Mustaqim Adamrah and Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has requested the government to postpone a deadline to improve tax filing and undertake tax registration until March next year as businessmen are busier than ever coping with the impact of the global economic slowdown.

The government may halt imports of oil palm tree seeds next year as domestic demand for the seeds slows amid the global economic slowdown and a drop in crude palm oil prices. “We are still trying to figure out how much domestic demand there will be for [oil palm seeds] next year,” Achmad Mangga Barani, director general for plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, told reporters in Jakarta on Friday.

The Jakarta Post | Sun, 12/21/2008 4:08 PM | Business Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has called on local business people to help her ministry fight what she called the "port mafia". "Currently, I'm fixing our port, which includes reforming the customs office. If any of you gentlemen find our officers are asking for money, please don't pay them," Sri Mulyani told members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) on Sunday.

The government plans to host hundreds of promotional events and trade shows in 2009, which it has dubbed the “Year of Creative Industries” in response to complaints that it isn’t doing enough to stop foreign producers from cashing in on Indonesia’s cultural heritage by selling imitation handicrafts, officials have said. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will officially launch the campaign today in Jakarta.

Originally Posted By: Marmalade Sad but true that more people want to visit that over-sanitised little dump Singapore than here... Indonesia is the main source of tourists visiting Singapore. Numbers will only likely increase once Singapore opens its casinos in a couple of years.

Pretty good reporting. Sad but true that more people want to visit that over-sanitised little dump Singapore than here...