Archive for November, 2007
Buku memiliki warna dan ekspresi beragam. Itulah yang tersaji dalam Soerabaya Book Festival yang dibuka kemarin (29/11). Pameran buku itu diselenggarakan Badan Arsip dan Perpustakaan Kota Surabaya dan Jawa Pos. Pameran bertajuk How Book Are You itu diadakan di Kompleks Balai Pemuda hingga 5 Desember mendatang. Lebih dari 240 penerbit terlibat. Mereka memajang beraneka buku, mulai yang berharga Rp 3 ribu hingga yang puluhan ribu rupiah. Even pendukung pameran itu, antara lain, pertunjukan tari, story telling, talk show, fashion show, musik, diskusi budaya, wisata buku, teater, dan film independen. (top)Ă‚Â
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 30th, 2007
FARMERS tilling the fields of Java, the world’s most populous island, have long known that the gods give and they take away. Java’s volcanic soil is astonishingly fertile but, like the rest of Indonesia, alarmingly prone to seismic activity. An earthquake that struck the eastern island of Sumbawa on November 25th killed at least three people.
But the calamity that has befouled a swathe of semi-industrial farmland in east Java was, by most accounts, a man-made mess. In May last year Lapindo Brantas, an energy company, was drilling for natural gas when it accidentally opened a fissure in the ground. Torrents of hot, toxic mud began to flow. It has been flowing ever since, inundating 11 villages and swamping schools, factories, farms and roads in a 2.5 square mile (6.5 square km) zone. A network of earthen dams and levees holds back a lake of oily grey muck. Some is being pumped into a river and out to sea, despite the risk of contamination from heavy metals and chemicals in the mud.
Efforts to staunch the flow have ranged from the ambitious to the ludicrous. Hundreds of concrete balls linked by steel cables were air-dropped into the hole, to no good effect. A group of Javanese mystics, offered a cash reward by local authorities to plug the abyss using supernatural powers, fared no better. Various experts have offered advice on how to divert or disrupt the volcano, which has spewed out an estimated 1 billion cubic feet (28m cubic metres) of mud. Japanese scientists have proposed building a 130-foot (40-metre) dam, reasoning that the weight of the exposed mud, which hardens as it dries, would eventually stem the flow. Nobody knows if or when it would stop of its own accord.
A hand-painted banner across an abandoned strip of toll-road offers its own succinct formula: “Lapindo + Government = Madness”. Many are angry at the government’s sluggish response to the disaster, which has displaced some 16,000 people. Hundreds are still living in a makeshift camp. The local economy has collapsed. Factories and farms have been inundated, and the vital toll-road to the port of Surabaya closed. To ease the appalling traffic a military airport in Malang, a town to the south, has opened to civilian flights.
Apportioning blame for the disaster has been tricky. Lapindo argued the mudflow was caused by an earthquake that struck central Java two days earlier, a theory pooh-poohed by most geologists. After much dithering, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia’s president, ordered the company to pay $412m to the afflicted. But inundated villagers get just 20% now, and the rest within two years.
Mr Yudhoyono may be influenced by Lapindo’s majority shareholder, the diversified family-owned Bakrie Group. At the time of the disaster, its patriarch, Aburizal Bakrie, was the economics supremo in Mr Yudhoyono’s cabinet, having backed his presidential campaign in 2004. Mr Bakrie described the mudflow as a natural disaster that “nothing can prevent”. Perhaps to escape liability, his group tried to sell Lapindo to obscure offshore buyers. But Indonesian regulators blocked the sale. Mr Bakrie has since moved, with no intended irony, to the post of co-ordinating minister for public welfare.
Source: http://www.economist.com/
November 30th, 2007
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said that 91 percent of the ministry`s 2007 budget will have been spent on projects in the regions by the end of the year.
“We have made an inspection and met with the project officers in the regions. And we find that about 91 percent of the projects in the regions had been completed,” he said here Wednesday.
He also said that preliminary information had been incorrect saying as if only 70 percent of the projects had been completed.
