JAKARTA -(Dow Jones)- Indonesia has issued two regulations that will allow investors to start applying for mining permits and for the government to tender mining areas under the Mining Law passed in December 2008, a government official said Friday. "The most important thing about the two (regulations) is that mining companies can start operations," Bambang Gatot Ariyono, director of coal and mining business at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, told reporters.

JAKARTA -(Dow Jones)- Indonesia introduced tax incentives to attract investment in renewable energy as the former member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries seeks to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, the Finance Ministry said Friday. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani signed a decree late last month that reduces the base used to calculate income tax by 5% of total investment for six years, effective Jan. 29, the ministry said in a press release.

Flour producer PT Sriboga Raturaya has threatened the government that it may relocate to Australia because of a prolonged decision to impose punitive tariffs on Turkey flour despite the completion of dumping investigations.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian leader, should be riding high after victories for himself and his party in last year’s presidential and legislative elections and sustained economic growth through the global financial crisis. But his agenda to continue his relatively successful first-term assault on corruption and to tame the country’s disorderly bureaucracy is foundering amid infighting in his ruling coalition and pressure from vested interests.

Indonesian police have temporarily shut down the Jorong coal mine in South Kalimantan, which is owned by PT Indo Tambangraya Megah, the country’s fourth-biggest coal miner, since late last week because it does not have a valid permit. Bambang Setiawan, director general of coal, minerals and geothermal energy at the Energy Ministry, said ITM’s land-use permit expired at the end of last month and the company had not managed to process the extension yet.

The parent company of Offshore Joint Services (OJS), Subsea Services International, has formed a new Indonesian subsidiary. The new company, PT Subsea Services Indonesia will house OJS's operations in Indonesia as well as those of other future group companies. This new company will operate from a new facility in Batam Indonesia to provide enhanced support to customers in Asia, Australia, India and the Middle East (MEA Region).

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Aip Syarifudin, the Turkish Indonesian Trade Associations (TITA) co-chairman, said the export potential for Indonesia’s oil and gas as well as non-oil and gas industry to Turkey is open wide. “The commodities attracting much interest are paper, wood, textile and coal,” he said, in a meeting with the Indonesian Businessmen Association at the Gran Melia Hotel yesterday.

The promulgation of government regulations on the security of coal and natural gas supplies for domestic needs was one of the programs on the agenda for the administration’s first 100 days in office - which ended late last month. The program was carried out well. The minister of energy and mineral resources issued re-gulations obliging coal, oil and natural gas mining companies to allocate portions of their production for domestic use.

Social security provider PT Jaminan Sosial Tenaga Kerja said on Thursday that it plans to transform a Shariah unit of PT Bank Bukopin into a bank catering to its 8.4 million members after its acquisition of a majority stake in the bank is completed this year. Hotbonar Sinaga, president director of the pension fund, also known as Jamsostek, said the “workers bank” would offer “one-stop” services for Jamsostek’s members, including social security payments, wealth management and loans.

External factors still pose a threat to growth despite the country’s robust economic performance through the global downturn, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati warned on Thursday. Sri Mulyani said the government had no immediate plans to revise its 5.5 percent growth forecast for this year. “For one thing, our achievement in past quarters has been encouraging. On the other hand, we still see downside risks, mainly external,” she said.

State electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara will rent hundreds of diesel and oil-powered electricity generators to alleviate power shortages in some outlying provinces. Renting the generators was an “emergency measure” to help quickly resolve the shortages, PLN president director Dahlan Iskan told the House of Representatives’ Commission VII, which oversees energy issues, on Thursday. Developing new plants would take at least two years, he said.