Blogger Auto Pagination Speeds Page Loads but Angers Bloggers

Susan's Blogging Blog, by Susan Gunelius, Thursday February 25, 2010

Last week, Blogger rolled out Auto Pagination, which automates the amount of content that is displayed on Blogger blog pages based on the amount of HTML and and images on each page. Google claimed that the purpose behind the change is to speed page load time. For example, with the new Auto Pagination feature, a Blogger blog might be limited to only display two posts per page if those posts include a lot of images. Visitors would need to click on the Next Post link to view additional posts from the blog.

While the change is unlikely to affect a lot of smaller bloggers, it has caused concern from larger bloggers, particularly those who use Blogger for photo blogs or blogs that are image-intensive, such as celebrity fan bloggers.

Many of the Blogger users who found their blogs suddenly altered to display only a couple of posts per page blogged about the new Blogger Auto Pagination feature in order to complain about the change. According to some of the more vocal bloggers, they were able to email Google and work with them to modify their blogs so the Auto Pagination feature doesn't affect their blogs. If you use Blogger and dislike the Auto Pagination feature, be sure to contact Blogger support and voice your concerns.

Has the new Blogger Auto Pagination function affected your blog or any of the blogs that you read? Leave a comment and share your experiences.

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RI, M`sia agree to minimize sea border violations

Antara News, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 23:44 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Malaysian navies have agreed to minimize mutual violations of their sea boundaries, especially in Sulawesi waters.

"We have agreed and understand the rules that have been made by the two parties with regard to procedures for conducting patrols in the two countries` sea borders," Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Agus Suharto said here on Wednesday.

When asked by ANTARA News regarding the result of his courtesy call on Malaysian Navy Chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Jafar last week he said the two parties had agreed to conduct patrol in their respective sea borders.

"So in case a sea border dispute occurs including in the Sulawesi waters we will refer it to the government to settle. We, the two countries` navies, will safeguard and patrol in our own regions in line with the standing procedures already agreed," Agus said.

Until now the Indonesian embassy has facilitated 13 rounds of talks on the Indonesia-Malaysia maritime border since 2005 with regard to delimiting four segments of the maritime border namely in Sulawesi waters, the Malacca Strait, the South China sea and the Singapore Strait.

In the Malacca Strait Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have conducted patrol cooperation under the Malsindo (Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia) program and a joint Eye in the Sky air patrol.

Indonesia and Malaysia however have not reached an agreement regarding the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) border line in the northern part of the Malacca Strait and in the South China sea.

In the Sulawesi waters the two countries also have not yet agreed with regard to continental shelf, territorial and EEZ borders.

Yudhoyono receives UNEP Award for coral initiative

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali | Wed, 02/24/2010 5:45 PM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been honored with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Award for Leadership in Promoting Ocean and Marine Conservation and Management.

The award was presented Wednesday by UNEP executive director Achiem Steiner during the opening of UNEP's 11th Special Session of the Governing Council in Nusa Dua, Bali, which is the first ministerial-level meeting organized by the UN body since the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The President was honored for "personally spearheading" the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), the high-level political commitment among the governments of several countries around the Coral Triangle area, to safeguard the region's marine and coastal biological resources for the sustainable growth and prosperity of current and future generations.

The Coral Triangle covers the areas of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. It lies across mere 1 percent of the earth’s surface, but is said to contain a third of the world's coral and three-quarters of its coral reef species.

In August 2007, Yudhoyono wrote to seven other leaders in the area proposing a new CTI, which was then agreed upon and signed in Manado shortly after the World Ocean Conference in May 2009.

"The CTI represents a key step in protecting one of the most important marine ecosystems on the planet," UNEP director of information Satinder Bindra said before presenting the award to the Indonesian President.

"It's a commendable example of regional cooperation and it's an initiative which has been personally spearheaded by His Excellency President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," he added.

In his speech after the award ceremony, Yudhoyono said the award belonged to all Indonesians, not just to him.

Maluku governor to visit Australia with president

Antara News, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 16:08 WIB

Ambon (ANTARA News) - Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu has been asked to accompany President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the latter`s visit to Australia on March 13, 2010.

