TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Job-based tax extensification is to start tomorrow (6/3). For the initial phase, the Directorate General of Taxes will give tax-payer identification number (NPWP) to workers of PT Sampoerna and PT Petrokimia in Surabaya. It is estimated that the amount of PT Sampoerna's workers reach 26,000. In addition, the extension of the tax base throughout Indonesia, according to Hasan Rachmady, the Director of Intensification and Assessment, will be started this coming April.

A global leader in power and automation technologies, ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) is keen to deepen its footprint in Indonesia amid signs, it claims, of significant improvements in the country's economy and investment climate. To support the execution of its global strategy, eight regions have been created to manage business and functional roles effectively across the world, as well as maximize synergies and ensure a more efficient use of resources.

The central bank expects Indonesia's banking sector to be able to provide up to 20 percent more loans this year, as business and investment in the country improves amid recent macroeconomic stability.

A unit of a U.S-based energy company, PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI), is set to open gas stations in Indonesia following the footsteps of other foreign firms, including Malaysia's Petronas and Dutch company Shell, an official says. Erie Soedarmo, director for downstream business at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, told The Jakarta Post over the weekend that the government has issued a temporary license for the Riau-based company to operate gas stations.

Accidents happen. Sure. But the spate of recent disasters in Indonesia's transportation industry can no longer be counted as accidents. The frequency with which they are happening suggests a much deeper problem in the way we run our public transportation. The term "accident" suggests randomness, something that is unexpected. There is almost nothing random about these recent disasters. They are happening all the time, in an almost consistent manner.