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  • VICE Media Announces Launch of VICE Indonesia

    VICE Media Announces Launch of VICE Indonesia

    VICE Media, the world’s leading youth media brand, today announced a major market expansion into Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest nation. VICE will launch a full-scale operation in Indonesia, producing local content and creative agency services to reach the skyrocketing young population of over 100 million people in the country. In addition, VICE today announced multi-platform partnerships with Jawa Pos TV and Google that will bring linear and digital programming to the country. Content will be available in both English and Indonesian.

    Young people aged 18-34 comprise 50 percent of Indonesia’s overall population. In the country, mobile, linear and digital markets have grown so expansively that there are more mobile phones than people, and the average person spends five hours on the internet every day. This demonstrated thirst for multi-platform content opens the door for VICE to fill the void and reach young people on whatever platform they consume content.

    To date in Asia, VICE has operated out of Japan, China and South Korea, and last month the company launched branded VICELAND blocks, which will eventually become 24-hour VICELAND channels, in 18 Southeast Asian territories, including Indonesia, through a partnership with local media powerhouse MultiChannels Asia. Partnerships with DOCOMO Digital and AbemaTV have also brought original VICE content to mobile and digital platforms across Japan. In the coming months, VICE will launch full-scale offices in India and the Middle East.

    Building upon this growth in Asia, VICE Indonesia, which is based in Jakarta, will bring VICE’s award winning content to a young audience that is consuming mobile, digital and linear content at a staggering pace. VICE Indonesia will be at the forefront of content production in the country, creating and distributing local and international programming that appeals to the enormous young population. By working with young Indonesian talent and producers, editors, shooters and creatives, the content will maintain VICE’s distinct voice and satisfy the appetite for uniquely intimate content focused on culture, food, music, technology, sports and more.

    Through the partnership with Jawa Pos TV, a leading news television network in Indonesia, VICE News Tonight, VICE’s recently launched daily news show on HBO, will air every night on Jawa Pos TV in a primetime slot. Select VICELAND programming will also air on the network during primetime. Jawa Pos TV significantly expanded its reach earlier this year, and with infrastructure and other upgrades underway, will soon reach over 150 million people in Indonesia. As the company continues to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia, this partnership will bring VICE’s distinct, youth-oriented content to a growing market of young viewers in the region.

    “With Indonesia’s massive young audience increasingly consuming video content across all screens, launching VICE here is a no brainer,” said VICE Co-President James Schwab. “Combining our award-winning global content with content produced locally in Indonesia, both digitally and on TV through partnerships with Jawa Pos TV, Google and MultiChannels Asia, enables us to reach as many young people as possible, whenever and wherever they are consuming content.”

    “It’s been a truly life changing experience to bring VICE to Indonesia, a country I love and call home,” said Mo Morris, Managing Director of VICE Indonesia. “We will aim to produce some of the most unique content Southeast Asia has ever seen. Indonesia is a great fit for VICE, a beautiful, turbulent, and progressive country with an engaged young audience hungry for a media company that speaks their own language. By partnering with Jawa Pos TV and Google, we will be able to meet young people on whichever screen they are consuming content.”

    “Indonesia is the perfect environment for VICE,” said Ardyan M Erlangga, Managing Editor, VICE Indonesia. “The country is a diverse, complicated, and incredibly exciting place that is full of under-covered stories, unique characters, and young people hungry for compelling content. We will bring these stories to life with the best young talent locally, telling some of the world’s most important stories to the rest of the region and world.”

    “Jawa Pos TV is very excited to partner with VICE and VICELAND,” said Maesa Samola, CEO of Jawa Pos. “I am constantly fascinated by the VICE point of view and unique stand in the media world, and thrilled that VICE’s content is now available to experience through our very own Jawa Pos TV.”

