The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) has urged the government to improve market surveillance in order to increase product standardization and protect consumer and producer rights. "Product standardization is important for consumers as it guarantees quality products and for producers to increase the value of their brands," Indah Sukmaningsih from YLKI said.

Achmad Syafriel, Analyst Many problems need to be solved before Indonesia can increase food production and mitigate food prices. Many believe the era of cheap food prices has come to an end. Over the last two years, soft commodity prices have surged, continually breaking records. CPO reached its historical high of US$1,395 per metric ton in Rotterdam, while corn and soybean reached their respective highs of $6.31 per bushel and $15.7 per bushel in Chicago.

Mariani Dewi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta What do the Balinese do with deceased royals? How can you see a flower show without splashing out for a flight to Pasadena, California? Where can you test your athletic endurance in a triathlon? Indonesia provides the answers to all these questions during this year's Visit Indonesia program, according to Sapta Nirwandar, marketing director at the Culture and Tourism Ministry. In Bali, Hindus cremate the deceased in a detailed ritual, called the Ngaben.

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Sales of Honda motorcycles in Indonesian are forecast to shoot up 40 per cent to 1.2 million units in the first half of this year from 921,990 units in the same period last year. Until April this year, sales already reached 897,037 units or 50.8 per cent higher year-on-year, said Siswanto Prawiroatmodjo, Executive Vice President of PT Astra Honda Motor, which produces the Japanese product in the country.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian government plans to raise the price of fuel at the pump will force down auto sales in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, the head of the automotive industry association said Wednesday. "There will be a significant decrease (in sales) if the fuel price hike is followed by higher inflation and central bank interest rates," Bambang Trisulo told AFP.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government believes the Indonesian economy will remain prospective in the next two years despite a global economic slowdown, a Finance Ministry official said. "The Indonesian economy will remain prospective in the 2008-2009 period in which it will expand by a range of 6-6.5 percent due to strong domestic demand and investment," Anggito Abimanyu, chief of the ministry`s fiscal policy board (BKF), said here on Wednesday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has asked Australia and New Zealand to open their textile and textile product markets under a free trade arrangement (FTA) with ASEAN. "We are asking that textiles whose import tariffs are between 3.5 and 17.5 percent are included on the list of products whose tariffs are reduced," Director of Regional Affairs of the External Trade Cooperation Directorate General of the Trade Ministry, Iman Pambagyo, said here on Tuesday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s oil production could exceed one million barrels per day (bpd) at the end of this year, Head of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulating Body (BP Migas), R Priyono, said. He said the prediction that the one-million bpd production level day could be exceeded was based on the upward trend in national oil production in 2008.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian consumer confidence dropped for the fifth straight month in April to a 29-month low as more respondents expressed pessimism about current economic conditions and the economic outlook for Indonesia, according to a central bank survey released Tuesday. The consumer confidence index dropped further to 86.8 points in April from 89.9 in March. The previous low was 86.6 points, recorded in December 2005.

Manila (ANTARA News) - Asia's response to tightening global grain supplies has aggravated food price inflation and uncertainty, according to an Asian Development Bank report released here Friday. Export bans and price floors imposed by grain exporters including China, Pakistan, Vietnam and India "have increased price volatility and uncertainty in the international rice markets," reducing supplies.

jakartass. indonesian version would be good. we need to ensue that indonesians themselves are part of any discourse that may develop.

KuKuKaChu. If you can post it, I'll get HukumOnline to forward the Indonesian version to you. Naturally, I have a copy of the judgement if you want to copy it. And this is my version: http://jakartass.blogspot.com/2008/05/blow-against-labour-following-was.html. I'll be feeding background documents, opinions etc.etc. to my Performing Monkeys blog, as I hope Jakartass can continue to be a little more wry.