Okky Irmanita, Author at SCCI - Singapore Chamber of Commerce Indonesia

15Aug, 2018

For the sake of Rupiah, Chevron’s contract will be amended

ESDM Ministry’s Director General of Oil and Gas (Oil and Gas) Djoko Siswanto said, if possible an amendment was made regarding the production sharing contract (PSC) related to the government’s assignment to Pertamina to buy oil lifting from the KKKS.

“If you cannot use the regulation, it can work, if it is needed, then the PSC amendment will be done, later it can be added, for example, it had the right to export but prioritized for domestic interest at market price. Staying added like that, the PSC amendment will be completed. “Djoko told the media when met at the ESDM Ministry, Jakarta, Wednesday (8 August).

He said, there would be an additional lifting potential of 225,000 bpd that could be absorbed by Pertamina. At present, all of Indonesia’s production is 775,000 bpd, and Pertamina currently uses 550,000 bpd.

“775,000 bpd is reduced to 550,000 bpd which is exported,” added Djoko.

Furthermore, Djoko explained, at this time he was writing to all existing KKKS with three groups, namely those who had contracted with outside buyers, who had tender with Pertamina but Pertamina lost the tender, and the group that offered the right to match, then he joined the auction , and become the winner of the auction.

15Aug, 2018

Impact of Turkish currency dropping, Erdogan threatens boycott iPhone

Turkish President Racep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to boycott electronic products made in the United States, including one of the iPhones.

The threat was conveyed by Erdogan in his speech on Tuesday (August 14). Steps to boycott US products were made in retaliation for sanctions imposed on the detention of an American pastor, as well as to encourage the Lira currency which was at its lowest level.

As an alternative, this 64-year-old man said he would use goods made in the country or Apple’s competing companies in Asia.

(read more: CNN)

15Aug, 2018

Vienna ranked as most liveable city in the world – Tokyo & Osaka represents Asia

t’s the first time a European city has topped the rankings of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) annual survey.

The worldwide league table ranks 140 cities on a range of factors, including political and social stability, crime, education and access to healthcare.

In the survey, Manchester saw the biggest improvement of any European city, rising by 16 places to rank 35th.

At the other end of the scale, war-torn Damascus in Syria was ranked the least liveable city, closely followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh and Lagos in Nigeria.

The EIU said that crime, civil unrest, terrorism or war played a “strong role” in the ten-lowest scoring cities.

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The ten most liveable cities in 2018

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Osaka, Japan

4. Calgary, Canada

5. Sydney, Australia

6. Vancouver, Canada

7. Tokyo, Japan

8. Toronto, Canada

9. Copenhagen, Denmark

10. Adelaide, Australia

The ten least liveable cities 2018

1. Damascus, Syria

2. Dhaka, Bangladesh

3. Lagos, Nigeria

4. Karachi, Pakistan

5. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

6. Harare, Zimbabwe

7. Tripoli, Libya

8. Douala, Cameroon

9. Algiers, Algeria

10. Dakar, Senegal

15Aug, 2018

Indonesia promises haze-free Asian Games

The government is determined to carry out all necessary measures to prevent forest and land fires from spreading on the island of Sumatra, as the Asia Games are set to kick off on Aug. 18 in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, at the peak of the dry season.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto held a meeting on Tuesday with relevant officials, discussing anticipatory measures to address the potential increase in hot spots.

“Learning from our experience […] and with solid coordination [among stakeholders] as well as proper procedures in both prevention and mitigation, all regions are prepared to mitigate potential forest fires,” Wiranto said on Tuesday.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) detected 169 hot spots in Sumatra Island on Tuesday with 47 hot spots in South Sumatra alone. Riau recorded an increase in hot spots to 90 from 65 in the previous day while there were 11 hot spots in Jambi and 55 hot spots in Bangka Belitung province.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry’s director general of climate change, Ruandha Agung Sugadirman, said a coordinated team comprising relevant officials, including police and Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, routinely carried out patrols in areas prone to forest fires.

Sixteen helicopters have been on standby across South Sumatra and can be deployed for water bombing at any time when forest fires are detected. Another 10 helicopters are also on standby in Riau, Ruandha said.

The government has also used 51 tons of salt to intensify cloud-seeding operations to help stimulate rainfall since May, he said, adding that rain had fallen in the province from Monday evening to Tuesday morning.

(read more: The Jakarta Post)

6Aug, 2018

SCCI Members attend the Singapore culinary festival at Shangri-La Jakarta

Satoo Restaurant at the Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta presents a Singapore Culinary Week to celebrate Singapore’s independence day. The Council Members of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce Indonesia are invited to taste Singaporean cuisine on Monday (August 6th, 2018)

Besides nasi lemak, Satoo also showcases Singaporean snacks. There are small cakes that are colorful, there are also fried bananas, bugis cakes and ice cendol.