“They (project officers) especially those implementing multiyear packages made their evaluation on the basis of the progress of their work, whereas actually to determine how far the completion of their work has got, they need to look at the budget they have spent,” he said.
With regard to the 2008 budget, the minister said a tender has already been held in November and December 2007, so that in January work can be started as the funding has already been disbursed.
“At least the contracts worth Rp 6.6 trillion had already been signed, which include multiear contracts on packages on construction of the Jatigede reservoir in Sumedang, West Java, and the
Suramadu (Surabaya-Madura) bridge in Surabaya, East Java.
The minister believed that the contracts of work signed up to the end of 2007 may reach Rp14 trillion, so that work can be started by January.
He also believed that the industrial fuel oil price hike in 2007 will continue in 2008, for which the government has prepared a clause on force majeur if prices of building materials became out of control due to the price hikes.
“We have not decided whether the volume of work would be reduced in view of the building material price hikes, but we have already made some anticipations,” he said.(*)
Source: ANTARA News
November 29th, 2007
One hundred housewives from Greater Jakarta joined a two-day workshop on garbage recycling that would earn them some income while helping protect the earth.
Josef Bataona, human resources and corporate relations director from Unilever Indonesia, which organized the event last week, said the workshop taught women to turn discarded plastic into handicrafts such as bags, hats and waste bins.
“We will help them sell the products in the local market and possibly overseas,” he said.
Sartiti, a city environment official, said housewives could play a big role in recycling because they had more time to do it.
“I hope that by selling the products they can earn additional income for their families,” she said.
On day one of last week’s workshop participants listened to motivational talks on how to become an entrepreneur. The next day they received lessons on how to create handicrafts from plastic garbage using sewing machines.
“We provide 10 machines to the participants who are divided into 10 teams,” said Josef.
Winarsih and six other housewives from Ciracas district in East Jakarta were enthusiastic because the machines would help them make the handicrafts more quickly.
“I can only make one of the handicrafts a day manually. Hopefully we can produce more with this machine.”
Winarsih and her friends did not worry about selling the crafts because Unilever promised to market them at home and abroad.
“They promise to help us promote our products in supermarkets,” she said.
The workshop is part of the company’s program called Jakarta Green and Clean that started two years ago after the success of a similar campaign in Surabaya, East Java, in 2001.
In Jakarta, the program involves around 1,000 neighborhoods, according to Josef.
Previously the company cooperated with neighborhood units to teach them how to separate dry and wet garbage and recycle wet garbage into compost.(ewd)
Source: The Jakarta Post
November 28th, 2007
State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina will team up with a local company, Wahana Universal, to build an oil refinery in East Java at a cost of US$20 million.
Pertamina exploration and production director Hestu Bagyo said that the two companies had signed an agreement to build the refinery, which will have a total capacity of 6,000 barrels per day.
“The construction of the project will start in October 2008 and it is scheduled for completion in December 2008, when the Cepu block oil and gas well starts producing,” he said as quoted by Antara on Saturday.
Cepu, located along the border between East Java and Central Java, contains an estimated 600 million barrels of oil and 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The block is expected to produce 25,000 barrels of oil a day when it starts production, targeted for early 2009. This figure could rise to some 165,000 barrels a day in two or three years time.
However, the government wants the block to start producing earlier than the target date to help the government meet its target of a 30 percent increase in oil production by 2009. Under a fast-track program, the block is expected to produce some 10,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of 2008.
The block is operated by U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil and Pertamina.
Source: The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
November 27th, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Sri Sujiati wiped off the perspiration from her daughter Amelia’s forehead with a towel.
She was waiting for Amelia’s turn to play bocce, a game similar to lawn bowling, at the soccer and bocce invitational for mentally disabled people organized by Indonesia Special Olympics (SOIna) at the Ragunan Sports Arena, Ragunan, South Jakarta, on Saturday.
“I don’t know what time Amelia will start to play. I can’t wait to see and support her playing,” said Sri, sitting outside the 3-by-18 meter bocce field.
Amelia, 11, was representing her region, East Kalimantan, in the bocce tournament.