"It will be an honor for Maluku and also an opportunity for Governor Ralahalu to promote Maluku`s potentials in the neighboring country," Maluku provincial administration public relations chief Semmy Huwae said here on Wednesday.

Huwae said Ralahalu would during the visit also extend an official invitation to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to attend the international marine event of Sail Banda 2010 in Ambon.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who is due to attend the peak event of the international marine activity on August 3, 2010 would at the same time declare Maluku as a national fishery hub.

With vast areas of coral reefs, Maluku is rich in fish and other sea biota, including decorative fish species, and if managed optimally and effectively, its marine resources could bring high economic returns.

Fish species found in Maluku waters include the Black spotted Puffer, Trumpet fish, Anemones, Juvenile Damselfish, Porcupine fish, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Scorpion Fish, Lizard fish, Moray Eels, Seahorses and Banded Sea Snakes.

President Yudhoyono and his entourage will visit Australia on March 13, 2010, and on the next day March 14, 2010, the head of state will continue to Papua New Guinea where Governor Ralahalu would also hand an official invitation to the PNG prime minister to attend Sail Banda.

"But the visits to Malaysia, Timor Leste, and other countries will be scheduled by the presidential secretariat after the visit to Australia and Papua New Guinea," Semmy Huwae said.

He said the president and central government strongly supported the success of Sail Banda 2010, and therefore Governor Ralahalu and his deputy also called on all parties to support the success of the international marine event in Maluku later.

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President outlines five strategies to save environment

Antara News, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 16:05 WIB

Nusa Dua (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono outlined five strategies to save the environment when officially opening the 11th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council /Global Ministerial Environment Forum, here on Wednesday.

The first strategy is to change the pattern of production and consumption in order to save the Earth which is seriously damaged, for the sake of the present and future generations.

Other strategies are to lower biodiversity loss by implementing real actions; to promote new orientation of development and economic paradigm which are pro-poor, pro-job, and pro-growth; to finalize agreements for sustainable development; and to finalize negotiations on climate change to ensure the success of the planned Mexico Climate Change Summit , the head of state said.

On the occasion, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner presented a UNEP Award of Leadership to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for promoting and conserving marine ecosystem management.

President Yudhoyono said he accepted the award as a recognition to the work of the whole Indonesian people in managing the marine ecosystem.

He also reaffirmed Indonesia`s commitment to reducing the level of deforestation and land degradation and to lowering the level of carbon emissions.

The world environmental minister meeting taking place under the auspices of UNEP at the Bali International Convention Center from February 24 to 26, is being participated in by around 1,000 delegates from 130 countries.The meeting`s slogan is "One Planet: Our Responsibility.

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Delegates from around the world have gathered in Nusa Dua for the UNEP conference. (JG Photo/JP Christo)

Foreign fishing activity threatening Papua`s marine life

Antara News, by Eliswan Azly, Monday, February 22, 2010 20:25 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The operations of many foreign fishermen in Papua waters have become a serious problem to Indonesia as they increasingly use equipment that damage the province`s coral reefs and other biota.

Aria Aditya Setiawan, a political and international relations observer, said here recently illegal fishing using trawls often occurred in waters just a few hundred meters off the Papua coastline.

The illegal fishing`s impact on the environment was posing a problem to Indonesia`s easternmost province. It was not only causing economic damage but also had a negative impact on the environment of the region because of the use of explosives, he said.

Aria who is head of the International Relations Department of the Jayapura Technology and Science University (USTJ) said the use of explosives in fishing had become popular because potassium was easy to get both legally and illegally.

Commonly, according to him, foreign boats which are often illegally fishing in Papua`s waters came from the Philippines, Thailand and China.

"There were also Indonesian ships cooperating with the foreigners so they could get bigger profits from Papua`s marine resources," he said.

He said activities of foreign fishermen in Papua waters produced better results than those of Papua fishermen themselves because the former used high technology.

Meanwhile, Papuan fishermen are still relying on traditional fish traps.

Aria said, until 2008, security officers had inspected 39 foreign ships engaged in illegal fishing in Papua`s waters.

