December 1, 2015 edition
The passing of Siti Hindun meant a busy day for Hatta Rajasa. The former coordinating minister for the economy was busy receiving mourners at the funeral home on Jalan Sriwijaya, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. Siti Hindun was the mother of Mohammad Riza Chalid, an oil and gas trader. He is a key figure in the findings of the forensic audit on Petral, a subsidiary of Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil and natural gas corporation.
Two of the guests who came to the funeral home on Monday last week were Aburizal Bakrie and Idrus Marham. They are the chairman and secretary-general of the Golkar Party respectively, according to the result of the National Consultation held in Bali. Idrus presided over the burial. Hatta was seen welcoming Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Setya Novanto, DPR Deputy Chairman Fadli Zon from the Gerindra Party and Fahri Hamzah from the Prosperity and Justice Party (PKS) in the central room.
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November 24, 2015 edition
SETYA Novanto, speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), started his meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla last Monday by talking about plans for his daughter's wedding. Their conversation then moved on to the real reason for the meeting. When Setya met with Freeport Indonesia CEO Maroef Sjamsuddin, he allegedly exploited the names of the President and the Vice President without authorization. Kalla expressed his disapproval. "Why did you use the President's and my names?" said Kalla, as repeated by someone who works closely with the Vice President.
The DPR's speaker said he had taken businessman Muhammad Riza Chalid along to meet with Maroef, but denied that he had misused the President's name. Setya said, "I swear to God: I didn't bring Bapak's name into it!" In a sarcastic tone, Kalla snapped at Setya, "Really, I only asked for nine percent." Setya has denied the news that Kalla was angry with him at the meeting. "Pak JK is someone I greatly respect," Setya told Tempo last Thursday, referring to the Vice President by the latter's initials.
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November 17, 2015 edition
Our motorcycle stopped in front of a cliff nearly 100 meters high. The sandy path that we had been following for an hour ended abruptly there. A limestone wall was in front of us, trees to the right, and bushes to the left. I decided to get off the motorcycle and walk through the bushes.
My fellow travelers, photographer Aditia Noviansyah and Apo who was giving him a lift, waited on their motorcycle. After pushing through the last layer of brush, clustered between two coconut trees, a stretch of white sand stretched for about a kilometer in front of me. "I had nearly given up hope because of that cliff," said Apo, who it turned out had caught up with me. The 18-year-old native of Alor owned the motorcycles we rented.
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November 10, 2015 edition
Some large trucks are lining up in front of the warehouses. Parked right outside the warehouse doors, they are ready to load and transport rice. Sacks of rice are stacked up to the entrances of warehouses that line a four-kilometer stretch in Cai Be District, Tien Giang Province, Vietnam. Most of the rice in Cai Be is for the local supply in Vietnam.
When Tempo visited Cai Be in mid-September, some warehouses were accepting foreign orders, including from Indonesia. Li Ha Phuong, a seller who owns the Tan Thanh rice warehouse, said that they often exported rice to Indonesia. "The last export was about 50,000 tons last June to July," she said.
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November 3, 2015 edition
The halal logo welcomed guests entering Cafe Bayan at Hotel Santika Mataram in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) last week. No beer or other alcoholic beverages were on tap. An assortment of dishes on the menu came with the halal guarantee for Muslim visitors. The three-star inn holds the status of 'hilal one', meaning that the hotel is equipped with the minimum requirements for the basic necessities of a Muslim. "There are instructions on the direction of the qibla in the room ceiling, ablution places and a prayer hall for the congregation," said Reza Bovier, general manager of Hotel Santika Mataram.
The NTB government is aggressively promoting 'halal tourism' programs. The result is remarkable: NTB was selected as the World's Best Halal Honeymoon Destination and the World's Best Halal Tourism Destination at the World Halal Travel Summit & Exhibition (WHTSE) in 2015, which was held on October 19-21, 2015, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. "This is a victory for all of us. In the future, we must focus on developing Indonesia as a destination for Muslim tourists," Tourism Minister Arief Yahya told reporters two weeks ago.
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October 27, 2015 edition
Throughout his first year in office, President Joko Widodo faced a series of problems, some of them caused by his own political decisions, others by the turbulent global economy. This affected the public's level of satisfaction with his government, which according to a number of surveys, had declined significantly.
Jokowi himself admitted his dissatisfaction at what had been achieved so far, which he described as a period of consolidation. "The government has underachieved," said the President in a special interview with Tempo at the State Palace in Jakarta last week. It was exactly one year since he and Vice President Jusuf Kalla were sworn in by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
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October 20, 2015 edition