[Marinir] Indonesia Digest No: 14.07 ; 21 - 04 -'07

[Yap Hong Gie]

INDONESIA DIGEST
Indonesia's complex Issues in a Nutshell
By: Ms. Wuryastuti Sunario
Published by: TBSC-Strategic Communication
No.: 14.07 - Dated: 21 April 2007
In this issue:

MAIN FEATURE:
CLIMATE CHANGE:
IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE WATER SUPPLY, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

NEWS AND BACKGROUND:

1.      Tourism and Transportation:
Volcanoes Museum opens on slopes of Mt. Batur, Bali

2.      Health, Culture and the Environment:
Indonesia resumes sending Avian Flu virus samples to WHO

3.      The Economy, Trade and Industry:
Bali to Commence Thermal Power Plant Development
Indonesia's Agency Defends Nuclear Development for Industry and Energy

4.      Politics and Security:
Canada assists in fight against Chemical and Biological terrorism

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

MAIN FEATURE:

CLIMATE CHANGE:
IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE WATER SUPPLY, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

In the past week the Indonesian islands experienced, what meteorologists
call: "a weather pattern anomaly". Normally, May would be the beginning of
the dry season and the start of the grand rice harvest on land, and fish
catch at sea. But not so today. Hot oppressive weather has been alternating
with sudden downpours drenching most islands. These storms are punctuated by
loud thunderbolts and angry lightning, often accompanied by whirlwinds,
uprooting trees and flooding towns and countryside. Hillsides are eroded,
obstructing main intercity arterial roads, destroying bridges and blocking
traffic.

Since Thursday and over the weekend, sudden tidal swells of between two to
seven meters high waves have pounded the coasts of 11 provinces on Java,
Bali and Sumatra that face the Indian Ocean, catching both fishermen and
holiday-makers by complete surprise. Although no casualties have so far been
reported, but Kompas daily writes that at least 300 houses, 80 cafes, and
400 fishing boats have been swept away to sea by the high waves. Fishermen
have also been wary to set out to sea.
The Met has warned that such tidal waves may be expected for another four
days. But the Research Board, Bakorsutanas, has alerted that coastal
communities should prepare themselves for more of such phenomenon well into
June.

What is happening? Why these sudden out-of-season storms that have rarely
been experienced with such violence before?

Experts seem to differ on the reasons. The Meteorology and Geophysical
Agency, BMG, explained that fluctuating and inconsistent temperatures across
the archipelago have caused rain clouds to accumulate in areas of
Kalimantan, Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi resulting in heavy rains here,
indicating conditions to a La Nina which causes a prolonged rainy season
over parts of Indonesia.

While, Head of the Centre for Oceanographic studies, Harsono, told Kompas
that more in depth studies need to be made to identify the exact cause why
Indonesia is undergoing such inconsistent weather patterns today. In 1983,
Harsono continued, when the sea surface around Indonesian waters rose 4
degrees Centigrade, the warm currents streamed south from the China Sea to
Java and Bali, causing 90% of coral reefs here to die. However, today, the
sea surface is neither extremely warm nor cold, so that there must be
another reason for the extended rainy season.

As to the high tidal waves, BMG attributes these to a perfect celestial
alignment between the sun, the moon and the earth that pulls up the tides.
But, BMG concedes, that although this is not unusual, tidal waves have never
reached such heights before.

Whatever the reasons, "Indonesia must adapt and prepare ourselves for the
impacts of Climate Change", said Prof. Emil Salim, Indonesia's expert on the
Environment and former Minister for the Environment. "If not, this nation
will face serious food shortages", reports Kompas daily.

"Indeed, although climate change is predicted to occur after 2030", said
Prof. Emil Salim, "yet even today we already experience its harbinger. The
present weather anomaly has resulted in delays to the planting of rice, the
appearance of various plant pests, and delayed harvests or even failed
 crops".

Indonesia's efforts to become self-sufficient in rice production will come
into jeopardy, said Prof. Salim, since anomaly in weather patterns has
caused water supply for irrigation to reduce, while rice culture needs
plenty of irrigation.

In a seminar on the Bill of Sustainable Food Production last April, the
audience was informed that by 2030, Indonesia is predicted to need 59
million tons of rice per year to feed the increasing number of its
population, which by that time is expected to reach 425 million. Whereas, in
2007, total production is estimated to reach some 32.96 million tons only.

As the acreage of rice fields now extends only a total of 11.6 million
hectares, further expansion with another 11.8 million hectares is needed to
increase rice production. Whilst, in fact during the past 10 years
(1992-2004) rice fields have continued to be converted at an average rate of
110,000 hectares per year. This occurred especially on Java, where 58.3% of
rice fields had been converted to human settlements and industry.

