener on your spirits? Instead of stumbling across the "it-item" of the season, we found ourselves boxed into a maze of row after row of deathly boring clothing. And once into this maze, it seemed there was no coming out.

Ketut Widarti, 25, was born and raised in an idyllic agricultural village in Singaraja, Buleleng regency. Instead of working on the farm, however, Widarti moved to the provincial capital of Denpasar, where she has been living for the past five years. In fact, soon after graduating from high school, she enrolled in a tourism college. "It is hard to earn a living in the village. Here I receive a monthly salary, bonuses and tips," said Widarti, who now works as a waiter in a restaurant in Kuta.

I saw a half-hour report on Al Jazeera TV where they spoke to some American scientists, who had proven that organic waste (like we have in all these humongous garbage dump sites [rubbish tips]) is more efficient than corn or palm oil or cassava or any other plantation crop in producing Bio-fuels. A couple of places in Brazil already use garbage-produced bio-fuel to power their electricity generators.

The rush to palm oil and biofuels threatens to release 14 billion tonnes of carbon from Indonesia's peatlands John Vidal, environment editor The Guardian Thursday November 8 2007 A hut in Riau, Indonesia, where palm oil plantations are a major cause of deforestation. Photograph: Ahmad Zamroni/Getty Images Many of the largest food and fuel companies risk climate change disaster by driving the demand for palm oil and biofuels grown on the world's greatest peat deposits, a report will say today.

JAKARTA (JP): Without discouraging reforms on more complex platforms, the World Bank has said that by simply cutting bureaucratic red tape, Indonesia could significantly improve its position in the "DoingBusiness" survey next year. "Potentially, Indonesia could jump to the 41st rank.

Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has become the biggest palm oil producer in the world with its output last year estimated to total 16 million tons, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said. Palm oil and its by-products were expected to contribute US$4.8 billion to the country`s foreign exchange earnings this year, he said when opening a conference on palm oil and its price outlook in 2008 here Wednesday.