For a decade following the fall of Soeharto, Indonesia has long been viewed as the sick man of Asia. Now, it is difficult for South East Asian countries to reject the de facto leadership status of Indonesia, particularly in representing the region's economic interest.

TEMPO Interactive, Surakarta:Surakarta branch of Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) chairman, Hardono, said that Surakarta businessmen are unprepared for the implementation of the ASEAN free trade in 2015. “Some businessmen do not even know that they will enter the ASEAN free trade zone in 2015, let alone preparing on how to deal with it,” he said yesterday. Peter Jacobs, Bank Indonesia’s chief of Investment Relations and Foreign Review Analysis, said Indonesia is a good market.

TEMPO Interactive, Sukoharjo: The Sukoharjo Regent, Bambang Riyanto, has said that in order to increase economic growth, he planed to open a new special industrial area. “It is 300-350 hectare in size, and located in Nguter sub-district,” he said yesterday (11/9). He explained that the area was originally non-productive and empty land. It will be set up as an industrial area by following the Sukoharjo spatial plan.

TEMPO Interactive, Bandung:West Java offered 27 investment projects worth US$ 4,37 billion during the West Java International Expo 2009. The projects include potable water management, agro-business, toll road infrastructure, to geothermal power. “This will be West Java’s main investment,” said governor Ahmad Heryawan at Kota Baru Parahyangan yesterday.

The government said on Monday that it had asked domestic coal producers to set aside 30 percent of their output next year to meet demand from new coal-fired power plants. “The government needs a guaranteed coal supply to support the 10,000 megawatt ‘fast track’ program,” Energy Minister Darwin Saleh told members of the House of Representatives Commission VII, which oversees the energy sector.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Monday said she was confident the government could still spend nearly 60 percent of this year’s allocation to infrastructure-related stimulus projects within the next seven weeks - even though it had spent only 42 percent during the first nine months of the year.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Japanese entrepreneurs belonging to the Kansai industrial group have lodged a complaint with Industry Minister MS Hidayat regarding frequent power blackouts their companies in Indonesia are experiencing. "(They) had particularly asked about the electrical power problem. I told them that Indonesian businessmen had also made the same complaint," MS Hidayat said after receiving a delegation of the Kansai industrial group from Osaka here on Monday.