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☆ Ancient Art or Fashion Forward? Both, Says a Top Batik Designer
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In one chest, Ms. Komara recently recalled, were batik designs from the island of Java, in the other elaborate weavings from Indonesia’s outer islands. She swallowed more wine, inhaled clove-scented smoke from an Indonesian cigarette — and considered how to enrich the heritage of a nation of more than 17,000 islands. Since that melancholic night nearly four decades ago, Ms. Komara has refashioned an ancient art by entwining disparate textile traditions with an aesthetic all her own to create a modern Indonesian silhouette. Her batik and other designs for her fashion house, BINhouse, have transformed a cultural expression that was intricate and lovely but so locked in tradition that it bordered on staid. Ms. Komara, known by her nickname Obin, no longer depends on lampshades for a living as BINhouse has become a global force in spreading batik’s beauty.

Persons: Josephine Komara, Komara Locations: Java, Indonesian

☆ The world’s best airlines for 2023, according to Skytrax
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Maureen O'Hare | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Now, for the fifth time in the accolades’ 23-year history, it’s been named best airline in the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards 2023. The Qatar flag carrier bossed it in business class, with wins for World’s Best Business Class, World’s Best Business Class Seat, World’s Best Business Class Lounge (the Al Mourjan lounge at Hamad International Airport), World’s Best Business Class Lounge Dining and Best Airline in the Middle East. Scoot was the World’s Best Long-Haul Low-Cost Airline and Volotea won out in the very competitive Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe category. Garuda Indonesia’s cabin staff were voted the world’s best, Cathay Pacific won World’s Best Inflight Entertainment and Bangkok Airways was once again the World’s Best Regional Airline. Delta Air Lines was named Best Airline in North America, with the Best Airline Staff Service for the region, while Sun Country Airlines was named Best Low-Cost Airline in North America title for the first time Alaska Airlines was North America’s Best Regional Airline.

Persons: it’s, ”, Edward Plaisted, Goh Choon Phong, –, Al, Scoot, Volotea Organizations: CNN, Singapore Airlines, Air and Space Museum, Paris Air, SIA, Qatar Airways –, Japan’s ANA All Nippon Airways, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Qatar, World’s, Hamad International Airport, ANA, World’s Best, Services, Kuwait Airways, AirAsia, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Entertainment, Bangkok Airways, . Delta Air Lines, Best Airline Staff Service, Sun Country Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Airlines, Qatar Airways, ANA All Nippon Airways, Turkish Airlines, Air, Cathay, Korean, Hainan Airlines, Int’l Air, Etihad Airways, Iberia, Fiji Airways, Qantas Airways, British Airways, Air New Zealand, Delta Air Lines, Garuda, Thai Airways, Transavia, Southwest Airlines, Vueling, Ryanair, Jetstar Airways, Friendly, Virgin Atlantic Locations: Singapore, Europe, North America, Air France, Garuda Indonesia, Transavia France

☆ Addicts Went in for Treatment. Instead They Were Enslaved.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Richard C. Paddock | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Most of the victims were forced to work at the factory or on the plantation, often alongside paid workers. Many were tortured, whipped, burned and sexually assaulted. Six prisoners died, including at least three who were tortured to death, according to Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights. Former captives also cleaned Mr. Perangin-angin’s mansion, washed his vehicles and fed his 200 cows. Some police officers and soldiers even helped guard or torture the men, victims and the authorities said.

Persons: Perangin, didn’t, ”, Ardi, angin Organizations: National, Human Rights, New York Times Locations: Regency

☆ Stellantis SPAC deal has suitably decent airbags
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Carmakers are in a race to lock in battery metals like lithium. For shareholders, the risk is that they tie up capital in expensive supply deals, or mines in far-flung locations with poor governance. Stellantis’s (STLAM.MI) investment in a London-based special purpose acquisition company deal looks like a neat fix to those challenges. In a complex deal, halfway between an IPO and a SPAC takeover, it will buy the Serrote and Santa Rita mines in east Brazil for $1.1 billion. Besides the original SPAC investors, the bulk of that will likely come from a public offering, and new anchor investors like Stellantis.

Persons: Nat Rothschild’s Vallar, Artem Volynets, Neil Unmack, Xavier Niel, George Hay, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Twitter, Brookfield, Thomson Locations: London, Santa, Brazil, Teck, China

☆ ASEAN to hold first joint military exercise in the South China Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN will hold its first-ever joint military exercise in the South China Sea, its chair Indonesia said on Thursday, the latest multilateral security drills at a time of rising tension and uncertainty in the region. The decision was taken at a meeting of military commanders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia, which will host the exercise in the North Natuna Sea, the southernmost waters of the South China Sea. The purpose, Margono said, was strengthening “ASEAN centrality.”ASEAN’s unity has for years been tested by a rivalry between the United States and China that is being played out in the South China Sea. China claims sovereignty via an expansive “nine-dash line” based on its historic maps, which an international arbitration court in 2016 ruled had no legal basis. The Philippines chided China’s coast guard for “dangerous manoeuvres” and “aggressive tactics” and plans to hold joint patrols with the United States, on top of an inaugural trilateral coast guard exercise they held with Japan this week.