"Illegal fishing still poses a problem and gives a serious impact. Therefore the government including the security forces and the people should work together in dealing with the problem," he said.

Coral reefs in Indonesia`s territorial waters reach to 51.000 kilometers square or 18 percent of the total coral reefs in the world and stretching from the western through the eastern parts of Indonesia`s territorial waters.

With its wealth in biodiversity, Indonesia lies in the coral triangle along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

Currently, Raja Ampat islands in Papua Barat Province is the richest area in coral reefs in the world with 537 species of coral reefs and 1.074 species of fish.

Last year former Maritime and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi asked the National Police`s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) to dismantle the many illegal fishing networks believed to be operating in Indonesian waters.

The minister also requested Bareskrim to investigate fish and fuel oil barter activities in which Chinese fishing boats were known to be often engaged in Indonesian waters.

Numberi said his requests was tendered to the police in connection with the apprehension of 26 foreign fishing boats in waters off Papua`s southern coast by an integrated security agencies team.

All of the 26 fishing boats, including two Thai-flagged ones, were currently being detained at Timika`s Pomako harbor in Papua.

Numberi said his ministry believed some organization was behind the illegal activities in Indonesian waters and he had asked Bareskrim to bust it and uncover the individuals involved.

It was also reported the foreign fishing vessels used forged documents.

In the meantime, Navy spokesman First Adm. Iskandar Sitompul previously said the Indonesian Navy had seized 32 foreign ships in Papuan waters since the beginning of the month for crimes ranging from illegal fishing to the transportation of illegally harvested timber.

Iskandar said that most poachers were from Malaysia, the Philippines, China and Thailand. Most of the crew members were Indonesians, he said.

According to him, investigations had already been launched into all the cases and hoped that prosecutions would be filed in the near future.

He said that the seized ships were being held at a number of naval bases, including Jayapura, and Sorong and Manokwari in West Papua.

Court cases relating to the seizure of 25 vessels last year were still ongoing, with the owners of 21 of the vessels filing appeals with the Supreme Court, Iskander said. For example, the MV Golden Blessing was waiting for re-evaluation of its case by the Supreme Court.

Another vessel, the Siong-siong Hai-05099, would be auctioned off if its owners and crew members were found guilty of breaking the law, Iskandar said.

The Navy`s deputy chief, Vice Adm. Moekhlas Siddik, earlier said that in 2008 the Navy successfully prosecuted the operators of 100 domestic and foreign vessels.

During the year, Navy patrols inspected 1,869 ships, and of those, 521 were seized for alleged violations of Indonesian law, he said.

Indonesia is facing a host of unsolved maritime problems including rampant illegal fishing and the environmental damage from the dumping of toxic waste.

Based on a 2007 report from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Indonesian waters costs the state $2 billion each year.

Iskandar said not all the crimes were related to illegal fishing or logging.

RI soon gets fishing training ship from Spain

Antara News, Sunday, February 21, 2010 12:31 WIB

London (ANTARA News) - Transportation minister Freddy Numberi and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries minister Fadel Muhammad will receive fishing training ship "Medidihang-03" from Spain`s Asturias Gondan Shipyard in the next couple of days.

Both ministers will receive the ship during their visit to Spain from February 21 to 23, said Allen Simarmata, first secretary for education, social and cultural affairs of the Indonesian Embassy in Spain on Sunday, adding that the ship will be used by fisheries college in Jakarta.

According to him, the training ship is a part of Fisheries Development project in Indonesia (FTDI) which was built by the Asturias Gondan Shipyard and financed by soft loans from the Spanish government to the Indonesian government.

Meanwhile, Economic Function Coordinator of the Indonesian embassy in Madrid, Musthofa Taufik Abdul Latif said that the ministers and their entourage on Monday (Feb 22) will observe the Gondan Shipyard in Figueras, Asturias.

Mustofa said that the ship will be used to support the learning process and practices of cadets at the Jakarta Fisheries College and also for the unit of other Education Technical Implementation under the Human Resources Development Agency of Marine and Fisheries.

