A leading non-governmental organization has urged Indonesia not to take pride in being the world’s biggest producer of crude palm oil because the production process has yet to meet standards for environmental sustainability. “There are many palm oil plantations ignoring sustainable principles, [and are] planting in forest areas, including production forests and protected and conservation forests,” Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, said on Tuesday.

Multimedia company PT First Media said on Tuesday that its legal dispute with media giant Astro Malaysia over a failed pay-television joint venture must be settled under Indonesian jurisdiction. “The Indonesian courts are the only courts that have jurisdiction to settle the matter, not Singapore. We can’t let them destroy our legal system,” said Peter Gontha, First Media’s president commissioner.

The government plans to capitalize on US President Barack Obama’s visit to Indonesia in March by signing a number of bilateral agreements, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said on Tuesday. “There will be a total of six types of cooperation formed between Indonesia and the United States, and they [the US] will be preparing a large amount of investment,” Hatta said on the sidelines of a coordination meeting held at the Finance Ministry.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Vincent Jemadu, the Culture and Tourism Ministry Development Director, has said that Bali is still the main tourism destination in every international market. “Almost every market in the world always put Bali as the tourist destination in Indonesia,” said Vincent at his office yesterday. According to Vincent, there are two things that make Bali a favorite. First, Bali is already known since a long time ago for its beauty.