Jakarta. Nearly 20 million Indonesians, of a total population of 250 million, go to bed hungry every night, according to a regional overview of food insecurity in Asia and the Pacific, issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The total number of hungry people in Southeast Asia has reached 60 million, meaning a third live in Indonesia, according to the overview.

Despite reaching the MDG-1 hunger reduction target and halving number of hungry people to 7.6 percent in the past 25 years — thanks to rapid economic growth and appropriate policies in the food and agricultural sectors — Indonesia is still facing an uphill battle in fighting undernutrition, especially among children under the age of 5.

The most recent data, from 2013, shows the prevalence of stunting in children under 5 in Indonesia is close to 37 percent, the FAO said, explaining that this statistic implies inadequate access to diverse and nutritious foods.

“There is clearly more work to be done. Our priority is to create a ‘Zero Hunger generation,’ and at the same time ensure that Indonesian people, especially children, have sufficient nutrition for an active and healthy life,” said Mark Smulders, the FAO representative in Indonesia.

Anthea Webb, the World Food Program representative in Indonesia, said that Indonesia’s success in halving hunger was a positive sign that the proposed Sustainable Development Goal, to end hunger and achieve food security by 2030, is possible.

“We are proud to work with Indonesians for a day when everyone’s nutrition is improved and agriculture is sustainable.”

Equitable access to food

Efforts have been made in Indonesia to strengthen the enabling environment to improve food security and nutrition, observers have said.

The Food Law (No. 18/2012) institutionalized sufficient food as a human right and defined the state’s obligations to ensure the availability and affordability of sufficient, safe and nutritionally balanced food for all people at all times.

However, challenges remain in the way the Food Law is applied, especially at the local level.

For many years, the Indonesian government’s food policies have aimed at achieving national food self-sufficiency, particularly with regard to rice as well as with other commodities, such as corn and soybeans. This was in response to the Asian economic crisis of 1997-98, and after the food price crisis of 2007-08.

The challenge facing Indonesia today, and Southeast Asia as a whole, is not only to produce more food from an increasingly limited resource base, but also to ensure more equitable access to food. This needs to be done while addressing a variety of threats, such as climate change and erratic weather patterns, and it needs to be done while consciously investing in rural areas.

“Almost half of Indonesia’s population live in rural areas — and agriculture and fishing are the mainstay of their livelihoods. Investing in rural areas will sustainably reduce hunger and boost economic growth,” says Ronald Hartman, country program manager at the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

“IFAD is working with the government to support rural women and men to increase productivity and develop new market opportunities for smallholder farmers and fishers. The recently completed Rural Empowerment and Agricultural Development Project has shown that this approach can work.”

Sustainable development agenda

As Indonesia works toward the economic development of a large population across a vast archipelago, a number of challenges, such as urbanization, natural resource degradation and climate change, require collective efforts for steady progress to be achieved, the FAO says.

“A number of policy commitments and institutional and technological innovations aimed at the eradication of hunger and malnutrition, combined with effective social protection measures, are needed to meet these challenges,” it says.

The organization added that such efforts would need to be done within an overall framework of sustainable economic growth that is more equitably shared and environmentally sustainable.

“FAO calls on all sectors and development partners to accelerate actions through the Zero Hunger Challenge and other relevant food security and nutrition initiatives, focusing on supporting resource-poor family farms and the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society,” country representative Smulders said.

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Jakarta. With a record average spend of 1,240 pounds ($1,900) per visitor, Indonesians contributed 31 million pounds to the tourism sector in the United Kingdom, the British embassy said on Sunday.

The Jakarta mission said in a press release that according to the latest immigration statistics for the year ending March 2015, it had issued 32,907 visitor visas to Indonesians wanting to come to the UK.

Visit Britain, the UK’s tourism board, predicts the number of visitors will rise further with over 50,000 Indonesians visiting the UK every year within five years. Last year, more than 200,000 Britons also visited Indonesia.

“Tourism between the UK and Indonesia has enormous potential,” said the British ambassador to Indonesia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Timor Leste, Moazzam Malik.

“There are lots of myths about getting visas for the UK. In fact 96 percent of Indonesians who apply for a UK visa are successful and the average visa processing time is just over nine days,” he added.

Malik said that with the peak holiday season fast approaching, he had no doubt there would be many Indonesians enjoying the UK’s unique opportunities: shopping, world famous cuisine, history and, of course, football.

Tourism is a key export industry for the UK, bringing 21.7 billion pounds of inbound tourist spending into the British economy last year. Indonesia is recognized for the increasing role it is playing and just last month VisitBritain held its largest annual tourism event in Bali.