In addition, ministers Freddy Numberi and Fadel Muhammad on Tuesday will have a meeting with Spanish investors at Spanish Confederation of Employers` Organizations, Diego de Leon, 50 - 28006 Madrid.

Minister Fadel Muhammad on the occasion will deliver his speech about the Indonesia`s economic situation and the projects offered in supporting the program of marine and fisheries ministry.

Heavy price

The Jakarta Post, Wed, 02/17/2010 11:29 AM

Workers at the Sunda Kelapa Port, Jakarta, loading sacks of cement onto a boat heading for Dumai, Riau, on Tuesday. The Business Competition Supervisory Agency (KPPU) said the average price of cement in Indonesia is more expensive than in other countries, with cement costing US$91 per 50 kilogram bag in Indonesia compared to $75 per kilogram in Malaysia and China. JP/Ricky Yudhistira

With a Little Protection, Coral Reefs Can Start Growing Again, Study Says

Jakarta Globe, Michael Casey, February 17, 2010

A coral reef off Bunaken Island marine protected national park in Manado. (AFP Photo)

Bangkok. Marine parks that limit fishing and other human activity can help shrinking coral reefs halt their decline over several years and even start growing again, a study released on Wednesday found.

Earlier studies have found that fish populations increase in response to no-fishing zones. But the study in the peer-reviewed science journal PLoS ONE is the first to show that reefs also may gain from such protection.

The study by University of North Carolina marine scientists Elizabeth Selig and John Bruno analyzed a global database of 8,534 live coral cover surveys between 1969 and 2006. They found that corals located in marine reserves halt their decline and, in some cases, increase their cover.

“We found on average, coral cover in protected areas remains constant, but declined on unprotected reefs,” Selig, the study’s lead author, said in a statement.

Bruno said the reefs do not respond initially to the increased protection, but over several years they show signs of recovering. For example, in the Caribbean, he said the surveys found that coverage declined for about 14 years before steadying and then increasing.

In the Indo-Pacific, cover kept declining for the first five years after protections were established and then improved, reaching growth rates of 2 percent yearly after two decades.

“Given the time it takes to maximize these benefits, it makes sense to establish more marine protected areas,” Bruno said in a statement. “Authorities also need to strengthen efforts to enforce the rules in existing areas.”

Coral serves as a breeding ground and habitat for many of the world’s marine species and act as indicators of overall ocean health. They are under threat from pollution and overfishing and increasingly from global warming.

A 2007 study published in the journal Science warned that if carbon dioxide emissions continue at today’s rate, all coral species could be extinct within 100 years.

Gregor Hodgson, executive director of the California-based conservation group Reef Check Foundation and who was not involved in the study, said a survey of this size in PLoS ONE was “very important” because it allows researchers to see emerging patterns with reefs.

“It also shows some management is better than none,” Hodgson said.

The study also appears to challenge an earlier one that found that marine parks offered little protection to reefs.

Associated Press

Government Called On to Intensify Supervision of Foreign Ships

Tempo Interactive, Wednesday, 17 February, 2010 | 15:41 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Kupang :The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Provincial House of Representatives (DPRD) member, Paulinus Domi, said there are still many foreign ships passing the NTT waters freely, especially in the border area between Indonesia and Timor Leste, as well as the area bordering Australia.

Based on a research conducted by private institutions on traffic over the NTT waters, particularly in the border areas, these ships are sailing without the supervision of the relevant authorities. “As a result, NTT is losing up to billions of rupiahs in excises and taxes,” Paulinus said, in Kupang on Wednesday.

These foreign ships are sailing freely because there is lack of supervision from the officials and the regional government, he added.

Paulinus said foreign ships are often found in the waters of Northern Central Timor (TTU) regency and Alor, which borders with Timor Leste. However, he did not mention how many foreign ships were found passing the waters.

Therefore, Paulinus called on the regional government to conduct a research and make register foreign ships that often sail on NTT waters, and the supervision there.