Therefore, to ensure sustainable food production, Indonesia must follow
three strategies, said Prof. Emil Salim. Firstly we must urgently increase
agricultural land; secondly, we must diversify staple food consumption, and
thirdly, strong seedlings must be developed to withstand weather anomalies.
Furthermore, Climate Change will not only impact on rice production, but
also the production of palm oil and sugar cane since both require plenty of
water.

It is most important that such actions are taken especially on the island of
Java, where Java's soil is known to be four times more fertile than 
Sumatra's,
and six times more fertile than on Kalimantan. The government must,
therefore, halt continued construction on Java that will cause the entire
expanse of Java to grow into one large city, said Prof. Emil Salim. Over
half of Indonesia's population of more than 200 million people lives on the
island of Java alone.

More Rainstorms, but Less Water for Irrigation

Confirming the opinion of Prof. Emil Salim, Minister for Research and
Technology, Kusmayanto Kadiman, said that Climate Change will impact
negatively on the supply of water in dams and reservoirs, in water-catchment
areas and river basins on Java, which today are already in poor condition.
To ensure sustainable food supply this depends vitally on a better
irrigation system, especially since water supply is declining. Therefore,
both an improved irrigation infrastructure as well as better management of
water-catchment areas and river basins are now most urgent, said Minister
Kusmayanto.

For, continued Kusmayanto, although parts of Indonesia today experience an
extended rainy season, however, these rains are not falling in areas and
rivers that feed the dams. Today's rains fall along the northern coast of
Java, whereas, dams that rely on water supplied by rivers are located in the
south along Java's mountainous regions. And, although artificial rains may
increase water supply, these are still far from sufficient when compared to
total need.

Another important factor to ensure sustainable supply of food and especially
in the production of rice, is an effective information system for rice
farmers, since rice is Indonesia's staple food, said Rizaldi Boer, Head of
the Climatology Lab of the Agricultural Institute in Bogor. Until today
farmers must depend solely on their traditional knowledge and experience of
planting seasons. But, as weather patterns change, our mostly traditional
small farmers have suffered huge losses in seedlings and crops.



Indonesia's clean water-providing rivers are polluted by organic and
chemical waste

Commemorating the International World Water Day on 22 March, FAO Director
General, Jacques Diouf, said that the world now uses twice as much water
compared to a century ago, but its availability is depleting. As a result,
40 percent of the world's population suffers from water scarcity. Water
scarcity impacts negatively on many sectors, including on world health. To
cope with water scarcity, therefore, Jacques Diaouf calls on all countries
that they support with political and moral will to ensure access to clean
water for some 1.1 billion people of the world, and to provide proper
sanitation for more than 1.5 billion of the world's population.

In Indonesia, Yuni Ikawati writes in Kompas, that 100 million people, or
almost half of Indonesia's population has no access to clean water,
especially on the islands of Java, Bali, West and East Nusatenggara and in
South Sulawesi.

The Task Force on Drinking Water and Environmental safety in Indonesia said
that data of the year 2000 indicate that on Java there was available only
1,750 cu. meter per capita per year, and this will decline to 1,200 cu.
meter/annum in 2020. Whereas, the minimum requirement per capita is 2,000
cu. meter of water per year.

In Indonesia, water scarcity is exacerbated by river pollution. The Ministry
of Environment estimates that 60 percent of rivers, especially on Sumatra,
Java, Bali and Sulawesi are polluted by organic waste rife with coliform and
fecal coli bacteria, which are the major cause for diarrhea, - and by
chemical waste. The neglect in water management here has placed Indonesia at
the bottom rung in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals 
(MDG's),
at a level with Bangladesh, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea,
and the Philippines.

And as regards irrigation especially for rice planting by small farmers,
Jacques Diouf said that new, more modern means must be found to overcome
more effectively the scarcity of water.

Using the conventional system, 3,000 liters of water is needed to produce
one kilogram of rice, said Hehanusa of the Indonesian Institute for
Sciences, LIPI.

As Indonesia comprises mostly of seas, with only 30 percent in land area,
Indonesia must ensure that clean water is available in adequate quantities.
Nowadays, though, because of destructions in the environment as well as
because of climate change, less water falls on land. Therefore, to ensure
the continued availability of clean water for all, priority must, be given
to the proper management especially of river basins and rivers that cross a
number of provinces, such as the Ciliwung, Cisadane, Catarum, Citanduy,
Progo, and Bengawan Solo rivers on the island of Java, and the Siak and
Kampar rivers on Sumatra.