    Along with VICE Indonesia launch partner Google, VICE will create digital content powered by the world’s most prolific search tool. Utilizing VICE’s unique lens and local talent, SEARCHLIGHT will showcase youth culture and nightlife across Indonesia to a global digital audience. Through a series of videos, stories and social events, SEARCHLIGHT will take viewers into unknown stories of Indonesian urban life, and expand VICE’s presence into Indonesia’s digital market.

    VICE’s expansion into Indonesia comes on the heels of a major global expansion for VICE and VICELAND. In June, VICE unveiled an expansive slate of international deals that, within the next year, will make its multi-screen programming available to audiences in over 50 new territories in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the Middle

    East and India. In total, VICE’s award winning multi-platform programming will be available in over 80 territories.

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  • Toys R Us Singapore plans two new stores

    Toys R Us Singapore plans two new stores

    Toys R Us Singapore plans two new stores, despite the current downturn in the retail market.

    Country manager Raymond Burt told Channel NewsAsia the first will open before Christmas and a second will follow in early 2017.

    The announcement came at the opening of the chain’s latest store at VivoCity, its ninth store in the city state.

    The locations of the new stores were not revealed although it is believed the new VivoCity outlet, with 30,000 sqft of floor space, will remain the largest in Singapore.

    “We will continue to grow here as we still see Singapore as a growth market,” Toys R Us APAC president Andre Javes said.

    “We don’t want to make decisions just based on the current economic situation which is tough… but this market has been a good one for the past 32 years and we have no issues investing more.”

    Javes, who described the toy category as “recession-proof” said he expects the company to benefit from a raft of branded merchandise opportunities related to Hollywood blockbuster movies scheduled for release in coming years.

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  • Indonesia faces increasing senior-citizen population

    Indonesia faces increasing senior-citizen population

    Indonesia is facing the problem of a growing number of elderly people who are expected to reach over 32 million in the next two decades.

    Indonesia’s elderly in 2010 was 4.9 percent of the population, or 11,878,236 people. This number is projected to increase to 10.8 percent, or 32,112,361 people in 2035.

    Senior researcher Sukamdi of the Center for Population and Policy Studies (PSKK) of the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) said the country is actually going to face a big problem.

    “The same issue also occurs in other countries such as Japan. However, there is no awareness of the fact we have a big problem with the elderly. In my view, Indonesia has not shown a sufficient response to the problem of the elderly,” Sukamdi said on the UGM campus on Saturday.

    The data at the UGMs PSSK on Indonesias Population projections from 2010 to 2035 indicate the percentage of the elderly population will increase to 100 percent, he said.

    The postproductive age group or age older than 65 years, has now become an important issue because it could become a potential or expense in the human life cycle as a whole, according to him.

    “If in the current productive age a person, he or she, is capable of saving, then when he or she becomes older or no longer productive in terms of the economic aspect, he or she will not become a burden to the state,” he said.

    Anyone being old or being elderly will face three gaps, he said.

    First, the geographical gap, namely, the relationship or the physical encounters between parents and children, will be increasingly rare, he said.

    Second, the cultural gap, namely, the differences in perspectives and values between parents and children.

    Third is the economic gap.

    “The third gap is being faced increasingly by the elderly. We heard the news yesterday, that in Condong Catur there was an elderly person who died but it was only five days later that the family and neighbors came to know. This is just one example, but in fact there have been several similar cases,” Sukamdi said.

    Regarding the elderly, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights strives to ensure that neglected population groups are given space and weight in the human-rights agenda, and that governments take all measures required to protect and promote their human rights.

    The Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Social Affairs, has prepared the Assistance for the Elderly but for the time being it has reached only 30,000 neglected elderly.

    In November 2016 the assistance will reach 125,000 neglected elderly over 70 years by involving them in the Family Hope Program (PKH) in order to receive 200,000 rupec per month, each.

    With the Family Hope Program, the social affairs minister says the government will reach 155,000 needy elderly, although the number is still far from the overall number of neglected elderly.