YOHANES SEO

Pertamina to Build Gas Station for Fishermen

Tempo Interactive, Wednesday, 17 February, 2010 | 15:50 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:This year, state-run oil company Pertamina will build 400 Solar Packed for Fishermen (SPDN) or gas stations in regencies and fish production centers. The policy was to address the low number of SPDNs, especially in remote islands.

“Next week we will have a meeting with the relevant offices for an overall decision. Pertamina will be in charge of the implementation,” said Maritime and Fishery Minister Fadel Muhammad, following a meeting with Pertamina directors in Jakarta, yesterday.

Fadel said the construction will be based on a new concept, namely the minapolitan concept, which applies to a large fish producing area needing a larger fuel supply. “The large fish producing area is called minapolitan,” Fadel said.

That is why there is no standard on how much allocation fuel would be supplied to one SPDN because there is a different quota for each SPDN. Fadel said fishermen are asked to unload their catches at a specified area.

The amount of their catch will determine the fuel quota. “In this way, people can longer need to buy and sell in the sea,” he said. “So far, when they go home with empty catch, the fuel is empty, too. There is something wrong with this.”

RATNANING ASIH

PAL to cut 900 employees next month

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 02/16/2010 9:34 PM

State ship-building company PAL Indonesia has confirmed to cut 900 employees in March as part of its restructuring program from financial trouble.

State-owned Enterprise Minister Mustafa Abubakar said Tuesday that the company would reach its ideal employee number at 1,400 people compared to the current 2,300, as reported by kompas.com.

The redundant employees will receive a compensation fund from the company, he added. No further information on the amount of the compensation has been made available.

PAL has been in financial trouble since signing a contract to construct 20 vessels in 2006 at a flat price without taking US dollar fluctuations into consideration.

This deal later prompted currency loss for the company, causing the current financial problem.

Pelindo I to spend Rp 1.3t in new investment

Nani Alfrida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/15/2010 11:48 AM

PT Pelindo I, one of the country’s four state-owned port operators, will spend up to Rp 1.3 trillion (US$139 million) this year to improve several ports under its management, a senior executive said.

Bambang Eka Cahyana, Pelindo I’s director of commercial and business development, said last week that port facilities needed to be further improved to enable them to handle more cargo shipment that was expected to increase significantly following the implementation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) in early January.

He said ACFTA would increase not only imports but also exports of non-oil commodities from Indonesia to other ASEAN members and China.

“This year we allocated Rp 1.3 trillion in capex [capital expenditure], which is higher than the Rp 149 billion last year,” he said, adding that about Rp 800 billion of the total funds would be sourced internally, with the rest from bank loans.

Pelindo I operates and manages several major ports in North Sumatra and Riau, including Belawan Port and Belawan International Container Terminal (BICT), Dumai Port and Pekanbaru Port.

It also supervises 16 small ports such as Pelita Pantai Port and Sungai Duku Port in Riau.

Bambang said that this year, the company would spend Rp 700 billion to purchase new port equipment.

“This year we plan to buy two container cranes and five rubber-tired gantries. We hope to be able to operate five cranes and ten gantries by the second half of 2011,” he said, adding that in 2009, the company purchased three cranes and two gantries.

According to Bambang, Pelindo I will need more funds to purchase such equipment because they were expensive. “A crane costs $9.5 million, while a gantry costs $ 2 million,” he said.

The company will also purchase three new tugboats and two scout ships to speed up docking activities. Bambang said that the price of a new tugboat could reach Rp 25 billion while a new scout boat could cost Rp 2 billion.

Apart from procuring supporting equipment for the ports, Pelindo I plans to expand capacity at BICT port from 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 800,000.

Beach tragedy

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 02/15/2010 3:20 PM

Search and rescue (SAR) team members are still searching for five students who were swept into the sea off Parangtitis beach, Yogyakarta on Sunday. The bodies of two of the seven missing students, identified as Anugrah and Dede Rian, were found on Monday morning. (Antara/Noveradika)

Three national seaports in West Sulawesi completed

Antara News, Monday, February 15, 2010 22:53 WIB

Mamuju (ANTARA News)- The building of three national seaports in West Sulawesi province is entering its finishing touches and scheduled to operate this year.