 (Sources: Kompas)            (Tuti Sunario)
-------------------------------------------------


NEWS AND BACKGROUND:

Tourism and Transportation:

Museum on Volcanoes opens on slopes of Mt. Batur, Bali

Bisnis Indonesia reports that Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources,
Purnomo Yusgiantoro, recently inaugurated a Museum on Volcanoes on the slope
of Mt. Batur, an active volcano in the district of Bangli, Bali. Here
visitors may learn how volcanoes erupt, and children may play at interactive
computer games animations.

Balidiscovery.com adds that of the 129 volcanoes found in Indonesia, in the
so-called Ring of Fire, 80 are active with the potential of exploding at any
time in the future. Of the 80 active volcanoes, 64 are considered
sufficiently dangerous to surrounding population and are under continuous
monitoring by the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG)

Construction on the museum was started in 2004, and is to be developed in
three phases, to be completed in 2009. The first phase required a budget of
Rp. 21 billion of a total construction cost of Rp.  36 billion.

Health, Culture and the Environment:
·         Indonesia resumes sending Avian Flu virus samples to WHO
CBC News, Canada, reported that Indonesia has resumed sending samples of the
deadly H5N1 bird flu virus to the World Health Organization, Indonesia
Health Minister said Tuesday in calling for a share of any commercial
vaccines that result.

A dispute over the sharing of bird flu samples in Indonesia, one of the
countries worst affected by H5N1, has hampered WHO's efforts to get nations
to prepare for a potential pandemic if the virus mutates into a form that
spreads easily among people.
Poor countries provide virus samples that are used to develop commercial
vaccines, but those nations often cannot afford to buy the vaccines,
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari told the agency's annual
World Health Assembly in Geneva.
"There is an unfair mechanism in which avian flu virus samples are provided
free by developing countries but drug companies patented this vaccine and
are selling them at unaffordable cost for the developing countries," Supari
told delegates.
"Sequences had been used for some parties for instance through research
presentation, publication, commercialization, and request for patents
without our consent. Such practice violates the spirit in which virus is
given."

In Indonesia, 75 people have died from the H5N1, according to WHO. The
Indonesian government stopped sharing virus samples with international
laboratories in December, saying it felt exploited to multinational drug
companies.

International scientists use the samples to check whether the virus is
mutating into a more dangerous form.

Health Minister Supari said Indonesia resumed sending H5N1 virus samples to
a WHO centre in Tokyo last week.
Avian flu remains largely an infection in birds. Since 2003, the H5N1 strain
as infected at least 282 people worldwide and killed about 170 of them,
mostly in Southeast Asia, according to WHO.

In the latest developments, on April 25, WHO officials, after meeting with
governments and vaccine producers, said it might be feasible to set up a
world stockpile of H5N1 influenza vaccine to help ensure that developing
countries have access to pandemic flu vaccines. The WHO release said that
the Agency would set up expert groups to discuss how to create, maintain,
fund, and use an H5N1 vaccine stockpile and would continue working with
member states and other partners on the problem of access to pandemic
vaccines.

David Heymann, WHO's assistant director-general for communicable diseases,
has said a stockpile of 40 million to 60 million doses is being considered,
which would allow developing countries to vaccinate essential workers, such
as police and healthcare workers, according to the CP story today.

However, Indonesia's Health Minister Supari said yesterday that Indonesia
would need 22 million doses of vaccine, which would protect about 10% of the
country's population, the CP report said.
Just before the Apr 25 meeting, the WHO also announced it was awarding
grants to six countries to help them develop the capacity to make flu
vaccines. The grants of up to $2.5 million each will go to three countries
hit hard by H5N1 avian flu-Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand-plus Brazil,
Mexico, and India, the WHO said. The money will come from $10 million
supplied by the United States and $8 million from Japan.

Meanwhile, in a most recent Press Release issued by the Indonesian
Department of Health, it was mentioned that Indonesia's Health Minister,
Siti Fadillah Supari had been voted into the WHO Executive Board for
2007-2010 during the WHO 60th Assembly. Indonesia sees this as the strong
support and recognition given to this country in its fight to correct WHO
mechanism on sharing H5N1 sample virus, to be more transparent and just,
based on the principle of prior informed consent, and the benefits of virus
sharing with special regard to the needs of  developing countries.
The Economy, Trade and Industry:


Bali to Commence Thermal Power Plant Development

The province of Bali is expected to begin developing a 400-MW thermal power
plant (PLTU) around Celukan Bawang port, in the Buleleng district, in
efforts to anticipate a power crisis on the island, Asia Pulse reported as
quoted by Indonesia's Trade and Investment News published by the
Coordinating Ministry for the Economy.

