Thursday, 28 August, 2008 | 17:17 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Government wants to raise US$10 billion in investments from the Middle East to fund energy and food projects, small-and-medium-sized businesses and syariah banking, the vice-chairman of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), Irman Gusman, said yesterday.

follow the link to http://nedbatam.com/ppbanana/ -- what the hell is a "Laptop Bar"???

Originally Posted By: chewwyUK I wonder if the girls in Batam entered in to the decision making process? the gals at Lucy's Oar House certainly did. The Oar House is famous for its collection of oars. http://www.nedbatam.com/oarhouse/

I wonder if the girls in Batam entered in to the decision making process?

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) reported Wednesday that the growth of the manufacturing industry in the first half of the year was shackled by high borrowing cost and high dependency over imports. The latest data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows the manufacturing industry grew by 4.1 percent in the first semester compared to the same period last year.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government decided to maintain its policy of allowing limited imports of used machinery to give a chance to less developed industries to grow, a senior official said. Director General of Textile, Machinery, and Metal Industries of the Industry Ministry, Anshari Bukhari, said here on Wednesday that his office and the Ministry of Trade were discussing the possibility of maintaining limited import permits for second-hand machinery in 2009.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State-owned electricity company PT PLN, based on the 2009 Draft State Budget, is required to save some Rp6.2 trillion in 2009, a senior official said. "PLN is asked to carry out an efficiency drive so that it would save a total of up to Rp6.2 trillion," Director General for Electricity and Energy Utilization of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry J Purwono said here on Wednesday. He said that PLN was expected to save some Rp820 billion from subsidies.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Oil expert Dr Kurtubi said that it would be better for the government to dissolve the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulating Body (BP Migas) because there was no control on its performance. "BP Migas has the task of controlling the cost recovery of oil contractor companies but this agency has no instrument to control their performance," Kurtubi told a meeting of the Fuel Price Hike Inquiry Committee of the House of Representatives here on Wednesday.

Kuala Lumpur (ANTARA News) - Indonesia is still an important market for Maybank despite rampant changes in the country`s financial policy, the bank`s president and chief executive officer Abdul Wahid Omar said. "If one aspires to become a regional leader, one would have to be present in every market of the region. Looking at South and Southeast region, Indonesia is clearly an important market," he told Bernama.

Thursday, 28 August, 2008 | 00:03 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Achmad Suryana, Head of the Food Security Board at the Agriculture Department, said yesterday (26/8) that currently Indonesia is not experiencing a food crisis as energy and protein supplies are sufficient for national needs. “However, Indonesian does not have equal access to food,” said Achmad. He explained that food production has been increasing every year.

Thursday, 28 August, 2008 | 09:44 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Batam: A Norwegian investor ordered 22 boats worth US$370 million (US$30 million per unit) from Batam. Batam was chosen as it has a more reasonable price than Japan. “The quality of boats from Indonesia is good,” said the Managing Director Allocean John Love to Tempo, yesterday. Love said the first order was for 10 boats. Two of them were launched yesterday.