There is a Merlion-like statue on display in the corner of Singapore’s snacks so that visitors can easily taste the available dishes.

While having lunch in Singaporean style, Singapore Ambassador to Indonesia H.E. Anil Kumar Nayar chatted with the invitees, including SCCI Chairwomen Noor Meurling.

3Aug, 2018

China unveils retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods in latest salvo

China on Friday announced retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods ranging from liquefied natural gas (LNG) to some aircraft and warned of further measures, signaling that it won’t back down in a protracted trade war with Washington.

China’s finance ministry unveiled new sets of additional tariffs on 5,207 goods imported from the United States, ranging from 5 to 25 percent.

Timing will depend on the actions of the United States, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a separate statement.

The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure for trade concessions from Beijing this week by proposing a higher 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. China immediately vowed to retaliate though at the same time urged the U.S. to act rationally and return to talks to resolve the dispute.

The United States and China implemented tariffs on $34 billion worth of each others’ goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement more tariffs on $16 billion in additional Chinese goods, which China has already announced it will match immediately.

(read more: Reuters)

31Jul, 2018

PLN signs deal to expand electricity in two provinces in Papua

State-owned electricity company PLN has signed a cooperation agreement with a number of institutions to improve the electricity system through the “Papua Terang” program in Papua and West Papua provinces.

The institutions are the Indonesian Military and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) as well as five higher educational institutions – the University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology, Gajah Mada University, the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology and Cenderawasih University.

“With the cooperation agreement signed last Friday, PLN aims to provide electricity to 99 percent of villages in the two provinces in 2019,” PLN says in a statement at pln.co.id, adding that to date, PLN had electrified 30.39 percent out of the 4,535 villages in the two provinces.

The statement says the company plans to electrify 1,200 more villages this year.

After the signing ceremony, PLN also deployed 500 members of an expedition team under the name of “Ekspedisi Papua Terang.” The team members consisted of student volunteers, PLN, the Indonesian Military and Lapan.

(read more: The Jakarta Post)

24Jul, 2018

Using plastic waste, Indonesian students win smart car competition in London

Gadjah Mada University’s (UGM) Smart Car MCS team took home wins at the Shell Ideas 360 Awards in London earlier this month, beating four other finalists in a global competition organized for students to develop game-changing ideas to tackle energy, food and water issues.

The team, comprising four students from the university’s chemical engineering department, won the competition’s judges choice and audience choice awards for their idea of developing a smart car capable of turning plastic waste into fuel that emits low levels of carbon dioxide.

he team had to compete in stages with over 1,000 teams from 140 participating countries. Five finalists, including the UGM Smart Car MCS team, were selected to further pitch their ideas to the judges.

The other four finalists were from the American University of Sharjah, University of Texas at Austin (United States) University of Bordeaux (France) and University of Melbourne (Australia).

UGM’s winning idea involved the use of the heat from car exhaust fumes to break down plastic waste and turn it into liquid fuel, thus helping turning a waste product into clean energy.

With the idea and supervision of their supervising lecturers Hanifrahmawan Sudibyo and Yano Surya Pradana, the team engineered a car capable of processing plastic waste into raw liquid fuel that could be further processed into fuel ready to be used as alternative energy.

“The idea also involves the use of microalgae cultivation support [MCS] technology to reduce CO2 emissions of the respective car,” Herman said.

Secretary of UGM’s chemical engineering department, Aswati Mindaryani, said more work needed to be done for the idea to be applied on the field.

“But the idea really makes us proud,” she said.

(Source: The Jakarta Post)

24Jul, 2018

5.6m passengers passed trough Changi Airport, increase 6.9%

hangi Airport handled 5.57 million passenger movements in June 2018, a 6.9 per cent year-on-year increase, Changi Airport Group (CAG) said on Tuesday (Jul 24).

In terms of landings and takeoffs, there were 31,870 aircraft movements in June, 3.1 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Traffic between Singapore and Europe grew 19 per cent in June; and among Changi’s top 10 markets, Indonesia and Japan were the fastest growing, boosted by travel to Denpasar and Tokyo.

Other routes to cities like London, Melbourne, Mumbai and Shanghai also registered a double digit growth, said CAG.

Amid these figures, LOT Polish Airlines introduced one more Singapore-Warsaw connection, bringing the total number of weekly services to four. This comes after the new Singapore-Warsaw connection was introduced in May.

Additionally, for the first half of the year, Changi Airport recorded 32.1 million passenger movements, 5.5 per cent higher than the same period last year.

(Read more: Channel News Asia)

29Jun, 2018

Author: Okky Irmanita

The ten most liveable cities in 2018

The ten least liveable cities 2018