    Currently, the overall number of neglected elderly is recorded at 1.8 million, and 1.6 million of whom are potentially displaced in the face of the demographic bonus, expected to lead to a positive impact on economic development and progress in the field of agriculture and industry.

    In the meantime, all Asean member countries are facing the same social issues related to the social welfare of children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

    “The Asean countries, including Indonesia, are dealing with issues connected to the protection of children, elderly and disabled,” Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said at the ninth Asean Regional Meeting on Development and Social Welfare in Jakarta late last month.

    Earlier, Khofifah, along with several of her counterparts from the Asean countries and China, Japan and South Korea, discussed many such social problems.

    The minister said the Asean countries are facing a variety of issues related to children, including the problem of online pornography. A proposal to stem this problem has been initiated Malaysia with a proposal.

    “There was a recommendation at a meeting about children held last June in Vietnam. Many countries are facing such problems, as also those related to protection of abandoned children,” Khofifah noted.

    She said inputs given by Asean and three Asian countries which participated in the meeting emphasized the importance of checking child trafficking and ensuring childrens education, including quality standards in early childhood education and parenting.

    Most Asean countries will have a large number of the elderly people, and, therefore, should take measures to facilitate them in their daily life, especially those who are active and productive.

    “Some programs have been carried out well in Japan, China and South Korea and will be a basis to strengthen cooperation among the Asean and the three countries on the issue,” the minister concluded.

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  • Australia leads top ten sources of tourist arrivals in Bali

    Australia leads top ten sources of tourist arrivals in Bali

    Australia led the ten top sources of tourist arrivals in the resort island of Bali in the January-September 2016 period, an official said.

    “The number of Australian tourists visiting Bali in the first nine months of this year reached 850,326, up 16.85 percent from 727,678 in the same period last year,” chief of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Office in Bali, Adi Nugroho said here on Sunday.

    Most of the Australian tourists traveled to Bali by direct flights. Only 18,554 of them went to the island by cruise liner.

    More and more Australians visited Bali as they regarded it as their “second home”, he said.

    Australia contributed 23.36 percent of the overall tourist arrivals in Bali at 3.63 million over the period, up 21.69 percent compared to the same period last year when the figure was recorded at 2.99 million.

    Adi Nugroho said nine of the ten top sources of tourist arrivals in bali saw a significant increase in the number of tourist arrivals in Bali. Only the number of Malaysian tourists fell 6.64 percent to 138,203 from 138,203.

    Meanwhile, China occupied the second place with 35.84 percent of the total budget fund.

  • Pharma in Indonesia: Competing for Higher Margins

    Pharma in Indonesia: Competing for Higher Margins

    IPMG members – including Novartis, Merck, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer – have invested more than USD $1 billion in Indonesia’s pharmaceutical industry over the past few years, particularity for the construction of factories and clinical research (source: AmCham Indonesia).

    An example is Bayer, which recently invested 8.1 million euros in the expansion of its factory in Cimanggis (West Java). This factory produces multivitamins and medicines, about 75% of which is exported to 26 countries.

    Concurrently, Indonesia’s largest pharmaceutical company, Kalbe Farma, is shifting from being a maker of generic drugs to a high-tech pharma developer. Besides producing cancer drugs, Kalbe has been investing in R&D on stem cell therapies. Significantly, a lack of generic substitutes in these fields in Indonesia implies no government-set price ceilings, and therefore these products offer higher margins.

    In fact, there are more than 200 drugmakers in Indonesia, most of which produce only low-margin generics. While they control 95% of the market by volume, they have a combined 75% share in value terms. Therefore the few multinationals operating in the country have been able to make more profits because of their focus on high-value products.

    Such activities are taking place while Indonesian President Joko Widodo is pushing its universal health care program to cover the country’s projected population of 270 million by 2019, a leap from the 170 million currently covered. This year for the first time, government expenditures on health care reached the legally mandated 5% of the state budget. Health care spending is expected to grow 12% every year through 2020.

