Once fueled by great stores of natural resources and ensuing investment, Indonesia is once again suffering the effects of a harsh economy. With some 240 million people Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. It is also comprised of more than 17,000 islands -- so many no one really knows the exact number. Politically, Indonesia is now one of the world's biggest democracies, but for more than thirty years it was basically a dictatorship under President Suharto.

JAKARTA, May 27 (Reuters) - Indonesia is not ready to implement a price formula for biofuel slated for June, an energy ministry official said on Wednesday, which spells a blow for the fledging biodiesel industry in the world's top palm oil producer. Indonesian biodiesel firms, which have mostly stopped operations after being squeezed by rising palm oil prices, have been awaiting the price formula, which is crucial to calculate not only biofuel sale prices but also government subsidies.

Businesses are complaining about the existence of mafi a controlling the loading and unloading system at Batam seaport, Kepulauan Riau province, consequently infl icting higher costs on businesses. Head of the Indonesian Employers Association's (Apindo) Kepulauan Riau chapter, Abidin, said Tuesday that the mafi a involved the owner of a particular shipping company with accomplices within government institutions.

A consortium of local small and medium internet service providers are questioning government bidding rules that allow a foreigncontrolled publicly listed fi rm to bid for Wimax licences, despite the Negative Investment List The SMEs, grouped in a consortium participating in the bidding, said the participation of telecommunications company PT Indosat in the bidding should be scrutinized because the company is 65 percent owned by Middle East-based Qatar Telecommunications (Q-Tel).

The government needs to allocate Rp 1.25 trillion ($120 million) next year to subsidize bio-fuels to meets its own mandatory targets, the Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (Aprobi) said Wednesday.

Indonesia’s residential property sector looks to have bottomed out, with demand expected to grow as the economy improves in the second half of the year, according to international property consultancy Knight Frank. Fakky Ismail Hidayat, head of research at Knight Frank, said the scarcity of credit during the global financial crisis and uncertainty over the domestic economy have led to pent-up demand, with increasingly confident buyers starting to test the market.

The government is desperately trying to get the long-delayed $700 million Palapa Ring telecommunications project back on track after PT Excelcomindo Pratama pulled out of the project consortium on Monday. Officials worry that the latest hitch could deal another costly blow to the struggling project, which is supposed to provide nationwide Internet access at internationally competitive speeds.

The government plans to sell its stake in five industrial park companies worth more than Rp 900 billion ($87.3 million), a senior official said on Tuesday. The move comes despite political rivals calling the current administration “neo-liberal” - a derogatory label in Indonesian politics, where selling government assets to private and foreign investors is seen as being against the nation’s interests.

In a bid to stabilize domestic palm oil prices, Indonesia is expected to institute a 3 percent tax on crude palm oil exports next month, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said in Jakarta on Tuesday. “The local price will be affected by the rising global CPO price as a number of producers would prefer to export their products rather than sell for local consumption,” Mari told reporters.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Modern retail business people are rejecting a regulation on the zoning of commercial buildings issued by the regional administration, given that traditional markets are spread throughout the Jakarta area. “How can this zoning regulation be applied if the locations are close to each other?” asked Jakarta’s Indonesian Shopping centre Managers Association chairman, Andreas Kartawinata, yesterday.