Persons: Admiral Yudo Margono, Margono, Julius Widjojono Organizations: ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Beijing, South China Locations: South China, Indonesia, North, United States, China, ASEAN, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesian, Asia, Southeast Asia, South, Beijing, India, China’s, Japan

☆ Rio Waida: He grew up with the world's best waves but pioneering Indonesian found surfing success the hard way
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( George Ramsay | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Aaron Hughes/World Surf LeagueDespite Indonesia’s reputation as an iconic surf destination, Waida is the first person from the southeast Asian country to compete on the Championship Tour. “In Indo, we have the best waves and every day is good waves. I lost a lot before I qualified [for the Championship Tour]. However, disappointing results in Australia at the Rip Curl Pro and the Margaret River Pro saw Waida drop down the rankings. It’s tough, surfing against the best surfers … I have to give everything, there’s no easy road.

Persons: Rio, Waida, ”, “, Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning –, Aaron Hughes, I’ve, ” Waida, Slater, Gabriel Medina, John John Florence, Lisi Niesner, Curl, Margaret River, He’s, …, Brent Bielmann, Waida prioritizes Organizations: CNN, Olympics, Surf, Waida, Indonesia –, Tokyo, Paris, Reuters, Billabong Pro Pipeline, Curl Pro, City El Salvador Pro Locations: Indonesian, Bali, Indonesia, California, Europe, Japan, Australia, Brazil, United States, Hawaii, Curl Pro Portugal, Oahu

☆ Opinion | Forget Nouns. Verbs Are Where the Action Is.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( John Mcwhorter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The verb “see” is “doe,” uttered with a high pitch. To put the verb into past tense, you say it with a low pitch. To say that rather than mere glimpsing, you looked at something deliberately, you start on that low pitch and go even lower. And if you want to say the opposite, that you just looked something over quickly, you start high and then swoop low. Wait, wait!” This was perfectly ordinary speech, and it entailed four verbs and zero nouns or adjectives.

Persons: ”, Walt Whitman’s, Puedo, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, “, Daffy Organizations: Iau, Berlitz Locations: Fennoscandia, Thailand, Papua Province, Spanish

☆ Metals-rich Indonesia’s IPO market is so red-hot it’s thrashing Hong Kong and India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It has overtaken Hong Kong — long one of the top IPO markets — for the first time since 1995, and is outpacing economic powerhouses India, South Korea and Japan. Global IPO slowdownPart of Indonesia’s IPO success this year can be explained by lackluster performances elsewhere. The US IPO market, usually the world’s largest, has suffered given its reliance on particularly rate-sensitive tech companies, Lee said. Mining company Harita Nickel raised $660 million in its market debut last month, Indonesia’s biggest listing so far this year. “Our increasing conviction in [Indonesian companies] comes from how its government maximizes the potential of its bountiful raw materials,” he wrote.

☆ A Sinking Capital and More: The Week in Reporter Reads
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For two years, Mr. Joko served as the governor of a capital city that seemed to teeter on the brink of ruin. Most of all, Jakarta was sinking, as thirsty residents drained its marshy aquifers and rising sea waters lapped its shores. So Mr. Joko rolled up his sleeves, put on his sneakers and set about trying to fix the city. All the Sisyphean dredging, the endless concrete inches slathered on sea walls, the duct tape solutions could not raise Jakarta above the sea’s reach. And so Mr. Joko has turned to a different solution: If Jakarta cannot be saved, he will need to start over.

☆ The Plan to Build a New Capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Today, 40 percent of Jakarta lies below sea level, and flooding is increasingly common. To deal with that threat, Indonesia’s popular president — Joko Widodo, in his ninth year in office — has devised an audacious solution: He is moving the country’s capital. The new capital, now under construction, is called Nusantara. It is being built from the ground up, about 800 miles from the current capital. Joko promises that the city will be a model of environmental stewardship, carbon neutral within a few decades.

☆ What’s a President to Do When a Nation’s Capital Is Sinking? Move It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +38 min

A new capital city for a place with such disparities and diversity presents both a challenge and a chance for reinvention. Moving the Seat of Power From Java to Borneo Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, will be about 800 miles from the current capital, Jakarta. It cannot be overnight, it’s not like Aladdin comes with his genie,” said Bambang Susantono, the head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority. We have to prove that this will be a self-propelling city.” — Bambang Susantono, head of the Nusantara Capital City AuthorityCritics of I.K.N. Indonesia’s capital city faces sinking land and rising seas.