    To join the discussion on all developments in this industry sign up for CPhI South East Asia and its LinkedIn group. CPhI is the must-attend pharma event in Indonesia comprising of a trade show and state of the art conference where the regional industry meets to leverage connections, knowledge and insight to spur business. Launched 6 years ago, the next edition takes place during 22-24 March 2017 at JIExpo in Jakarta. Workshops and exhibitors’ presentations will add into the mix, and will complement the 3 days together with a business matchmaking platform.

  • Standard Chartered and IBM back Byte Academy’s Singapore fintech school

    Standard Chartered and IBM back Byte Academy’s Singapore fintech school

    Standard Chartered Bank, IBM, Insead, Thomson Reuters and Microsoft are backing a fintech school at New York-based Byte Academy’s first international venture, in Singapore.

    The firms have come together to form a fintech skills charter that will guide Byte Academy’s 12-week and eight-week courses for students focussing on fintech and software development.The 12-week full-time courses will provide the fundamentals for students to work on real, industry-specific problems and allow for interaction with industry partners to prepare for direct placement and job matching upon graduation. Students that graduate receive guaranteed job placements at the bank and tech partners.

    Shameek Kundu, global head, data, architecture and innovation, Standard Chartered, says: “The establishment of Byte Academy is another progressive initiative which will help to fuel Singapore’s Smart Nation ambitions by adding to the country’s great ecosystem of financial institutions, technology companies, universities and research organisations.”

    Nobuhiro Ito, director, developer experience and evangelism, Microsoft Singapore, adds: “Byte Academy’s presence here in Singapore will help accelerate skills development that will help contribute to a more vibrant FinTech ecosystem and build a stronger Singapore core.”

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  • Indonesia expects 250,000 Taiwanese tourists

    Indonesia expects 250,000 Taiwanese tourists

    Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (KDEI) is expecting more than 250 thousand tourist arrivals from Taiwan to Indonesia by the end of 2016.

    “In 2015, the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting Indonesia was 211 thousand. Hopefully, by the end of this year, this number will increase as we are also actively promoting tourism under the Wonderful Indonesia brand,” KDEIs Tourism and Transportation Director Agung Sepande said here on Monday.

    He noted that about 70 percent of Taiwanese tourists travel to Bali as the island is perceived as an attractive place and has various sites of tourist interest.

    To attract more Taiwanese tourists, the KDEI is promoting tourist sites in other areas, too.

    “We are inviting Taiwanese journalists to support this promotional exercise. We will take them to Bali and Lombok. Next year, journalists will visit Jakarta and Yogyakarta,” Agung pointed out.

    He noted that Taiwanese tourists in Indonesia want to dive and surf because the countrys beaches are very scenic and conducive to these activities.

    At the Asia Pacific Culture Day 2016 held by Taiwan some time ago, Indonesia had promoted culture and maritime tourism to thousands of visitors from more than 20 countries.

    Taiwan itself is a tourist destination with a variety of sites that accentuate cultural, culinary, shopping, romantic and ecological aspects.

    In Taiwan, travel guides divide the country into North, South, Central, East and the part outside the Formosa Island.

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  • Brocade migrates BookMyShow to new IP network

    Brocade migrates BookMyShow to new IP network

    Brocade has migrated BookMyShow, India’s largest online entertainment ticketing brand, to a new IP network optimized for application performance.

    The deployment has further enhanced the booking experience offered by BookMyShow by enabling it to better handle increasing peak demands and roll out new services on the fly. The solution also provides it with a flexible foundation to continue its rapid market penetration in India.

    Alongside online movie ticketing, BookMyShow also offers non-movie ticketing for plays, sports, and live events, leading to a tremendous increase in its user base and the amount of data traffic across its platforms.

    To meet the growing scale of its operations, BookMyShow has been constantly upgrading its technologies and infrastructure at the back end to continue offering a seamless booking experience, especially during the release of blockbuster films and bookings for key non-movie events.

