TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Directorate General of Customs and Excise have found numerous violations using fictitious Certificates of Origin following the free trade agreement. As of early this year, at least 53 cases with false certificates of origin have been found in Tanjung Perak harbour, Surabaya and Belawan harbour, Medan. Customs and Excise director-general, Thomas Sugijata, said that the findings consisted of 32 cases in Tanjung Perak and 21 cases in Belawan.

TEMPO Interactive, Balikpapan:A number of environmental NGOs united to reject the government’s plan to revitalize palm oil plantation in Indonesia. According to the NGOs, revitalization is seen to put palm oil farmers at a disadvantage. “Actually, who is the revitalization policy aimed for? Because it will only profit national and international palm companies,” said the Head of Sawit Watch campaign department, Jeffry Gideon Saragih, Monday (29/3).

* Indonesia demanded attention as the rest of the world plunged into crisis in 2008-09, growing at 4.5 per cent last year, third only after China and India in the Group of 20 industrialised and developing countries. * In addition to a growing middle class of 50 million people, Indonesia boasts low labour costs, vast natural resources, strong foreign currency reserves, low inflation and a recent record of sound economic management.

Indonesia is now one of the “new horizons” for foreign companies in China planning to relocate plants inland or outside the country because of rising labor and logistics costs, a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai showed. The proportion of companies with such plans doubled last year compared with 2008, AmCham Shanghai said Tuesday as quoted by Bloomberg.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised on Wednesday to allocate state budget next year to help five East Java regencies breed local goats as a leading cattle industry, Antara reported. “Insya Allah [God willing] we will set aside a budget to develop the cattle industry,” Yudhoyono told local farmers during his visit to a goat breeding centre in Tulungagung. The President said the assistance would be coordinated with the local governments to avoid overlapping.

Bandung, W Java (ANTARA News) - State telecommunications operator PT Telkom Indonesia has decided to inject another US$2 million to develop its e-commerce plasa.com portal site. "We need huge investment to develop plasma.com through a transformation program we have launched. We hope it can develop and become part of the world community," PT Telkom President Director Rinaldi Firmansyah said here on Monday.