THE name Sakti Wahyu Trenggono is not found among the management of Tower Bersama Infrastructure (TBIG) company. He is often described as advisor to this telecommunication company. But industry practitioners consider him an important person in the Mitratel share-swap transaction between Telkom and TBIG. Two weeks ago, he spoke to Tempo about the deal.

TWICE EDI Syahputra asked the dozens of people waiting in front of the multipurpose meeting room of the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform to be patient on Friday last week. The head of the Ministry's Human Resources Bureau apologized to inspectorate personnel of a number of regional administrations for keeping them waiting for over three hours. "The coordination meeting of provincial inspectorates will be delayed because the room is being used for another program," he said. "It's the consequence of the ban on us from holding meetings at hotels."

A broad grin spread across the face of Fuad Rahmany, the Finance Ministry's director general of taxation. On Wednesday two weeks ago, similar expressions could be seen on the faces of Vincentius Sonny Loho, the ministry's inspector general; Catur Rini Widosari, its director of objections and appeals; YuliKristiyono, the director of intelligence and investigations; and other ministry officials. They were all in Court Room I on the ninth floor of the Dhanapala Building at the ministry's office in Jakarta.

Property
Jakarta's Property Prices Soar

A survey by global property consultant Knight Frank Asia-Pacific shows property prices in Jakarta are the highest among 32 other cities in the world. In a Global Prime Cities Index for the third quarter of 2014, the price were reported to rise 27.3 percent more than during the same period last year.

Hasan Pamudji, a director at consultancy Knight Frank Indonesia, said last week that despite the rise, prices in Jakarta were still lower than those in some other cities. Most of the high-priced property is located in Jakarta's Sudirman, Thamrin and SCBD areas, According to Hasan, the city's property prices are expected to rise by an estimated 25 percent early next year.

Anton Hendranata*

For the last four years Indonesia's foreign direct investment (FDI) has almost doubled in size, a significant jump by any measure. In 2010, FDI was US$16 billion, but by 2013 it had ballooned to US$29 billion. Even among the top FDI receiving countries in the world, where the United States, China and Russia were the top three ranked, Indonesia ended up in the respectable 18th spot. Among its regional counterparts, Indonesia was behind Singapore (ranked sixth) and India (ranked 14th). This, no doubt, is a good start. However, interestingly enough, the role of FDI in the economy is still relatively small. The ratio of FDI to GDP in Indonesia reached only 3.3 percent in 2013, roughly half of Malaysia (5.8 percent) and Vietnam (6.7 percent).

His name is Sekarpandan. He is short, with a huge behind. In Cirebon style wayang kulit, he is one of the nine clown-retainers who accompany the five Pandawa.

THE newly appointed minister for maritime affairs and fisheries appeared in casual clothes, although she wore a long skirt down to her ankles. She admits to dressing more than she ever did before embarking on her new job. "I must now wear clothing that covers the tattoo on my leg," she said, in explaining her sartorial change. Some things don't change however, as she still insists on wearing 10-centimeter high-heeled shoes and wedges.

Sacha Stevenson is one of the most reviled women on the social media scene in Indonesia, with thousands of hate-mail hits to counterbalance the hundreds of thousands 'thumbs-up' she gets a week. As host of the popular How To Act Indonesian on Youtube, she sometimes takes on certain sacred cows that hit a wrong nerve for some of her subscribers. Canadian-born Stevenson has travelled extensively around Indonesia, at one time on roller blades, inspiring her to write her experience in a piece called Bule on Blades. She is a graduate of the American Open University in Islamic studies. she speaks Indonesian and Arabic. Tempo English contributing editor Debra Yatim caught up with her after her appearance at the 2014 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali recently. Excerpts:

How did you start on your merry path and become so widely known in Indonesia?

I started off treating my YouTube as a Facebook page, uploading stuff for no rhyme or reason, like you would post something on Facebook. I started getting serious when I began putting up parody; I did a parody of a pop song which I called 'BB,' making fun of how everybody in Indonesia was using the BlackBerry. It became difficult for me to do it weekly because I was doing it from my kost (rented room) and had to wait till deep at night to do it. After a while, I came up with the idea to do very, very simple sketches about Indonesian daily life. They would only take me a couple of hours, and I could upload them once a week.