    “People in India are increasingly realizing the convenience and benefits associated with online ticketing,” said Viraj Patel, VP of Technology, BookMyShow.

    “This, coupled with increasing smartphone and mobile Internet penetration, is resulting in more users experiencing BookMyShow. Over 70% of our transactions are already through mobile. This makes it imperative for BookMyShow to pre-empt demand and traffic spikes to ensure that its infrastructure can continue delivering a consistent and seamless booking experience.”

    “Brocade has designed a solution optimized to our requirements, thereby preventing the surfacing of any new bottlenecks and, at the same time, enabling us to scale on demand while ensuring 100 percent uptime.”

    “Delivering 24×7 e-commerce availability is always a challenge and online ticketing, with its spikes in demand, takes things to an extreme,” said Edgar Dias, senior regional director for Brocade India.

    “With Brocade VDX 6740 switches and Brocade VCS Fabric technology, we have been able to provide BookMyShow with a network infrastructure that enables a more automated and dynamic operating model, allowing the data center as a whole to respond rapidly to changing patterns of demand. At the same time, this network architecture can be scaled to handle massive growth in online ticket sales in the coming years.”

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  • Indonesia posts 5% growth in Q3

    Indonesia posts 5% growth in Q3

    Indonesia’s economy grew largely in line with market expectations in the third quarter, though lower government spending and a slowdown among its major trading partners proved a drag on growth.

    Data released by the statistics bureau yesterday showed Indonesia grew 5.02 per cent in the July to September quarter from the same three-month period last year.

    This was close to the median estate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News of 5.08 per cent though it was below the 5.18 per cent in the second quarter.

    The results are a dampener for South-east Asia’s largest economy – home to more than 250 million people – which has been striving to meet a 7 per cent growth target envisioned by President Joko Widodo when he took office two years ago. Lower commodity prices and weaker global demand have been a consistent roadblock to the target.

    Statistics bureau chief Suhariyanto said a contraction in exports deepened to 6 per cent in the third quarter from the 2.73 per cent slump in the previous one, due to slowing growth in the key markets of China, Singapore and South Korea.

    5.02%

    Indonesia’s growth in the July to September quarter, from the samethree-month period last year. This is below the 5.18 per cent in the second quarter.

    6%

    The contraction in exports in the third quarter, deepening from the 2.73 per cent slump in the previous quarter, owing to slowing growth in key markets China, Singapore and South Korea.

    US$10b

    The budget cut announced in August by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, for the whole of 2016.

    China grew at a steady 6.7 per cent annually in the third quarter, midway between the government’s goal of 6.5 to 7 per cent.

    Singapore’s growth came in at just 0.6 per cent year on year. South Korea grew 0.7 per cent, marginally ahead of expectations but still a tad below the second quarter.

    Household spending rose 5 per cent in Indonesia, the data showed. But a reversal in government spending was a drag on the economy.

    In August, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani announced a US$10.2 billion (S$14.3 billion) budget cut for the year. “She took the decision to cut government spending, to make sure the aggregate deficit for the year would not exceed 3 per cent of GDP,” OCBC economist Wellian Wiranto wrote in a note. Government spending tumbled 45 trillion rupiah (S$4.75 billion) in the third quarter year on year, data showed.

    Indonesia’s economy has been hobbled by low global commodity prices, tepid foreign investment and infrastructure bottlenecks. Last year’s growth of 4.8 per cent was the weakest since 2009.

    President Joko is seeking billions of dollars to help fund an ambitious agenda to build roads, railways and seaports, Bloomberg reported.

    Reacting to the data yesterday, he said he hoped for a lift in the fourth quarter. “We hope with the trigger of (government) payment realisation and budget disbursement, it can improve slightly.”

    A total of six interest rate cuts by Bank Indonesia this year are helping spur spending as inflation remains inside the 3 per cent to 5 per cent target band.