Travel agents from across the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East joined the three-day conference to learn more about what the range of events, attractions and experiences UK has to offer.

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China’s plan to revive the ancient Silk Road commerce route must be welcomed in good faith by countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Indonesia, so long as it is purely about boosting economic and trade relations among countries in the region.

China’s “Belt and Road” plan, which aims to promote the country’s ambitious initiative of engaging other countries to jointly develop the land route, Silk Road Economic Belt, and the sea route, 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, will not only boost ties between China and Asean countries but also among the group’s member states, as both routes pass through the territory of most of them.

With transportation improved, we can expect freer movement of people and goods, and in turn, better understanding among people as well as more trade, investment and cultural exchanges.

We hope that the end result of China’s plans is increased prosperity among countries in the entire region. This is what we expected from China from the beginning: seeing it as a benevolent power pursuing shared prosperity, not as a country with a sole purpose of expanding its territory and influence across the globe.

We therefore should remind China not to use this noble plan in support of geopolitical ambitions to dominate the region, or enhance its foothold and military outreach in its race against the US. If the plan turns out this way, then the whole region will turn against the world’s second-biggest economy.

With China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea already drawing concerns from several Asean member states, suspicions are understandable. Those involved in disputes with China — especially Vietnam and the Philippines — will not be easily pursuaded.

We hope that China uses this bold plan to prove that any suspicion is unfounded.

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Nusa Dua, Bali. China is making clearer its intention of engaging Southeast Asia to support its ambitious plans to revive the ancient Silk Road commerce routes, but observers in Jakarta remind Indonesia — which has expressed interest in China’s new initiative — to exercise caution.

The joint “Belt and Road” development is the topic of a forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, taking place on Sunday and Monday, which was attended by officials and community representatives from China and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

China has been touting the phrase Belt and Road to promote its ambitious initiative of engaging other countries to jointly develop the so-called Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

The former, land-based, will link China to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central and West Asia, as well as to Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean.

The latter, meanwhile, will link China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, as well as to the South Pacific.

The Chinese government has been actively promoting the initiative since it was first raised by President Xi Jinping when he toured Central Asia and Southeast Asia in late 2013.

Since then, Xi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang have visited over 20 countries, met with their leaders and attended many international forums to promote the development of the Belt and Road, according to information on the initiative published by China’s National Development and Reform Commission.

At the forum in Bali, China is seeking to persuade the Asean public to support the plans. Asean is central to the Maritime Silk Road initiative in particular, with the planned main route through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean bound to overlap with maritime territories of the member states.

Chinese Deputy Premier Liu Yandong on Sunday emphasized the need to “step up people-to-people cooperation” between China and Asean in order to bolster development in the respective regions and economic growth

“Civil society groups, think tanks, media agencies and business communities in China and Asean must step up cooperation … to embrace 21st-century opportunities offered by the Maritime Silk Road,” Liu said, via an English interpreter, in her keynote address during the opening session of the 2nd China-Southeast Asia High-Level People-to-People Dialogue in Nusa Dua.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who also addressed a keynote speech at the Bali forum, conveyed his full support for the Maritime Silk Road initiative, saying it is line with the spirit of the Asean Economic Community — set to come into full force at the end of the year — which will seek greater economic cooperation and interconnectivity in the region.

“I strongly encourage wider and deeper cooperation among countries along the Belt and Road … to connect people-to-people, and to promote peace and security, cooperation and shared prosperity among the countries. The Belt and Road will be for the benefit of all,” Sok said.

Asean Deputy Secretary-General A.K.P. Mochtan, an Indonesian technocrat and another keynote speaker in the forum, said China’s new initiatives should be seen in a positive light, “as complementing and enriching the region.”

He added China and Asean had been “strategic partners” for some time now, across a broad range of sectors — including trade, economy and investment, as well as tourism and education.

Cautious welcome

Retired Indonesian veteran diplomat and maritime law expert Hasyim Djalal said Indonesia could definitely benefit from China’s Maritime Silk Road initiative, more so now with President Joko Widodo’s ambitious vision to turn Indonesia into a “global maritime fulcrum.”

Since being inaugurated as the president of Indonesia in October last year, Joko has met three times with Xi, and has said that China’s Silk Road plans overlap with the archipelago’s need to boost interconnectivity between its sprawling islands. Joko has said he wants to build new sea ports and ocean highways to boost Indonesia’s interconnectivity.

Hasyim, though, warned Indonesia to remain cautious, raising the possibility that China may want to also use the Silk Road for military purposes.