President Joko Widodo attended his first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on November 12-13. He asserted during the meeting that Indonesia was ready to support the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) free market in 2015. "Indonesia will not let itself be merely a market," he said.

According to Joko, an increase in inter-ASEAN trade will be the key to AEC success. "Within the next five years, I hope the value of trade between ASEAN member states can reach at least 35-40 percent," added the president. As of now, inter-ASEAN trade volume is 24.2 percent. He also urged other member states to work together in doubling the ASEAN GDP, from US$ 2 trillion to US$ 4 trillion, and reducing the poverty rate to 9.3 percent by 2030.

President Joko Widodo made his first internation speech during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Beijing, China, on Monday last week. He spoke slowly, using simple English and a thick Javanese accent. The video of his speech on YouTube is arguably the most-watched video that has ever been uploaded by APEC. While he was not the most eloquent English speaker, Joko's message was clear: he wants more investors to put their money in Indonesia.

At the 2014 Haze Roundtable organized by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) earlier this month, two encouraging developments were seen in the 20-year struggle to mitigate the annual environmental scourge. The first is that Indonesia has finally ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP), which was first enacted in 2002. Well-known as the biggest source of the haze, Indonesia was the last holdout. The other nine members of the regional grouping had ratified it years ago.

Another Harita Group company has been caught clearing forest outside the boundaries of its concession.

When heavy rains fall, the river behind Eddy Manoppo's house in Manado overflows. Water floods the living room where Eddy, Henky Lasu and their friends play bridge.

The Madiun regency government has shut down the Gude red-light district. The local government declared the shutdown complete last week. "There is a Rp3 million compensation for every Gude sex worker," Madiun public relations officer Heri Supramono said.

Jennifer Lindsay*

On October 20 last, Joko Widodo took the oath of office as the seventh president of the Republic of Indonesia. It was a thrilling moment, watched and heard by Indonesians all over the country: here was the first president of Indonesia who had risen to this position from below through a series of direct elections (first mayor, then governor and now president). A man of the people, it was the people who had got him there.

In his Javanese-accented Indonesian, Joko Widodo solemnly stated:

MANY people were relieved after the arrest of three administrators of TrioMacan's Twitter account. As a result of reports by Indonesian Telecommunication, Telkom, and Abdul Satar to the police, Raden Nuh, Edi Syahputra and Harry Koeshardjono are now behind bars at the Jakarta Police. The three were charged with libel and extortion that could result in 12 years in prison. Police also charged Raden Nuh and Harry with money laundering.

Batam Immigration Office Full of Brokers

I recently had a disappointing experience at the Batam Immigration office, on Riau Islands, when I sought to process my own new passport. I was obstructed when doing so by brokers within the Immigration office. I hope the new leadership in the central and regional governments, as well as the parliament can do away with this brokering and can discipline those individuals concerned within Immigration.

PRESIDENT Joko Widodo's instruction banning civil servants from holding meetings in hotels has yet to be issued, but ministers and governors have already announced the policy after they gathered at the State Palace, Jakarta last Tuesday. In the coordination meeting, President Jokowi expressly banned government activities from being organized other than in ministerial or institutional facilities.

Indonesia's own deforestation measurements have been called into question. "The data on this is unclear," said Heru Prasetyo, chief Indonesia's REDD+ Management Agency (BP REDD+), which is in charge of managing US$1 billion in deforestation-slowing programs.

This year, Indonesia and India mark 75 years of diplomatic relations. However, the ties between the two nations have existed much longer, predating the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of India. These connections span social, cultural, religious, economic, and trade aspects. But do those close ties of the past have any bearing on the present relationship? Why is there no direct flight between the capitals of the two countries?

Indian Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Sandeep Chakravorty, shares his views on this matter at TEMPO TALKS.