☆ Pro Take: Can Nickel, Cobalt and Other Battery Metals Be Sourced Sustainably?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Lockheed Martin and Norway’s Storebrand also have recently sold their interests in deep-sea mining companies. Others including German luxury carmaker BMW have said that, given environmental concerns, they won’t use battery metals sourced from the deep sea. More than a dozen countries are concerned about the environmental impact of the practice and are calling for a moratorium on seabed mining. A nickel mining site on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Proponents of deep-sea mining say the nascent practice is a less harmful way to extract nickel than how the mineral is currently sourced in Indonesia.

☆ Indomie: Nigeria probes popular noodles after recalls by Malaysia, Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —Nigeria’s food and drug regulator says it is investigating the popular Indomie brand of instant noodles following recalls in Malaysia and Taiwan where health authorities say they detected a potentially cancer-causing substance. “The public is … informed that the implicated Indomie instant noodle is not registered for sale in Nigeria. Indomie: The instant noodle giant in Nigeria 01:18 - Source: CNNIndonesian food giant Indofoods has defended the safety of its products. Indonesian food giant Indofoods says Indomie noodles is available in more than 100 countries across the world in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Indomie first launched instant noodles in 1972 with a chicken flavor but is now produced in many varieties.

“We would like to emphasize that … our Indomie instant noodles are safe for consumption,” Taufik Wiraatmadja, a member of the board of directors at Indofoods, said in a statement issued Friday. Health officials in Malaysia and Taiwan said this week they had detected a compound called ethylene oxide in Indomie’s “special chicken” flavor noodles. Ethylene oxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is used to sterilize medical devices and spices. Indomie first launched instant noodles in 1972 with a chicken flavor. Unlike most types of instant ramen, Indomie noodles are typically eaten dry, without needing to prepare soup.

☆ More than two-thirds of elephant habitat lost across Asia, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Elephants have lost almost two-thirds of their habitat across Asia, the result of hundreds of years of deforestation and increasing human use of land for agriculture and infrastructure, a new study has found. The study found that the greatest decline in elephant habitats was in China, where 94% of suitable land was lost between 1700 and 2015. Meanwhile, more than half of suitable elephant habitats have been lost in Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia’s Sumatra. The era also saw “new value systems, market forces, and governance policies” reaching beyond the cities of Europe into the forests of Asia – speeding up elephant habitat loss and the fragmentation of the species, the study found. Habitat loss also means elephants are migrating from their usual territories, creating “challenges for human communities that have little experience with elephants,” the study said.

☆ New Zealand pilot captured by Papuan fighters says he is ‘alive and well’ in new hostage video
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Philip Mehrtens, the New Zealand pilot held hostage by separatist fighters in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, has appeared in a video saying he is “alive and well,” as concerns grow for his safety as fighting with Indonesian security forces intensifies. In the one and a half minute video, Mehrtens, dressed in a black T-shirt and shorts and sitting between two unarmed Papuan men, speaks calmly to the camera first in Indonesian and then English. “We emphasize that the pilot’s release must go through negotiations – not through military operations,” the group’s spokesperson Sebby Sambom said. In a statement following the attacks, the rebels said they shot dead 13 Indonesian military and police officials and were in possession of 12 bodies, without providing proof. CNN has reached out to Indonesian army officials for further comment about the latest hostage video and updates on the search mission for Mehrtens.

☆ What it’s like to be a theme park designer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Kate Springer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“Back then, it definitely wasn’t cool to be into theme parks, but I was obsessed,” Jeffs, 39, tells CNN. Jeffs points to the immersive “Pacific Rim: Shatterdome Strike” ride at Trans Studio Cibubur, part of Indonesia’s largest theme park chain, as an example. “When I was growing up, theme park design was often dismissed as a rinky-dink, second-class artistic discipline simply because it was rarely well done. “That first summer, we drove 10,000 miles and hit up virtually any theme park that had managed to re-open,” he says. Courtesy Taylor JeffsAnd though he’s ridden over 600 roller coasters and explored theme parks worldwide, Disneyland in California remains his all-time favorite park.

Palm oil prices have fallen some 49% from last year's record, but the tight supply means they are expected to stay above pre-pandemic levels. Another palm oil giant, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLKK.KL), told Reuters it plans to replant 10,000 hectares this year, up from a lower-than-usual 6,000 hectares in 2022. The scheme targeted replanting of 2.4 million hectares but only managed to replant around 278,000 hectares by February, partly due to land legality issues. We are ageing faster than we are replanting," Malaysia Palm Oil Association chief executive Joseph Tek told Reuters. In Malaysia, replanting costs doubled to around $4,500 per hectare after the pandemic inflated prices of fertiliser and labour.