“We must be careful about possible military aspects [of the plans]. We don’t want this to turn into some kind of a military penetration,” Hasyim said in a phone interview with the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

“As long as this remains about economy and trade, though, the initative will be useful and we can definitely benefit from it,” he added.

International relations and defense expert Bantarto Bandoro of the Indonesian Defense University, meanwhile, cautioned for a “hidden agenda” behind China’s Belt and Road plans, saying Indonesia and Asean should see them as part of China’s strategy to expand its influence in the region.

“This is part of China’s race with the United States for influence in the region. Indonesia should remain very alert about this,” Bantarto asserted.

He added, however, that he was skeptical China would be able to realize the initiative, given the current levels of tension it has with several Asean countries — especially Vietnam and the Philippines — concerning border disputes in the resource-rich South China Sea.

“As long as China still has to deal with the South China Sea issues with several Asean member states, I don’t think there will be a real prospect for [the silk road initiative] to be realized,” Bantarto said.

“And Indonesia should not allow itself to be used by China to persuade other Asean members to cooperate,” he added.

Further coverage:
Editorial

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Jakarta. Sulawesi Mining Investment, a joint venture of Chinese stainless steel producer Dingxin Group and local conglomerate Bintang Delapan, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its multi-billion-dollar integrated smelter project in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, last week.

The ceremony, which was attended by President Joko Widodo, marked the start of a multi-year construction of smelters and processing plants that will produce nickel pig iron, cold rolled coils and hot rolled coils.

Industry Minister Saleh Husin said on Friday that the three phases of the construction will start with developing processing plants able to produce 300,000 tons of nickel pig iron every year. Coal-fired, 130 MW power plants will provide electricity to the processing plants.

At this stage, investment may amount to about $635 million.

The second phase, Saleh said, will boost the processing plants’ production capacity of nickel pig iron to 600,000 tons. The facilities are set to be supported by additional 300 MW power plants. Additional investment needed for the second phase is estimated at $1.04 billion.

Saleh said the first and second phases of development — which may require up to 5,000 workers — are targeted for completion at the end of 2015.

The final stage of development involves adding 300,000 tons of nickel pig iron production capacity with additional 300 MW power plants. This stage will involve an $820 million investment and development is scheduled for completion by the end of 2017.

The Morowali project will also produce stainless steel products, including cold rolled coils (CRD) with a production capacity of 600,000 tons per year and hot rolled coils (HRC) with the same capacity. No details of investment size, specific time frame and details were given for this part of the project.

The president director at Sulawesi Mining, Alexander Barus, said the Morowali project would eventually afford Morowali district a production capacity of up to 1.2 million tons of nickel pig iron and thereby spur the development of the country’s steel sector.

“The downstream steel industry will need suppliers, logistics service providers and accommodation. Our power plants will create more indirect jobs,” Alexander said.

In October 2009, Dingxin Group and local conglomerate Bintang Delapan, which also have mining, oil and gas, chemical, wood processing and fertilizer enterprises, agreed to form a joint venture.

Sintong Panjaitan, a retired general and former commander of the army’s Special Forces unit Kopassus, is a stake holder in Bintang Delapan.

Local media have reported on Sintong’s close connections to Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, another former general with Kopassus connections, who currently serves as the president’s chief of staff.

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Jakarta. The Foreign Affairs Ministry has joined hands with the National Police to conduct a training for officials stationed overseas to improve the ways in which various emergency situations involving Indonesian nationals are handled.

Twenty-seven high-level officials from the Indonesian Military (TNI), the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) and Consortium of Indonesian Migrant Workers Advocacy received training on dealing with potential human trafficking victims, said the ministry’s director for the protection of Indonesian citizens Lalu Muhammad Iqbal.

“In addition to instructions on how to successfully identify and provide protection to human trafficking victims, the participants were also given basic forensic training from the National Police’s DVI [Disaster Victim Identification] unit,” Iqbal said on Sunday.

The exercise was staged in response the increasing number of human trafficking cases involving Indonesian citizens, he added, and was first conducted by the Foreign Ministry last year with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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Jakarta. Matahari Putra Prima, Indonesia’s largest modern retailer for fast-moving consumer goods, celebrated the 11th anniversary of its supermarket chain Hypermart by holding a supplier gathering at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, in South Jakarta’s Pacific Place mall.

The company used the ceremonial event to thank its suppliers for their support and strengthen its business relationships with its partners, MPP said in a statement on Friday.

The festivities also saw MPP fulfill its corporate social responsibility by donating up to Rp 3 billion ($227,000) with the help of several suppliers to Lentera Harapan School, a school for underprivileged families under the care of Lippo Group’s Pelita Harapan Educational Foundation (YPPH).