Physically, the girl looks like other children. She likes playing and chatting with her teammates.
“Amelia is physically normal. But when she was eight, I knew there was something wrong with her. She couldn’t read well in second grade of elementary school and she failed every test,” said Sri.
She said that Amelia’s friends deserted her daughter and some teachers were unkind to her.
“I was at my wit’s end. Then the headmaster told me to send Amelia to a special school. I couldn’t face the reality that my daughter was disabled and I couldn’t send her to such a school.
“I was ashamed. I was crying all day. What would people think about my family and me?” said Sri.
She then discussed the problem with her friends and they convinced her to send Amelia to a special school.
It was the right decision. Sri said that Amelia’s new teachers and friends were kind and helpful. “Amelia can now read well. For the last two years, she has played bocce and represented East Kalimantan. I’m very proud of her. I don’t feel ashamed anymore,” Sri said.
Amelia is just one among 120 mentally disabled players from eight provinces - South Sumatra, Riau, Bangka Belitung, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan — participating in the national Special Olympics one-day tournament.
SOIna chairwoman Pudji Hastuti said that the tournament was intended to replace the 2007 national championships, which had been canceled due to budget constraints.
“To hold a large-scale national championships, we would need between Rp 300 billion (US$32 million) and Rp 400 billion. We don’t have that sort of money as it was spent on this year’s Special Olympics in Shanghai. We only have Rp 25 million, but that’s enough for a small tournament with two events like this,” said Pudji.
SOIna national director Jack Ospara said that the tournament was also part of the organization’s program to prepare and select athletes for the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
“At this year’s Olympics, we only participated in three events — track and field, badminton and table tennis. We hope that we can participate in at least five events in the next Olympics,” said Jack, adding that Indonesia took nine gold, nine silver and four bronze medals at the 2007 games.
This tournament is good for motivating disabled people. We hope that wealthy parents will make donations to help us organize competitions to prepare us for the Olympics,” he said. (trw)
Source: The Jakarta Post
November 26th, 2007
SURABAYA: Airlangga University has been given the Smart Campus Award by state telecommunications company PT Telkom for its use of bandwidth, the widest among universities in East Java.
The award was handed over during a ceremony to Dripa Sjabana, the university’s director of Information Systems.
General manager Deny Rudiana of PT Telkom’s Enterprise division said that of 300 universities in East Java, only 21 had equipped their campus with information and communications systems.
Meanwhile, Enterprise and Wholesale director Arif Yahya guaranteed that universities would be charged a much lower price than general consumers.
“Universities will get a discount of at least 50 percent,” he said. — JP
Source: The Jakarta Post
November 26th, 2007
SURABAYA - Mas, Mas, Mas, ojo dipleroki. Mas, Mas, Mas, ojo dipleroki. Karepku njaluk diesemi. Bait-bait lagu Ojo Dipleroki yang beken lewat irama campursari itu kemarin (22/11) dipajang di Galeri Seni di House of Sampoerna (Art Gallery at House of Sampoerna). Lagu itu dipajang mahasiswa semester VII Desain Komunikasi Visual (DKV) Universitas Kristen (UK) Petra dalam rangka pameran visualisasi lagu daerah.
Sebanyak 46 buku dan poster ditampilkan pada acara yang dihelat hingga 10 Desember tersebut. “Sebenarnya ada 199 karya. Tapi, kami menyeleksinya,” kata Deddi Duto Hartanto, dosen DKV UK Petra.
Setiap buku memuat visualisasi satu lagu daerah. Mahasiswa diberi kebebasan memilih tiga gaya desain untuk dipadukan dalam satu buku. Unsur budaya, seperti rumah adat, pakaian adat, dan arti lagu daerah, menjadi pokok penting yang tidak boleh dilewatkan dalam visualisasi tersebut. “Meski bentuknya lagu, kami tidak menuntut adanya not musik sebagai panduan untuk menyanyikan lagu,” jelasnya.