    Analysts argue that revenue collection from the government’s flagship tax amnesty scheme could help cushion the economy from aggressive state spending cuts.

    “The cuts in spending would continue to weigh on the fourth quarter outlook, but stabilisation of oil and commodity prices should bode well for the overall economy,” UOB economist Ho Woei Chen said.

  • Indonesian unemployment rate down in 2016

    Indonesian unemployment rate down in 2016

    The Indonesia Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said in August, 2016, the country had 7.03 million jobless people among 125.44 million of labor force.

    “Compared with August, 2015, the number of working people rose 3.59 million and the number of jobless people declined 530,000. The number of workforce, therefore, increased 3.06 million in August, 2016,” BPS chief Suhariyanto told reporters here on Monday.

    Suhariyanto said the number of working people rose in almost all sectors during the one year period excepting in the construction sector where the number of working people dropped 230,000 people or 2.8 percent.

    “The highest increase in number was recorded in the public service sector in which there were 1.52 million more working people or an increase of 8.47 percent, followed by an increase of 1.01 million or 3.93 percent in the trading sector, and 500,000 or 9.78 percent increase in the transport, warehousing and communications sector,” he said.

    Among the 118.41 million working people, the largest number was in the agriculture sector reaching 37.77 million or 31.9 percent, followed by the trade sector reaching 26.69 million or 22.54 percent and the service sector 19.46 million or 16.43 percent, industrial sector 15.54 million or 13.12 percent, the construction sector 7.98 million workers or 6.74 percent, the transport sector 5.61 million workers or 4.74 percent, the financial sector 3.53 million or 2.98 percent and mining sector 1.83 million or 1.56 percent.

    BPS said in August, 2016, Labor Force Participation Rate (TPAK) was 66.34 percent or every 100 working age people , around 66 were actively employed. Unemployment rate in the same period was 5.61 percent.

    The highest unemployment rate by provinces was in Banten reaching 8.92 percent , followed by West Java at 8.89 percent. The lowest unemployment rate was in Bali at 1.89 percent and Bangka Belitung at 2.6 percent.

    “Tourism sector contributed to low unemployment rate in Bali and Babel,” Suhariyanto said.

    He said in August 2016 , there were 50.21 million people or 42.4 percent of the working people in formal sector having business with permanent workers of 68.2 million.

  • Guardian Malaysia plans 30 new stores

    Guardian Malaysia plans 30 new stores

    Guardian Malaysia plans to open 30 stores in 2017 and develop an online business as it bolsters its share of the health and beauty market.

    With 430 stores trading currently, the company has a share of the sector estimated at around 30 per cent.

    “Domestically, the current retail market is tough and demand is soft, so we have conducted a research and come out with a new concept, which is aligning products with shoppers’ demand, and then see the customers’ response,” Guardian’s CEO Peter J Dove said in an interview with Bernama.

    A further 70 stores have been slated for refurbishment and 15 will close altogether.

    Guardian Malaysia

    This week the company celebrated the opening of its new 316 sqm concept store at Suria KLCC in Kuala Lumpur which will be a template for about 10 of its largest stores in the country.

    Highlights of the Suria KLCC store include a ‘Make Me Up corner’, a semi-private area for shoppers to experiment with new products and learn how to apply them.

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  • Number of Chinese tourists to Bali shoots up 36%

    Number of Chinese tourists to Bali shoots up 36%

    The number of visits by Chinese tourists to Bali shot up 35.84 percent to 741.740 in the first nine months of this year from 546,035 visits in the same period last year.

    “The number of visits by holiday makers from China is now the second largest after those from Australia, which has continued to top the list of 10 largest countries of origin of foreign visitors to Bali,” head of the regional branch of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Adi Nugroho said here on Saturday.

    Adi said currently China accounts for 20.38 percent of the number of visits by foreign tourists to Bali.

    There were 3.63 million of visits by foreign tourists to Bali in the January-September period this year or an increase of 21.69 percent from 2.99 million in the same period last year.

