Author: Michael Kasta

The decision to establish an agency tasked with handling water-related issues will be in the domain of the next government, according to an Indonesian official. “I believe that the format of the planned agency is still under discussion,” said Endra S. Atmawidjaja, an expert staff member at the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR). Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the 10th World Water Forum in Bali on Thursday, he noted that collaboration across different disciplines and sectors is needed to deal with water issues. Aside from the Ministry of PUPR, the responsibility to address…

Jakarta – Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said President Joko Widodo or Jokowi asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to build an electric vehicle battery plant in the country. The offer was conveyed during the president’s meeting with the tech tycoon at the 2024 World Water Forum (WWF) in Bali. “We made an offer, [on whether] it is possible to build an EV battery plant here, precursor cathode. And he will consider it,” Luhut said as reported by Reuters today, May 22. The Indonesian government has been trying to woo Tesla to build an EV-related factory for…

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh resigned on February 26 in anticipation of postwar governance challenges. “I see that the next stage and its challenges will require new governmental and political arrangements,” Shtayyeh said, emphasizing “the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus.” American and Palestinian officials expect that Abbas will nominate Mohammed Mustafa, the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, as Shtayyeh’s successor. Expert Analysis “Bringing in Palestine Investment Fund chief Mohammed Mustafa and pushing out the current prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh is the rearranging of the…

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Doha successfully held an ASEAN Community sports event in Qatar entitled ASEAN Community Sports Day (ACSD).The Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar, Ridwan Hassan, in a press release received in Jakarta, Wednesday, said that the ASEAN Community Sports Day event was held to strengthen the spirit of brotherhood among ASEAN communities in Qatar and introduce ASEAN culture to Qatari residents. “This activity is Indonesia’s effort to strengthen the spirit of brotherhood among ASEAN communities in Qatar. More than that, ACSD is also our effort to promote ASEAN to the public in…

Copenhagen (13/11 – 37.5) When Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as Sri Lanka’s president in July after a popular uprising ousted his predecessor, the South Asian island nation was engulfed in its worst economic meltdown in 75 years. Since then, President Wickremesinghe has managed to a keep a lid on mass protests, improve supplies of essentials and on Monday, secured a nearly $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that opens the door to restructuring about $58 billion of debt and receive funding from other lenders. He has done that despite a deeply unpopular government, his own party commanding just one…

SINGAPORE – Keppel Corporation’s infrastructure division will tie up with the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) to develop decarbonisation and sustainability solutions in Asean and the Middle East, the companies said on Dec 7. Both parties have inked a memorandum of understanding at the United Nations’ COP28 climate conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They will explore solutions to support the development and deployment of utility-scale renewable projects in Asean, as well as facilitate the cross-border flow of low-carbon energy through energy storage and grid transmission systems. The companies will also explore the feasibility of co-developing large-scale floating solar photovoltaics…

ASEAN role: manage existence of 2 disproportionately powerful states, further embed them in security architecture The contemporary China-US relationship – the relationship between the world’s oldest and newest major powers – lies at the heart of the Indo-Pacific region’s dilemma. This relationship has its roots in the remarkable meeting between Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong in Shanghai in 1972. Their meeting occurred over a decade after China’s alliance relationship with the Soviet Union collapsed, three years after infantry skirmishes between the former allies along the Azur River in 1969 almost spiraled into open war and, reportedly, with the United States…

JAKARTA, Nov 16 (Reuters) – U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) is planning to invest up to $15 billion in a petrochemical project and carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo said in a presidential palace statement on Thursday. The planned CCS facilities would be the biggest in Southeast Asia. Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is commonly known, met with Exxon Chairman Darren Woods during a trip to San Francisco for an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Earlier this week, Indonesia signed an initial deal with an Exxon unit to explore investment in a petrochemical project in…

SINGAPORE, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Malaysian bank CIMB (CIMB.KL) and Japanese finance company J Trust (8508.T) are among firms vying to buy Indonesia’s PT Bank Commonwealth in a deal that could value the lender at $400-$500 million, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Bank Commonwealth, which is 99% owned by Australia’s biggest lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) (CBA.AX), focuses on retail lending as well as corporate banking services for small and medium enterprises. Morgan Stanley, the financial adviser on the sale, has asked bidders to submit binding offers by early November, the sources added, declining to be identified as the planned sale…

Archaeologists have discovered 7,000-year-old shark-tooth knives in Indonesia. Excavations on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have uncovered two unique and deadly artifacts dating back some 7,000 years — tiger shark teeth that were used as blades. These finds, reported in the journal Antiquity, are some of the earliest archaeological evidence globally for the use of shark teeth in composite weapons — weapons made with multiple parts. Until now, the oldest such shark-tooth blades found were less than 5,000 years old. Our international team used a combination of scientific analysis, experimental reproduction and observations of recent human communities to determine that the two modified…