Dua lantai galeri pun seolah menggambarkan kekayaan total seluruh daerah Nusantara. Sebab, ada 25 lagu dari daerah berbeda yang ditampilkan dalam 46 karya tersebut. Butuh satu bulan untuk mengerjakan tiap buku dan poster itu. “Desainnya buatan tangan, tapi pewarnaan dan finishing dikerjakan dengan komputer. Hasilnya juga dicetak dengan mesin printer,” tuturnya.
Gracesilia, salah seorang peserta pameran, mengangkat lagu Yamko Rambe Yamko dari Papua. Di bukunya, Grace mencoba menampilkan kehidupan masyarakat Papua yang menyatu dengan alam. Penggambaran alur kehidupan disesuaikan dengan makna lagu tentang akhir kehidupan, yaitu kematian. “Perlu menelisik berbagai sumber selain mengetahui arti masing-masing kata dalam lagu Yamko Rambe Yamko,” ungkapnya.
Memang, pameran itu seolah menguatkan pendapat bahwa para mahasiswa tersebut tak boleh melupakan budayanya. Itu juga yang disentil dalam lagu Ojo Dipleroki. Yaitu, Mbok ya sing eling; Eling bab apa, Mas?; Iku budaya; Ancene bener kandhamu. (uji)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 23rd, 2007
SURABAYA - Batik modern semakin digemari oleh desainer busana. Beragamnya busana batik juga meningkatkan apresiasi masyarakat terhadap batik. Paduan bordir dan payet masih menjadi pilihan utama untuk menyiasati kesan tua batik.
Yuliani, misalnya. Desainer kebaya modern yang mengadakan peragaan busana di pembukaan Batik, Bordir, and Accessories Fair 2007 di Maspion Convention Center kemarin (22/11) itu menyatakan jatuh cinta pada batik karena keanggunannya. “Batik memiliki desain yang unik dan melambangkan karakter masyarakat setiap daerah asal batik tersebut,” katanya kemarin.
Di antara 14 gaun pesta yang ditampilkan, dia memaksimalkan kombinasi bordir dan payet pada sembilan gaun. “Yang dipadukan dengan batik, lima busana,” ucapnya. Untuk pesta, dia mengatakan, payet dapat menambah kesan glamor. Sebab, payet menjadi aksesori busana.
Pemilik rumah busana Juliet itu cukup senang dengan apresiasi masyarakat Surabaya terhadap batik. Dalam sebulan, rata-rata dia menerima pesanan 200 gaun batik. “Dulu, orang berpikir bahwa desain baju batik hanya untuk acara penting, seperti pernikahan atau wisuda. Sekarang, untuk pesta saja, mereka pesan gaun batik,” tuturnya. Setiap gaun rata-rata dipatok dengan harga Rp 2,5-15 juta.
Batik, Bordir, dan Accessories Fair 2007 diikuti oleh 80 pengusaha dan perajin di Jatim. Batik Madura mendominasi pameran yang diselenggarakan hingga 25 November tersebut. Dadan M. Kushendarman, direktur eksekutif panitia pameran, berharap, kecintaan warga Surabaya terhadap batik, bordir, dan payet sebagai warisan budaya dapat ditingkatkan dengan adanya pameran itu. “Peragaan busana tersebut menunjukkan bahwa batik juga bisa dibuat menjadi busana yang bernuansa modern,” ujarnya. (uji)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 23rd, 2007
Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Syaharani still gets a buzz, that irrepressible welling of excitement and nerves, whenever it’s time to step on stage. In fact, the rush can get the better of her.
“I always have to run to the toilet before I go on stage,” the 36-year-old singer joked Tuesday at a South Jakarta coffee shop.
“It doesn’t matter where it is, it’s always that same feeling of excitement even though every performance is different … It’s like meeting your boyfriend again.”
She will be back on center stage Friday night for her debut at the 9th International Jakarta Jazz Festival in Senayan, Central Jakarta. She was still a young performer making a name for herself in 1997 when JakJazz was held before an eight-year hiatus. Contractual obligations kept her from performing at last year’s event.