    Adi Nugroho Australia contributed 23.36 percent to the total; number of foreign visits to Bali. Japan was the third place contributing 4.94% followed by Britain accounting for 4.52 percent, India for 3.57 percent, France for 3.56 percent, Malaysia 3.55 percent, the United States 3.44 percent, South Korea 3.04 percent, and Germany for 3.22 percent.

    He said the increase in the number of tourists from China was attributable to improved economic condition of the worlds most populous country and second largest economy.

    In addition, the countrys flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has provided direct flight between Bali and a number of cities in China such as Shanghai, Baijing and Guangzhou since 2015.

    China has become a target for market expansion by Garuda Indonesia for its international services.

    More than 100 Chinese travel abroad every year making that country the most potential tourist market which would benefit airlines.

    Chinese Consul General in Denpasar, Bali, Hu Yinquan, asked the government to provide sufficient interpreters for Mandarin to facilitate Chinese visitors, who could not speak in English.

    Hu Yinquan also asked that Mandarin also included in signposts as he believed more Chinese tourist would visit Bali in the coming years.

    In Manado, North Sulawesi, Chinese made up around 50 percent of foreign visitors in the third quarter of this year.

    “Chinese guests contributed 50 percent to the occupancy rate of the Lion Hotel and Plaza Manado,” says Sales Marketing Manager of Lion Hotel and Plaza Manado Anatje Pingkan Pinaria.

    Indonesia, however, is still far lagging behind Thailand in attracting Chinese holiday makers.

    Altogether, Indonesia recorded 8.36 million visits by foreign tourist until September this year or an increase of 8.5 percent year-on-year.

    Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said earlier this week, the increase gave greater optimism that the target of 12 million visits by foreign tourists to the country this year would be achieved.

    “In three consecutive months – July-August and September, the number of visits by foreign tourists exceeded one million. We hope that the number would be larger in October, November and December,” the minister said.

    In September, there were 1,006,653 foreign tourist visits or an increase of 9.40 percent year-on-year from 920,128 in the same month last year, he said in a statement.

    Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) and the Tourism Ministry, the number of foreign tourist visits in the first nine months of the year was 8,362,963 or 8.51 percent higher than 7,707,034 visits in the same period last year.

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  • Foreign Investors Eye Hospital Business in Indonesia

    Foreign Investors Eye Hospital Business in Indonesia

    Foreign investors have expressed interest in healthcare business investments in Indonesia. Singapore-based Global Growth Markets (GGM) consultant said that India-based hospital group Apollo Hospitals is currently considering to build a telemedicine center and a hospital in Indonesia. In addition, Malaysia-based IIH Healthcare recently announced that they would tap into the Indonesian market as a part of its expansion plan.

    GGM consultant Pet Read revealed that Indonesia’s healthcare industry showed the highest growth after China and India. The number of privately owned hospitals in Indonesia grew by 50 percent per year over the last few years.

    “Currently, the number of hospitals in Indonesia, including government-owned hospitals, is around 1,300,” Mr. Read said in a press release on Thursday, November 3, 2016.

    Other foreign companies interested in developing hospitals in Indonesia included Columbia Asia Health Services Group. The company, based in Kuala Lumpur, has planned to open three hospitals in Semarang.

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  • Indonesia campaigns for pharmaceutical after liberalization

    Indonesia campaigns for pharmaceutical after liberalization

    The government is intensifying efforts to support the country’s longstagnant pharmaceutical industry after opening up the sector to foreign investment in its latest revision to the negative investment list (DNI).

    The efforts were evident at a dialog on “Expediting the Development of Indonesia’s Pharmaceutical Industry” organized by the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) on Thursday that gathered together players in the pharmaceutical industry and its related sectors.

    “Most of the existing companies make medicines, whereas the raw material businesses is small. Roughly 90 percent of raw material for the pharmaceutical industry is imported from India or China. We have to change this,” BKPM investment monitoring and implementation deputy chairman Azhar Lubis said during the event.