Head of the Marine Affairs of the West Sulawesi Transportation Agency Nicholas Terrano said here Monday the three national seaports are located in Budong subdistrict, Mamuju regency and in Pasangkayu subdistrict, Mamuju Utara regency.

"The two national seaports, whose construction was started in 2008, have entered their finishing touches this year, and would soon go into operation," he said.

In the meantime, he said, one of the national seaports which had also been completed in January 2010, and ready for operation, is located in Silopo, Polewali Mandar regency.

He said the three national seaports are each built at a cost of Rp10 billion taken from the State Budget in stages.

He said that with the operation of the three seaports the sea transportation infrastructure in the region will increase and ready to serve as cargo handling ports.

"Pelni ships of 1500 to 2500 tons capacity will be calling at the ports for transit from other areas like Makassar, Balikpapan, Manado, Palu, Surabya and Jakarta, and from some other areas," he said.

He also said that there will also be 1500-ton pioneering ships of the West Sulawesi administration and provided by the central government with funding from the state budget, to serve inter insular shipping to carry cargo and people.

Bali needs to prepare for welcoming Sun Princess

Antara News, Monday, February 15, 2010 13:44 WIB

Sun Princess entering the harbour

Denpasar (ANTARA News) - Bali tourist agencies need to make preparations to welcome Sun Princess a highly luxurious tourist ship with a total of 2,342 passengers, not to mention a crew of 814, which is scheduled to call at Bali in May 2010.

The preparations need to include improvement of Benoa port and supporting facilities, and transportation from the port to various destinations, head of Bali`s education and training of SIPCO (Society of Indonesian Professional Congress Organizers) Ni Made Eka Mahadewi said here Sunday.

She made the statement in response to a meeting of the Marketing Directorate General of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with all-Bali regents, tourist officials, the transportation agency, and many other relevant government and private institutions in charge of building a pier, at the Bali Governor`s office recently.

This year Bali will also be visited by Australian yachts with 22 visits and a total of 32,692 passengers, Costa Crociere with 28 visits and 28,572 passengers, and Seabourn with four visits with 1,298 passengers.

The planned visits by a number of tourist ships and yachts with thousands of passengers will significantly raise the number of foreign tourists to Bali, which last year has received more than two million foreign tourists.

Central Maluku needs inter-insular port

Antara News, Monday, February 15, 2010 14:23 WIB

Ambon (ANTARA News) - Central Maluku needs an inter-insular port to speed up the local economic growth, Ambon Mayor Jopi Papilaya said here on Monday.

Therefore, Papilaya has proposed it to Transportation Minister Fredy Numberi to have an inter-insular port constructed at Leihitu subdistrict in Central Maluku to overcome population density in Ambon city.

"I extended the proposal to the transportation minister when attending the World Peace Day in Ambon on November 25, 2009 and he suggested that I coordinate it with Maluku provincial administration," Papilaya said.

He said the facility was needed to anticipate sea accident when ships heading to Yos Sudarso port in Ambon have to pass rough sea between Capes Alang and Nusaniwe.

Therefore the Ambon mayor has proposed to construct an inter-insular port in Leihitu, to open a new economic centers at Passo village in Baguala subdistrict and other strategic areas.

"We also push for the realization of water front city (WFC) which has been agreed by Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry," Papilaya said.

Meanwhile, Maluku deputy Governor Said Assagaff was of the opinion that Papilaya had a strategic proposal and if it was realized, it would support the provincial administration program to build satellite town at Telaga Kodok village in Leihitu subdistrict.

"We fully support such a strategic program and ask Maluku transportation office to follow it up with the transportation minister," Assagaff said.

Radar System for Sunda Strait to Be Complete by 2011

Jakarta Globe, Anita Rachman & Putri Prameshwari, February 13, 2010

Two locally developed radars are expected to be ready by next year to complete a radar array that will monitor sea traffic in the busy Sunda Strait, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences said on Friday.

Mashury Wahab, who is leading the project at the institute, also known as LIPI, said the two new radars would join the first, which was installed last December at Anyer in Banten, as part of the first stage of the Indonesia Sea Radar (ISRA) program.

