Eighteen major palm oil producers and the Directorate General of Plantations decided here Monday to set up an independent team to verify Greenpeace’s allegations of deforestation by Indonesian companies. The action was adopted as more big buyers in Europe have been pressured by environmental campaigners such as Greenpeace to stop buying palm oil from Indonesian producers that have not gained green certification under the Round table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) scheme.

The recent flurry of international buyers suspending their contracts for Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) indicates serious problems for the local industry. The trend began when two of the world’s largest buyers of CPO, Unilever and Nestle, stopped buying CPO from Indonesia’s PT SMART. Unilever has also halted a contract with Duta Palma, which although a member, has not been certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) urges the government to separate the tax office from tax regulatory authorities and to examine tax complaints so as to improve the country’s taxation system. Kadin deputy chairman on monetary and fiscal affairs Hariyadi Sukamdani said in a press conference that the tax office has too much power, including control of regulatory frameworks, and should focus on collecting taxes and ensuring compliance.

Minister of Marine Resources and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad has approved the Banyuwangi regental administration's plan to rent Tabuhan Island to Maldives investor PT Safari International Resort. "A recommendation letter has been received by the Banyuwangi regent," head of the investment section of the administration's development planning agency Made Mahartha said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on Thursday.

Its people agree that their democratic country should play a bigger global role; but what? BY DINT of size, population and potential wealth, Indonesia has long loomed large over its own backyard. The archipelago nation bestrides the world’s busiest sea lanes. Some 231m Indonesians account for two-fifths of the population of ASEAN, the ten-country Association of South-East Asian Nations.

SINGAPORE : Singapore companies should look to large urbanised Indonesian cities like Surabaya and Bandung for business opportunities. This is according to Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, who spoke at a business forum on Indonesia on Wednesday. Mr Lim said that each region of the Indonesian archipelago offers unique business potential for Singapore businesses.

Tulungagung (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed hope bureaucratic reform and law enforcement will continue despite the discovery of a tax scandal involving a government employee. The president expressed his hope following the case of Gayus Tambunan, an employee of the directorate general of taxes who is wanted by police for allegedly having embezzled Rp25 billion in tax-related money.

Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto says much of the country’s infrastructure suffers from quality problems. “Based on our observations, there are quality and utilization problems in the existing infrastructure,” he said Wednesday as quoted by Antara at a regional meeting in Semarang, Central Java. He called for improved quality, planning and budgeting in future.

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia will allow foreigners to buy property in the country and own bigger stakes in health-care companies as it completes a review of investment rules, the country’s investment coordination agency said.