    In a bid to encourage the raw material industry, the government has revised the DNI, which lists the sectors restricted to foreign investment. Following the revision, the government now allows 100 percent foreign ownership in pharmaceutical companies, from 85 percent previously.

    Following the issuance of the regulation, no fresh interests on raw material sector have been expressed by foreign investors, Azhar said. However, there have been 18 new licenses for investments in the pharmaceutical industry issued by BKPM from January to September worth Rp 2.1 trillion.

    Apart from campaigning for investment in pharmaceutical factories, the BKPM will also push research and development (R&D) in the sector to encourage new innovations in new medicines that are locally made, Azhar added, citing R&D centers in Singapore and Europe.

    However, industry players said the problem with investment in the pharmaceutical sector lay in the fact that there was a relatively small number of hospitals and doctors for whom the medicines would be distributed.

    “Boosting the industry does not only mean pushing for medicine production and factories. What’s also needed is hospitals, doctors and clinics as the infrastructure to feed the pharmaceutical industry,” said International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group (IPMG) executive director Parulian Simanjuntak.

    Investments in the pharmaceutical sector have stagnated in recent years, reaching just Rp 8.9 trillion from January 2011 to September 2016, BKPM data shows. Also, there are only 214 pharmaceutical companies in Indonesia, most of which make medicines. Just a few of them manufacture raw material for pharmaceuticals.

    “If production [of raw material] were to start in Indonesia, it would take around three years to really get going and it would definitely cost more than importing from other countries,” said Arustiyono, the director of supervision and therapeutic product distribution at the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).

    “The research and development phase for the chemical reactions would itself take a year,” he added.

    The pharmaceutical industry is 70 percent dominated by local players, including privately-owned Kalbe Farma and state-owned Kimia Farma, among others.

    “The stimulus package for raw material factory investments will bring about a positive impact for the pharmaceutical industry because the source for materials will shift to local sources. This will inoculate the industry from the rupiah’s fluctuations,” Kalbe Farma corporate secretary Vidjongtius said. “In this way, medicine production costs can be more controlled. This, however, is a medium to long-term project.”

  • Business council expects 100 thousand Russian tourists to Indonesia

    Business council expects 100 thousand Russian tourists to Indonesia

    Russia-Indonesia Business Council expects an increase in the number of Indonesian tourists to Russia and vice versa in 2016 and the coming years, in order to strengthen relations and economic cooperation between the two countries.

    A statement from the Russia-Indonesia Business Council received by ANTARA here on Thursday said that tourism was a topic of particular concern at the annual Business Forum held on October 31 in Jakarta.

    Mikhail Kuritsyn, the CEO of Russia-Indonesia Business Council, expected 100 thousand Russian tourists to visit Indonesia in the coming years, and 18 thousand Indonesian tourists to visit Russia in 2016.

    He also called for the diversification of tourism in Indonesia, so that Russian tourists would not only visit Bali Island but also other tourist destinations, which are spread across various islands in the country.

    Direct flights from Jakarta to Moscow will be the first step in enhancing the tourism cooperation.

    The national flight carrier, Garuda Indonesia, is expected to become the operator for Indonesia – Moscow flight before the second quarter of 2017.

    The Russia-Indonesia Business Forum was attended by the Russian Federation Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov; the Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Susi Pudjiastuti; the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Darmin Nasution; and the Russian Federation Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Indonesia, Mikhail Galuzin.

    The forum was participated by 150 delegates from Indonesian companies and 100 representatives from Russian companies, including Russian Railways, United Shipbuilding Corporation, Rosneft, Rusal, Rusnano and Rostech.

    The Russia-Indonesia Business Council is a non-governmental organization which was established to bring together Russian and Indonesian businesses.

    Its main mission was to develop a mutually beneficial business relationship in order to strengthen and expand economic trade, investment and scientific cooperation between the two countries.