He said the second radar would be installed at Merak, Banten, between July and August this year, while the third would be set up in South Lampung, near Bakauni Port, next year.

The three radars together will monitor the Sunda Strait and a small part of Sumatra Island.

“In the future, the three radars are expected to give us complete data on the traffic and activities in the area,” Mashury said.

Once the radar array is fully operational, Mashury said data on ship movements from the Sunda Strait to Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port could be collected and analyzed by LIPI and related government departments.

LIPI began the ISRA program in March 2009 with the objective of guarding the country’s waters against incursions by foreign ships intent on plundering national resources. It is also hoped to improve rescue response times for maritime accidents.

LIPI is working on the project with the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration and the Maritime Security Coordination Agency (Bakorkamla).

LIPI chairman Umar Anggara Jenie said ISRA was one of the institute’s main programs and had also been taken up by the new state minister for research and technology, Suharna Surapranata, as a priority program for his first 100 days in office.

Using both local and imported components, the Rp 4 billion ($428,000) radar system is being developed by LIPI’s Research Center for Electronics and Telecommunications in Bandung.

The first radar had a 10-kilometer range, but Mashury said the team planned to extend that to 30 kilometers. The team also hopes to improve the radar array’s effectiveness to not only detect ships, but also to obtain more detailed data such as ship speed.

Mashury said that for the next two radars, the team would use the latest innovations in radar technology. He said that frequency-modulated continuous wave technology, for example, would reduce the size and power consumption of the radars.

The ISRA radars are categorized as “quiet” radars, or low probability intercept, because they do not disturb other radar systems and cannot be detected by radar scanners.

“The next two radars should be lighter. We plan them only being 150 kilograms,” Mashury said, adding that construction of the new radars would cost about Rp 2 billion.

Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation, said the ISRA would be useful to monitor sea traffic in the region.

An archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, the country still relies heavily on ships, ferries and even wooden fishing boats to move people and cargo.

Tanjung Priok Offers Indonesia New Car Shipment Service

Jakarta Globe, Irvan Tisnabudi, February 14, 2010

Honda Freed minivans due to be exported to Singapore prior to loading at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta. The state-owned port operator hopes the volume of vehicle traffic through the port grows as a result of its new transshipment service. (Bloomberg Photo/Dimas Ardian)

The Tanjung Priok port car terminal on Thursday began offering new transshipment services in a bid to challenge rival regional ports.

Richard Lino, president director of state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II, said the new service and the port’s strategic location would help it compete against ports in Singapore and Malaysia.

“In the past, car exporters in countries like India and Thailand have used the transshipment service in those two countries [Singapore and Malaysia], but Indonesia now has a similar service,” he said.

Transshipment is the shipment of goods to an intermediate destination for later shipment to another locale. It is often used to gather multiple small shipments headed to a single destination into a bigger shipment.

Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said he believed the transshipment service for cars would make the Tanjung Priok port more attractive than its rivals.

“The Tanjung Priok port has always been an attractive port for shipping vehicles to and from Southeast Asia and Australia, as it is more strategic in terms of location compared to its rivals,” he said.

Pelindo II did not reveal the price or nature of the investment required to begin offering transshipment services.

The first ship to use the new service was the Golden Fang out of India. It unloaded 394 of its 1,091 cars onto the Rocky Highway ship, heading to New Zealand and Australia. The rest were unloaded for sale on Indonesia’s domestic market.

“The tariff for unloading, then loading the car again is Rp 600,000 [$64] per car,” said Gunta Prabawa, chief of the port’s car terminal.

The port can unload 130 cars per hour and load 90 per hour. The terminal has a parking capacity of 6,000 cars.

In 2009, a total of 112,983 cars passed through the terminal: 55,670 were imported and 57,313 were exported. This was a sharp decline from 180,000 in 2008.

Aviliani, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, welcomed the new transshipment service.

“It provides a more efficient cost alternative for the exporters, and we’ll be able to enjoy the added revenue from the shipments,” she said.

However, she cautioned that the service presented a challenge also: loading and unloading the increased number of cars with appropriate care.

