INDONESIA A NEWS

When President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson of Iceland came to open the 2010 World Geothermal Congress on April 226 in Bali with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono it was as if the fiery spirit of geothermal energy was angry with the human race. The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull had thrown up huge clouds of ash, bringing Western European air traffic to a halt for days. But Grimsson came from his small island state near the Arctic circle with its population of 318,000 to inspire President Yudhoyono with his population of 230 million that Indonesia, with 40 percent of world geothermal energy resources, could succeed in developing clean sustainable geothermal energy. The World Geothermal Congress 2010 hopefully marks a turning point for an industry which just reached global electrical production capacity of 10 GWe - or 10,000 megawatts (MW) - although Indonesia alone probably needs an extra 5 GWe every year to keep up with demand. The geothermal industry is growing up, with an e...

Two leading consumer-goods companies, Unilever and Nestle, have stopped buying palm oil for use in its products from Indonesia's largest producer, Sinar Mas. The firm is accused by Greenpeace, the environmental activists, of illegally clearing forests in Indonesia for its plantations. Sinar Mas denies the claims and says it has hired independent auditors to prove its case. In a telephone interview on Tuesday to Al Jazeera, Vikram Agarwal, Unilever Asia's vice-president of supply management in Singapore, said: "Unilever's decision to suspend these purchases of palm oil was triggered by serious charges made against the company. Not just in December 2009, but going back to when the first quotes appeared from Greenpeace in April 2008, as well from other NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and independent auditors." He said the purpose of "making our purchases as of now is to make it clear to them that the burden of proof now rests with them [Sinar Ma...

In a country where bribes play an integral part in the legal system, where attorneys and judges usually hide part of their wealth to deflect unwanted attention, Mr. Hutapea has never denied gaming the system. On the contrary, he has reveled in his success by wearing fat diamond rings and carrying, until laws changed a couple of years ago, a gun in a hip holster. His office buildings here are adorned with signs that scream in big, bold letters: HOTMAN PARIS. He is a regular on television gossip shows that link him to one starlet or another. Colleagues may prudently choose to drive conservative cars, to court at least. But Mr. Hutapea hops into his new red Ferrari California - the first one sold in Indonesia, for $630,000 - and parks it right in front of court buildings. To his critics, the car and its owner are a prime symbol of the cancer infecting the legal system; to Mr. Hutapea, the Ferrari amounts to an honest acknowledgment of the system's imperfections. "If ...

The Indonesian government plans to create a vast agricultural estate in the restive province of Papua, sparking fears of environmental destruction and a return of mass migration policies that have done much to antagonise the indigenous population. Launched last month and already piquing the interest of foreign investors, the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) will initially earmark 1.6 million hectares of land for development but could expand to 2.5 million hectares, or about half the area of Merauke district, in south-east Papua. The ambitious proposal marks a return to the huge agricultural developments promoted by the former dictator Suharto, some of which were spectacular failures, such as the 1 million hectare ''mega rice'' project in central Kalimantan that devastated peatland forests and did not produce a bushel of rice. But Indonesian officials insist the land around Merauke is suitable for agriculture and that the new estate will help the world...