"The thermal power plant is expected to commence operation in stages
starting 2008," public relations coordinator of state-owned electricity
company PLN, Hendra Saleh, said on Thursday (10/5/07). The power plant is
expected to meet the need for electricity supply of Bali for five to 10
years to come. The plant will use coal so that its operational cost would be
lower than other plants in Bali which use diesel oil, he said.

So far Bali has been supplied with 580 MW of power supplies, consisting of
200 MW from Java, 130 MW from the Gilimanuk power generators, 120 MW from
the Pesanggaran diesel power plant and 80 MW from the Pemaron gas-fired
plant.

Indonesia's Agency Defends Nuclear Development for Industry and Energy

The Nuclear Technology Supervisory Agency has defended the government's
policy to develop nuclear technology for research, industry and energy on
the basis that such technology has been proven safe.

Agency head Sukarman Aminjoyo said Indonesia has operated three nuclear
reactors for several years and no accidents have occurred. "All forms of
technology involve certain risks, but since the early development of our
reactors we have surveyed all probabilities. We have even anticipated the
possibility of risks associated with potential earthquakes," Sukarman told
The Jakarta Post on Tuesday (8/5/07), as quoted Indonesia's Trade and
Investment News.

He said that the safety and security of Indonesia's nuclear reactors had
been proven during the earthquake in Yogyakarta last May. The nuclear
reactor at the research center there was unscathed, showing that nuclear
energy is safe even in the "ring of fire" if proper design technology is
used. "Regulations oblige us to choose power plant technology that has been
proven safe, rather than new, untested technology," he said.

Sukarman also said that many Asian countries frequently affected by
earthquakes such as Japan and Korea had long been developing their own
nuclear power plants. "Japan has built more than 50 power plants and South
Korea has built more than 20 power plants. Japan is often hit by earthquakes
but has avoided nuclear accidents. Why are we so worried about risks we are
able to anticipate?" Sukarman asked.

In Indonesia, reactors located in Yogyakarta, Bandung and Serpong, Banten,
are being used for research.

Last year President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced government plans to
start building a nuclear power plant in 2010 (in the northern promontory of
Central Java.ed.) which will commence operations in 2016. This power plant
will be the first nuclear power plant to provide energy to the public and
industrial sectors in the country. Sukarman said that in many countries,
nuclear power plants are owned and run by the government as strategic
resources, but Indonesia's 2006 Law on Nuclear Reactors allows the private
sector to apply for nuclear power plant licenses.


Politics and Security

Canada assists in fight against Chemical and Biological terrorism
On 14 May, the Canadian Government handed over to the Government of
Indonesia, equipment to avert chemical, biological, radiological terror
attacks with the signing of documents in Jakarta by Canadian Ambassador to
Indonesia, John Holmes, and Secretary to Indonesia's Coordinating Minister
for Politics and Security, Agustadi Sasongko, reported Media Indonesia.
At a press conference, Agustadi Sasongko explained that the Canadian grant
came to a total value of 250,000 Canadian Dollars or around Rp.2 billion,
and is a joint cooperation in the fight against terrorism. The equipment
comprise masks and early detectors, and will be most useful for Indonesia,
although so far there are as yet no indications that local terrorist groups
are using such chemical weapons, however, the Government must anticipate
their use.

The Canadian Government has supported Indonesia's efforts since 2004 by
sponsoring four exercises in fighting chemical, biological and nuclear
terrorism, in Semarang, Surabaya, and twice in Jakarta. These exercises were
participated by 200 government officials, the Police and the Armed Forces.
Separately, Head of the anti-terror desk of the Coordinating Ministry for
Politics and Security, Ansyaad Mbay, confirmed that the trend in
international terrorism showed that terrorist groups were increasing their
capabilities in using biological and chemical weapons. Furthermore, said
Ansyaad, the possibility that terrorists will attack biological and chemical
facilities are also becoming more evident.
In such situation, the Indonesian government must act to prepare and avert
such attack in order to "at least minimize casualties. Although until today
there are no indications that the Indonesian terror network is actually
planning to use this. However, this does not mean that they will not use
these in Indonesia."


A number of security units are today already using anti-chemical and
biological weapons, among whom are the Special anti-terror Unit of the
Police. The Special Unit of the Navy and the Army are also readied, but
these will act only when requested by the Police, said Ansyaad.

For your comments or more information, please e-mail to:
tbsc-strategy at indo.net.id