Lentera Harapan School coordinator Gunawan Tjioe was on hand to receive the donation.

Lippo Group, with which the Jakarta Globe is affiliated, also controls MPP.

The retailer vowed to continue its CSR activities with the help of its business partners, said MPP director of public relations and communication Danny Kojongian.

Established in 2004, Hypermart now operates in more than 60 cities across Indonesia. As of last year, the company operated a total 107 stores, making Hypermart the largest supermarket chain in the country.

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Singapore. China will take a decision on establishing an air defense identification zone around disputed waters in the South China Sea based on its assessment of the security situation, a senior Chinese military official said on Sunday.

Land reclamation work by China around disputed islands has led to speculation it will declare an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which will require overflying aircraft to identify themselves to Chinese authorities. The United States has expressed concern that China’s actions threaten freedom of navigation and security in the Asia-Pacific.

Admiral Sun Jianguo, a deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told a regional security forum that China’s actions are peaceful and legitimate, calling on other countries to stop trying to “sow discord” over the matter.

“There is no reason for people to play up this issue in the South China Sea,” Sun said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, adding that an ADIZ depends on any threats to air or maritime security.

He rebuffed comments US Defense Secretary Ash Carter made on Saturday that China’s construction projects in the waters boost the risk of “miscalculation or conflict” but refrained from answering several questions on the issue.

The Chinese delegation of military and defense officials held 13 bilateral meetings with their foreign counterparts on the sidelines of the forum and many attendees said they had aired concerns to China about the South China Sea.

“Since this is an international conference, I think China will return home having heard the honest opinions and views of various countries,” Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters.

“I think it should take firm steps from now on as a state in the international community, to gain the trust of various countries so that the region’s peace and stability won’t be broken.”

Tension over the South China Sea has ratcheted up in recent months after satellite images showed the scale of China’s reclamation.

Rhetoric at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s biggest security forum, was more measured though than in 2014 when the Chinese, Japanese and US delegations exchanged sharp words.

“This year it was more reserved and carefully calibrated,” said Tim Huxley, Asia director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies which organises the forum.

Sun refrained from singling out the United States for criticism and emphasized China’s commitment to peaceful relations.

“China has always kept in mind the larger interests of maritime security,” he said, reiterating that his country’s “indisputable” claims over the waters were based on legal and historical evidence.

“We hope relevant countries will work together in the same direction to build the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and co-operation.”

The proceedings on Sunday were overshadowed by news that police had shot dead one man and detained two others in a car that tried to crash through barricades around the venue before dawn. Police said it was unrelated to the conference.

The shooting happened yards from the hotel where dozens of defense leaders and military heads, including Carter, were staying although none were in any danger.

All three men were Singaporean and they weren’t carrying any weapons, although the two arrested were carrying substances believed to be drugs, Singapore Police Force said.

Reuters

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Dubai. Iran will discuss “other solutions” to Western demands that it allow UN inspectors access to its military sites and to interview its nuclear scientists, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted on Sunday as saying.

The question of access for international inspectors has become one of the main sticking points between Tehran and six world powers as they try to overcome obstacles to a final nuclear agreement one month before of a deadline.

“We have decided to discuss other solutions to resolve this issue,” Zarif was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency, after holding six hours of meetings on Saturday with his US counterpart John Kerry.

Western officials say inspections of military sites by UN watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and access to Iran’s scientists are critical to checking whether Iran is pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Iran denies any ambition to develop a nuclear weapon and says its program is purely peaceful.

The United States and France have threatened to block any deal that does not allow access but Iran’s Supreme Leader has explicitly ruled out any inspections or interviews, creating an obstacle ahead of the June 30 deadline to reach an agreement.

Zarif did not give further details about how Iranian negotiators planned to resolve the issue and said there were still several points of difference between Iran and the United States, implying there had been no major breakthrough in his bilateral talks with Kerry.

“We have decided to work full time for the next three or four weeks to see whether or not it will be possible to reach an agreement,” he said.

Reuters

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Jakarta. The Indonesian government has decided that the price of the widely used and subsidized low-octane gasoline Premium  would stay at Rp 7,300 (55 cents) per liter in June, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

“Considering the economic conditions and to avoid unduly burdening the people during the fasting month of Ramadan, the government has decided to keep unchanged the price of the subsidized fuel,” said Gusti Nyoman Wiratmaja Puja, director general for oil and gas at the ministry.

The government has announced that reviews of the current subsidy scheme, which affects the prices of Premium and diesel fuel, will occur every three months as opposed to the recent biweekly revisions.

The fuel price has a multiplier impact on the country’s inflation rate through rising transportation costs.

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