YOUTH CRUISE

The Jakarta Post | Thu, 11/13/2008 8:05 AM | Headlines

Participants of the 35th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program disembark from the Nippon Maru, which arrived at Tanjung Priok port, Jakarta, from Brunei on Wednesday. Thirty-one young people from the ASEAN member countries and Japan are taking part in this year’s program. On Saturday, they will leave Jakarta for Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines before returning to Japan on Dec. 10. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

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Tsunami early warning siren all at once

Denpasar (ANTARA News) - The government to test a Tsunami early warning on November 11, 2008 all at once all over Indonesia on 4.00 pm WIB. Bali has six tsunami early sirens to be tested.

"We urge everybody on November 11 not to panic when the siren goes of, its only just a drill," said the Denpasar Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) information and data chief division Sutrisno, here Wednesday.

Sutrisno said the announcement in the tsunami early warning system socialization to all local government arrays held here.

He also said that the sirens will set off for one minute with "This is only a tsunami early warning test" announcement would be repeated three times.

"This socialization to prevent public panic," he said.

The Bali six early warning towers spreads over BTDC Nusa Dua. Seminyak, Kuta, Kedonganan, Tanjung Benoa and Sanur.

After the trial on November 11, trial test would be routinely conducted on the 26 of every month at 10.00 pm local times. This effort is to increases public awareness and to test the early warning siren device.

The alarm would sound on a steady note with three minutes or more duration.

If the sirens sets of, other warning instrument like `Kentongan` (drum made from bamboo which is struck to sound an alarm), `Bedug` (large drum suspended horizontally at mosque to summon to prayer)and Mosque`s public announcement systems and other instruments are expected.

Apart from siren warning, the BMG would also warns in five different applications such as Short messages service, and audio and text channels.

BMG itself would only need approximately less than five minutes from the earthquake occurrence whether its a tsunami potential or not.

"After the earthquake, our device would read and predicted it straight away for tsunami potential or not," sutrisno said.

Based on the history, Bali had experienced twice three meters high small tsunamis from Sumbawa tsunami on 1997 and Banyuwangi tsunami on 1994.

Source : www.antara.co.id

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BI regulates bigger forex purchases to steady rupiah

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 11/13/2008 10:39 AM | Business

As the rupiah declines, the central bank will limit the purchase of foreign currencies above US$100,000 to those who can provide information to justify their transactions.

Through a new regulation to be effective starting Thursday, Bank Indonesia expects this policy to help balance demand and supply in the forex market, reduce extreme pressure on the rupiah and minimize forex purchases for speculative purposes, governor Boediono said in a statement Wednesday.

"The regulation is based on the free foreign exchange system that Indonesia now has, in which every citizen is free to own and use foreign currencies, as stipulated on the Law No. 24/1999 on foreign exchange flows and the exchange rate system," Boediono said.

"This is not a foreign exchange control policy or capital control mechanism that limits capital flows between countries,"

Individual customers and registered Indonesian and foreign companies are still allowed to freely purchase foreign currencies through spot, forward, or derivative transactions, BI said.

However, Indonesian citizens or firms wanting to purchase more than $100,000 in foreign currencies need to provide evidence of justifying transactions, such as invoices used to import goods or pay debts.

Meanwhile, foreign parties can only purchase amounts above $100,000 through spot transactions.

The regulation is expected to limit speculative purchases of currencies. With the regulation in place, BI expects that banks should be able to detect when customers purchase dollars for speculative purposes.

Analyst Farial Anwar has said that the fall of the rupiah was caused by the free foreign exchange system adopted by Indonesia.

With capital control, Farial said, the government could more easily manage the flow of short-term funds, or hot money, in and out of Indonesia.

"Hot money is harder to monitor and control and it enters only the financial sector, not the real sector. It makes us black and blue, while only 2 million people out of our 220 million population are engaging in the financial sector.

"If the rupiah stays at the current level for a long time, it will affect state financing and people will suffer," he said.