“We can’t fall behind the ports in Malaysia in Singapore when it comes to fulfilling international standards for the cars being loaded and unloaded here,” Aviliani said.

RI, Australia conduct research in Ashmore Reef

Antara News, Thursday, February 11, 2010 02:25 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Australian governments planned a joint fishery survey and research in the Ashmore Reef to settle the dispute in the MoU Box area.

Head of the International and Inter Institutional Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Marine and Fishery Affairs Anang Nugroho said in Jakarta Wednesday that with regard to the settlement of the dispute between the two countries in the Ashmore Reef region as agreed in the MoU Box, the two sides discussed several things including the important joint survey and research on fishery commodities in the region.

In addition, he said, conservation in the MoU Box region is linked to the method of fishing molluscs of the traditional fishermen, and the alternative livelihood implementation under the Coastal Community Development program.

He added that the joint research in the region is aimed at obtaining joint data on the availability of fish stocks in the region, so that it would be clear what species need conservation.

In the meeting between Minister of Marine and Fishery Affairs Fadel Muhammad and Australian Ambassador Bill Farmer, he said that the discussion also touched on bilateral cooperation between the two countries. In the marketing of fishery products under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

Identification of the management of the Arafuru marine ecosystem through the Australia Timor Sea Forum (ATSEF) and fostered institutional cooperation through the Coral Triangle Initiative forum was also taken up, Anang added.

The two, he said, also discussed joint fishery management like tuna and carp fishery data and information system in East Indonesia.

In addition, they also discussed the development of method and database by logbook, and observer program for tuna and red carp fishery.

US Pacific Fleet and Indonesian Military Talk Security Before Obama Visit

Jakarta Globe, Camelia Pasandaran, February 10, 2010

The commander of the US Pacific Fleet said on Wednesday that he would ensure security during next month’s visit to Indonesia by US President Barack Obama and his family.

“I look forward to the opportunity next month to cooperate with the TNI (Indonesian military) and the government of Indonesia in ensuring the security of the entire visit,” Robert Willard, US Pacific Fleet Commander, said at the Presidential Palace.

“In my discussions with my counterparts in the Ministry of Defense and the military, they talked about their commitment to our president’s security, which we’re very grateful for,” he said.

“In addition, when the president travels in this region of the world, the US Pacific command is generally called upon to provide assistance for his security. But we’re very confident in the security arrangements that you will make and in the capabilities of the Indonesian military to fulfill their responsibilities in terms of our president’s secure visit.”

Willard’s statement was delivered during a press conference after his meeting with President Yudhoyono regarding security and military cooperation between the two nations.

“The president said that the bilateral relations between Indonesia and the US have started well and will be advanced with the comprehensive partnership plan that will be signed by President Obama and President Yudhoyono during next month’s visit,” Dino Patti Djalal, the presidential advisor for international relations, said at the palace.

“He and I were discussing advancing the relationship between our militaries, the roles that Indonesia play – very important roles in this region – and of course the visit of our president that will occur next month,” Willard said.

“We’re very grateful for the help that Indonesia has provided in areas such as counterterrorism, in the progress of your economy and the leadership that you are providing within the region,” he said.

“We’re very fortunate to have a strong relationship with the TNI and it is part of our responsibility to see that over the years, from the US side, that it continues to advance.”

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that the Indonesian military will carry out regular security procedures for Obama’s visit.

“They (the US Pacific Fleet) also said that they wanted to bring their own security system. I said, go ahead, because he’s their president,” Purnomo said.

Up until now, there has been no announcement concerning the exact dates of Obama’s visit.

“I cannot announce it,” Dino said. “We’re still discussing it.”

Dino said he could also not yet announce the locations that Obama would visit during his stay in Indonesia.

“This is a state visit and there has been a fixed route during his visit,” he said.

When asked whether Obama would visit his old elementary school in Menteng, Dino said that it was being planned but he could not announce it yet.

“If I announced it, and it did not happen, it means I have jumped too far ahead,” he said.

“As good host, we will try not just to make the visit to a success, but also make it a historic visit.”