The sultry-voiced singer, who is known as Rani, will perform a set of about nine songs with her band, The Queenfireworks, formed last year. As well as originals from their first album, Buat Kamu, there will be a rearrangement of Bob Marley’s Turn Your Lights Down Low and an on-stage mime who will interpret one of the songs.
She is excited by the opportunity to perform — “it’s really nice knowing they recognize my new band,” she says — and she praises JakJazz for showcasing local talent.
“Usually, most of the big stars are from outside (at local music events). Here there’s Idang Rasjidie, Maliq & D’Essentials and others. So it’s good … I think JakJazz has always done that, and its ticket prices are still within reach.”
Although it’s only three days before a performance, the singer is not swaddled in a turtleneck, sipping warm chamomile tea and refusing to talk to protect her “instrument”. Instead, she downs a cappucino and picks at a calorie-laden slice of blueberry cheesecake. Slim and with the angular features and dark eyes of her mixed South Sulawesi and Greek heritage, she says she eats what she wants and likes a glass of red wine and her cigarettes.
She is a “people person”; she loves to meet new people and learn from them. It was a shared feeling of camraderie with other musicians that led her to jazz music.
Rani was born in the cool hill town of Batu, outside Malang, East Java. An eclectic range of music rang through the household, from her mother’s jazz and semi-classical records to the choices of her brother and four sisters. She also had her own favorites, especially Guruh Sukarnoputra, Keenan Nasution, Yockie Suryoprayogo and Fariz RM.
She came to Jakarta for high school and became acquainted with the music industry. It was not a good first impression.
“I had a relative who worked as a producer, and he showed me all of the things about the artists who were big at the time …,” she said.
“For me, it was very complicated, it seemed that they didn’t have much time for their family or to contemplate … I told my family that I didn’t want that kind of life.”
Rani returned to East Java, going to college and singing in a cover band, doing versions of songs by groups like Genesis. But she decided to give Jakarta another try.
“I sang at cafes and clubs, it was fun. I got to meet a lot of different people, which got me thinking. And it provided me with a lot of logical conclusions about life.”
She also was welcomed into the community of musicians. It was mostly a brotherhood of sorts, but Rani says she was welcomed as one of the boys.
“My seniors took me along to play at many sessions. They always watched over me, they cared for me. So I drank but not too much, because they were there … it made me think, well, it’s OK …”
She describes the community as “pure … we go up on stage with a lot of love, we play with the people we love and we give it to other people. There are no boundaries, and we are free.”
Rani made the commitment to jazz 10 years ago, when it was still very much a niche market. It still is, inevitably, but the scene is growing here. A group of young, dynamic musicians, from Maliq & D’Essentials to the charismatic, fedora-wearing Tompi, have done away with the intimidation factor for their peers.
“It’s getting better; more people now understand that jazz is not ’scary’ music,” Rani says. “People like Maliq and Tompi are showing that the music can be simple, but still jazzy. It’s nice to let people know that jazz can be a very familiar music, it depends on which type you choose.
“It’s going to get better for jazz, because the trend is changing little by little.”
Rani also loves to write; she pens poetry and has a regular column for a Batam-based newspaper. A compilation of her writings is scheduled to be published next year. She also is in talks with producers for a second album, to be released in 2009, with The Queenfireworks.
But she takes nothing for granted; she learned from experience not to get beyond herself in her expectations. In a freak accident in 2002, she was hit by a falling disco ball while rehearsing for a show at a Jakarta hotel.
“I had never thought about it before, but when I had the accident, and couldn’t sing for a few months, I didn’t feel OK because I realized that I know myself better through singing … Maybe I thanked God so much (after recovering), because this gift is really a big one for me, because through singing I could get a lot of friends …”
She has overcome the panic attacks that crippled her after the accident and, as with everything she experiences, good and bad, discovered something new about life and herself.
“I don’t feel afraid of anything, of what will happen. Whatever we can fix, then we do. If we can’t, then we will learn …”
Syaharani will perform at 9 p.m. at Senayan on Friday, November 23.
Source: The Jakarta Post
November 22nd, 2007
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