Astoundingly hamfisted policy-making.

In a move critics say smacks of protectionism and goes against fair trade practices, the Ministry of Trade has issued a decree banning hyperstores, shopping malls, supermarkets and mini-markets nationwide from opening outlets near traditional markets and levies fees on the products they sell. The decree is a follow-on to a 2007 presidential regulation and aims to help traditional markets survive in the face of multiplying “modern markets” - some of which are foreign-owned.

Travel Ban Placed on Web Site Graft Company Executive by Arientha Primanita The Immigration Department has banned an executive of a company at the center of a corruption scandal at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights from traveling overseas, an official said on Thursday.

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Which number would you like to have for next year's total tourism visit projection? Would it be 6.2 million, 6.4, 6.5, or even 8 million? These are the choices you get when the government sets a target for expected visitors to the country in 2009. Last Thursday, the director general of marketing for the ministry of culture and tourism Sapta Nirwandar was very optimistic with the 8 million figure. "The industry was a crisis-proof one," he claimed at that time.

sym·bi·o·sis (sĭm'bē-ō'sĭs, -bī-) n. pl. sym·bi·o·ses (-sēz) Biology: A close, prolonged association between two or more different organisms of different species that may, but does not necessarily, benefit each member.