Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The government has not supported the steady growth of labor-intensive industries over the last six quarters, missing a vital opportunity to reduce unemployment and poverty, several lawmakers say. Last year, the economy grew 6.3 percent, while in the first half of this year, the economy expanded by 6.4 percent, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Shopping centers have rejected a planned govt regulation requiring them to switch to their own power generators for ten hours every week starting Aug. 25, citing burdensome extra costs. The Indonesian Shopping Center Association (APPBI) is not ruling out the possibility of temporarily closing down its operations and staging a rally if the government goes ahead with its plan, chairman Stefanus Ridwan said Friday. The joint ministerial decree, to be issued Aug.

Indonesia's container ports fall short of the stiff security standard required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), an official says. Director General of Customs and Excise Anwar Suprijadi, who has received acclaim for leading a clean up of his corruption-riddled office, said the country's key Tanjung Priok international port in Jakarta was "unsafe" as security allowed unauthorized personnel to enter its compound.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has expanded its investigation into the corruption-infested Directorate General of Taxation. A failure by most tax officials in submitting their wealth reports will be used by the KPK to make an initial screening of how the officials manage to attain their sizable wealth, KPK deputy chairman for prevention M. Jassin said Wednesday.

Thursday, 21 August, 2008 | 10:27 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Indonesian government predicted the export growth from Indonesia to Japan will increase by 20 percent after the partnership agreement between Indonesia and Japan is signed. There will be removal and reduction of the trade tariff. “The 20 percent growth comes from the study of the joint study group,” said the Director for Bilateral Cooperation at the Department of Trade, Sondang Anggraeni, yesterday.

Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s economy has been growing positively but the labour market has not yet developed significantly, according to a report of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Labour and Social Trends in Indonesia 2008, Wednesday.

Jakarta,(ANTARA News) - As many as 21 foreign and domestic investor plans to set up oil refineries in Indonesia worth a total of 39.36 billion US dollars plus Rp 18.3 trillion and approved by the government in the period 1994-2000 were not realized and therefore canceled, a capital investment official said.

he will find out soon enough ... if you get in bed with Bakrie and Pertamina you are sure to wake up with a sore arse in the morning.

I wonder if someone should tell Mr Cameron and friends that as it is a Bakrie Company there must be a dead rat in the deal somewhere!