PLN criticized for lack of rural electricity
Ida Sjachrul, a 40-year-old journalist from Palembang, South Sumatra, could not hide her emotions during a two-day workshop on the power sector organized by state electricity company PT PLN last week in Anyer, Banten.
Soon after the moderator opened the question-and-answer session, Ida stood and voiced complaints about the power service in the province.
Power blackouts now routinely occurred in Palembang and its surrounding areas, while many rural areas in the province still had no access to electricity, 57 years after Indonesian independence, she said.
This was ironic in view of the fact that South Sumatra was abundant in coal, which was the main fuel source for generating power in the country, she said.
"It is unfair that Java and Bali have enough power supplies while South Sumatra, which regularly exports coal to the Suralaya power plant, the largest power plant for Java and Bali, lacks electricity," Ida pointed out.
She was referring to PLN's 3,400 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Suralaya, Banten. The Java-Bali power grid has a total supply of more than 18,600 MW.
Ida's statement reflects the grievances felt by many people outside Java and Bali over the national power distribution structure, which leaves a large gap between Java-Bali and other islands in the country.
Currently, according to PLN's data, there are some 52 percent of Indonesians who have access to electricity services, most of whom live in Java and Bali.
Electrification ratio -- the percent of people having access to power as compared to the population -- in Java and Bali has reached 59.4 percent this year. In comparison, the electrification ratio for Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and the Eastern parts of Indonesia, including Papua, were at 53.1 percent, 46.6 percent, 47.2 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
According to observers, the difference in the electrification ratio was primarily because Java and Bali have more investment than the other islands.
PLN is more interested in investing in Java-Bali than other islands, because both Java and Bali offer better returns on investment.
In Papua, for example, PLN spent Rp 470 billion in production and investment costs in 2002, but only collected Rp 162 billion in revenues. This means PLN suffered a loss of Rp 308 billion in the area last year.
"This has discouraged the company from pouring more money into the region," said Tulus Abadi of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) during the workshop.
He also blamed the government for the gap in the electrification ratio, saying that in the past, it had focused on the development of power plants in Java and Bali while neglecting other islands, on the ground that Indonesian development was concentrated on these two islands.
"Of course, this is not right. It means that we favored the residents of Java and Bali at the expense of others," said J. Purwono, director for electricity business supervision at the directorate general of electricity and energy.
Purwono said that the government had been trying to address the problem since last year.
Steps that had already been taken by the government included allocating "huge" funds to build small-scale power plants, such as mini-hydro and diesel power plants.
"This year, funds allocated toward these projects amount to Rp 4.5 trillion," he said.
He added that the passing of the Electricity Law of 2002, which liberalizes the country's power sector, could bring new hopes for people living outside Java and Bali.
Under the law, Java, Bali and Batam will be opened to free competition by 2007, allowing the government to focus its power development program on other islands. The law also allows local governments to invite investors to build power plants in their respective areas.
These developments have made the government optimistic that the country's electrification ratio will improve in the coming years.
JP/2/Aceh
1 x 25 New violence mars Aceh peace
The killing of four Acehnese in the latest violence spree on Saturday, has widen the distrust between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), pushing their three-month old peace agreement further to the brink of collapse.
Two Acehnese died burning, when an unidentified armed group set fire on 12 cars during a sweeping operation nearby the town of Takengon in Central Aceh.
A drive-by shooting nearby the town of Lhokseumawe in North Aceh killed another two.
"The peace agreement has reached a critical period," said Aceh observer Otto Syamsuddin Ishak of the Civil Society Alliance for Democracy (Yappika) in Jakarta.
He said that despite the steady progress in implementing the points of the peace accord, mutual confidence on either side was running thin.
The Indonesian military (TNI) and GAM blame each other for the violation of the cease fire accord, showing little of the confidence building that the agreement demanded.
China/2
2 x 22 Indonesia congratulates China's new leaders The Indonesian government congratulated the people of China for the election of the country's new leaders, and hoped to strengthen the ties between the two countries.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Sunday that Jakarta highly valued its blossoming relations with Beijing and would be ready to engage further in more cooperation with the new government.
"We congratulate the people of China for this important development and we look forward to further cooperation with China," Marty told The Jakarta Post.
Marty further remarked that Jakarta was assured that with the new leaders the relations of the two largest countries in East Asia will remain and ahead for betterment.
"The two countries had a strong traditional ties and expected to elevate in the future," he underlined.
It was not clear, however, whether Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri had sent a message to the new leaders of China.
Over the weekend China's parliament appointed Hu Jintao as the country's new President and Wen Jiabao as new premier, to replace Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji respectively.
Wen was Zhu's vice premier and a respected figure on the international stage.
Jakarta, reinstated its diplomatic relations with Beijing in the early 1990s, and has enjoyed growing ties especially after the appointment of Megawati as the country's president in 2001.
Founding president Sukarno, Megawati's father, was China's close friend, and since 2001 the two countries' leaders have exchanged visits.
Indonesia also received financial gain from Asia's newest economic power and world's sixth-biggest economy with economic growth up by 8 percent last year.
Indonesia recently clinched a deal to export liquefied natural gas worth US$8.5 billion from Tangguh in Papua, to Fujian province.
Indonesia has also signed the first-ever loan agreement with Beijing in which the latter would lend US$400 million to support several infrastructure projects.
Indonesia has a "one China policy" and has proved its commitment by rejecting the visit of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian last year, despite the fact that Taiwanese investors are the country's fifth largest in terms of trade revenue.
The Indonesian government is expected to issue an official statement on the election of the new Chinese leaders on Monday.