On Wednesday, the rupiah fell 1.6 percent to 11,485 per dollar as of 4:10 p.m. in Jakarta. At one point the currency reached 11,700 Wednesday, approaching the 11,900 it reached on Oct. 28, which was the lowest since 2001.

"Investors are switching from the capital market to the foreign exchange market to compensate for their losses, thus the dollar strengthens. Investors say it's a safe haven," Farial said.

According to Bloomberg, the rupiah has weakened by 14 percent in the past month, making it the worst performer among Asia's 10 most traded currencies.

-- Aditya Suharmoko

Source : www.thejakartapost.com

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RI student wins second place in Mondialogo contest

Kurniawan Hari , The Jakarta Post , Beijing | Fri, 10/03/2008 11:33 AM | National

SECOND PRIZE: Indonesian student Angela Wu (right) and her teammate Anastasiya Onyshko from Ukraine pose in front of their work at the Jade Garden Hotel in Beijing. The team came second at the Mondialogo School Contest. (JP/Kurniawan Hari)

Indonesian student Angela Wu and Ukrainian teammate Anastasiya Onyshko won second place at the prestigious Mondialogo School Contest, the world's largest intercultural dialog and exchange contest for high school students.

Angela, a student at Indonesia's British International School (BIS) and Anastasiya each received a trophy and 1,000 euro (US$1400) for their mobile bike library project at the contest which was held in Beijing from Sept. 25 to Sept. 29.

"The self-written and illustrated story books are intended to promote reading," the panel of judges said in a statement.

The magnitude of the mobile library project had been a topic of discussion among journalists covering the event before the official announcement. Some journalists had even bet that the Indonesian-Ukrainian team would win.

However, the jury picked Lebanese student Michelle Karam and Serbian teammate Kristina Jaukovic for first place.

The Lebanon-Serbia team had designed a playground for disabled children, which was meant to be a safe place to play and to learn about each other's culture.

Two teams shared third place, the Germany-Mexico team and the Syria-United States team.

The Russia-Turkey team was awarded a special prize for sustainability while the Benin-United States team took the award for cultural diversity.

"We came in first last year. I think it's OK to win second place this year," BIS teacher Adrian Marcus Thirkell told The Jakarta Post.

The Mondialogo School Contest was first introduced in 2003 by German carmaker Daimler and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It serves as a forum for dialog between high school students from various cultural backgrounds and continents. The students work together on a joint project.

Through this intercultural initiative, students are expected to develop understanding, solidarity, tolerance and respect for people with different cultures, religions, languages and origins.

A total of 36,000 students from 140 countries had applied to compete. Only 2,740 teams passed the qualifying round and then they worked together on joint projects across the continents.

From this group, the top 25 teams were selected to attend the contest. Team members met their respective partners for the first time in Beijing, as all previous communication was done through the Internet.

Ulrich Walker, CEO of Daimler North East Asia, said the event was an important forum for young people to understand different cultures. He said he had been deeply impressed by the students' work and presentations.

"The task to promote cultural dialog cannot be carried out alone. That is why we look to the younger generation. This forum is an example of how to build a cultural dialog," said Hans d'Orville from UNESCO.

Source : www.thejakartapost.com

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President Asks Young People to Face Global Competition

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked young people to prepare themselves to face global competition and avoid drugs.

“Globalization creates opportunities as well as threats. We have to survive this,” said Yudhoyono at the commemoration of the 80th youth pledge at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah yesterday (28/10).

The commemoration was attended by 2,000 young people from throughout Indonesia, with about 300 of them reading out the pledge.

The commemoration was also attended by cabinet ministers and ambassadors.

The President asked young people to continue the agenda of development, reform, and transformation following the crisis 10 years ago.

“Please continue to take our county to become more democratic and prosperous,” country,” he said.

At the commemoration, President sent text messages promoting anti-drugs message to young people by cell phone.

The message was sent yesterday at 4:30pm to 0:00 through all phone operators and fixed wireless access.

Ninin Damayanti | DIAN YULIASTUTI

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