☆ Marketmind: Soft landing hopes fuel that Friday feeling
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Jamie Mcgeever | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 10, 2023. Dollar index - weekly changeAsian currencies are enjoying the ride too - Indonesia’s rupiah which hit an eight-month high on Thursday, and Singapore’s dollar rose to a two-month peak. The ‘Sing dollar’ is liable to move further on Friday, with traders braced for first quarter GDP growth data and the central bank’s semi-annual monetary policy decision. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is expected to tighten monetary policy for the sixth time in a row, amid persistent price pressures in the Asian financial hub due to global supply chain disruptions. Lastly, Indian wholesale price inflation is expected to virtually halve in March to a 1.87% annual rate from 3.85%.

☆ Deadly stadium crush: Indonesian soccer clubs meet for first time following disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Sammy Mncwabe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Two of Indonesia’s biggest soccer teams Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya played behind closed doors Tuesday in their first meeting since the deadly stadium disaster that killed more than 130 people in October. Some clashed with police, prompting security forces to fire tear gas into enclosed areas of the stadium – a crowd control measure banned by world soccer governing body FIFA. Persebaya won 1-0 against Arema, the first time the teams have met since last year's deadly stadium disaster. Willy Kurniawan/ReutersFollowing the stadium crush, which Indonesia’s National Police Chief described as one of the world’s deadliest stadium disasters, President Joko Widodo announced that Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang would be demolished and rebuilt according to FIFA standards. In March, two Indonesian soccer officials were sentenced up to 18 months in prison by a court over the deadly stadium crush, while three police officials charged with negligence will have their cases heard at a later date.

☆ Indonesia to propose limited free trade deal with US on critical minerals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Slideshow ( 2 images )JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will propose a free trade agreement for some minerals shipped to the United States so that companies in the electric vehicle battery supply chain operating in the country can benefit from U.S. tax credits, a senior minister said on Monday. Washington has issued a new guidance for EV tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), requiring a certain value of battery components to be produced or assembled in North America or a free trade partner. Indonesia does not have a free trade agreement with the United States, but its nickel products have increasingly become important in the battery supply chain. Asked about the new IRA guidelines, Indonesian minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who has been spearheading efforts to attract U.S. companies, told a news conference Jakarta will propose a limited free trade agreement (FTA) with Washington. “It’s the same in essence, that for critical minerals there will be free trade with requirements on processing, such as for nickel, aluminium, cobalt, copper,” he said.

☆ Ford Invests in $4.5 Billion Indonesia Facility to Secure Nickel for EV Batteries
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Jon Emont | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ford Motor Co. is investing in a $4.5 billion nickel processing facility in Indonesia as the auto maker seeks to secure a supply of key minerals used in electric-vehicle batteries. The project also involves PT Vale Indonesia TBK, which controls a large nickel-mining area on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, and China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., a leading refiner.

☆ Indonesian Tech Champion GoTo’s Tough Balancing Act in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Megha Mandavia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

GoTo shares have declined 72% since its public listing in April last year. Indonesia’s ride-hailing and e-commerce company GoTo Group is racing toward profitability—but perhaps not fast enough for suddenly risk-averse investors. GoTo, Indonesia’s largest technology company, posted an adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the fourth quarter of 3.1 trillion Indonesian rupiah, equivalent to $201.89 million. That was less than half what it lost a year earlier, mainly thanks to aggressive cost cutting and a new focus on high-quality profitable users.

☆ Middle East pivot to Asia is strategic this time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Xi Jinping has brokered a deal the United States would have found hard to secure, despite its traditional military influence in the Middle East. The Middle East has trained its financial sights on Asia before. At current rates of growth, emerging Asia will become the top trade partner for the Gulf countries by 2028, per Asia House, surpassing advanced economies. As U.S.-China relations continue to sour, the Asian financial centre is looking to the Middle East to find new foreign companies to trade in the territory. Delegations from the two Middle East countries held talks in Beijing between March 6 and 10, the statement added.

☆ Dow said it was recycling our shoes. We found them in Indonesia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +19 min

While the sample was small, the fact that none of these shoes made it to a Singapore recycling facility underscores weaknesses in the system. Dow said these builds will use the 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of recycled shoe material that have been produced through the Singapore recycling project so far. Reuters had dropped those shoes into a Dow recycling bin at a Singapore community center in September, three months earlier. Recycling flopsThis is not the first novel recycling scheme launched by Dow that hasn’t lived up to its billing. In its Jan. 18 statement, Dow said the shoe recycling partners are “energized by the common vision of sport championing a greener and more sustainable Singapore.” Dow did not comment on the Journal of Consumer Psychology study.

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