now we know where all the SMS spam comes from ... arseholes!

Indonesia should be able to create 2,200 new jobs, generate an additional US$1.8 billion in economic growth and gain $88 million more in tax revenue by reducing software piracy by 10 percent by 2011, a study says. International Data Corporation (IDC), which conducted the study, is a global provider of market intelligence and advisory services for players in the information technology market.

PT BMW Indonesia, a local subsidiary of Munich-based luxury car manufacturer BMW AG, bounced back from a steep decline in sales in 2006 to post a 66.7 percent rise last year on an improving economy, an executive says. BMW sold 1,000 units last year, driven mostly by strong demands in BMW 3 Series, 5 Series and the new X5 automobiles, president director Joerg Kelling told a media conference Thursday. "Overall, we are very pleased with our achievement last year," Kelling said.

The performance of a total 31 state-owned companies in the logistics and tourism sectors showed encouraging progress last year in earnings and profits, a senior official said. Total revenues rose by 14.7 percent to Rp 40.4 trillion (about US$4.3 billion) in 2007 from Rp 34.4 trillion in 2006. In 2005, the companies posted Rp 32.3 trillion in revenue, according to Harry Susetyo Nugroho, deputy to the state minister of state enterprises.

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed chartered airline company PT Indonesia Air Transport is upbeat about business prospects in the country, amid an intensified drive by the government to boost oil production. President director Roekman Prawirasastra said Thursday that because most of the industry's clients were oil and gas companies, the government's campaign to boost investment and exploration in the oil and gas sector boded well for the chartered flight business.

Makassar (ANTARA News) - State electricity firm PT PLN and a private company will build two thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 40 MW in Southeast Sulawesi province this year. PLN will also build distribution networks to connect the power plants to the existing interconnection networks, Fauzi Arusman, general manager of the company`s branch in Southeast Sulawesi, said on Thursday. But he stopped short of revealing the amount of investment needed to build the facilities.

Thursday, 24 January, 2008 | 16:41 WIB TEMPO Interactive , Jakarta: Indonesia is in fifth place of the users of advertisement services via Internet mobiles that can be accessed by cellular phones. According to research by AdMob, an United States' Internet mobile market network provider company, entitled Mobile Metrics Report 2008, advertisements in AdMob's network were seen 116 million times by Indonesia's inhabitants.

Thursday, 24 January, 2008 | 16:16 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Southeast Asian countries may be the worst hit by the impacts of the United States' weakening economy, compared to other regions. According to Steven Dunaway, IMF's Deputy Director for Asia and the Pacific, Southeast Asian countries' efforts to survive the recession impact will be quite heavy.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The growth of Indonesia`s exports to Japan may slightly slow down in 2008 in view of the economic recession in the United States. The growth of Indonesian exports to the United States had been predicted to decline substantially as the result of economic recession there.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Director of the Center for Information and Development Studies Umar Juoro said the government should endeavor in improving agricultural production to address the problem of the currently rising food prices. "If necessary, foreign investors should be invited to improve the agricultural sector in the country especially in enhancing food resilience like what Brazil has done to invite investors to boost soybean production in that country," he told Antara here on Thursday.

there have certainly been improvements in the social situation for indonesian chinese since 1998. maybe not great improvements, but improvements nonetheless. to some extent, i feel that the ball is now in the chinese court: can they make the necessary adjustments and compromises with the 'pribumi' majority to properly integrate themselves into the wider indonesian community?