NEWS CASTING 5

City announces basic cost
of living for 2015

Dewanti A. Wardhani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Sat, November 08 2014, 10:14 AM

After months of surveys and weeks of deliberations, the city has set its basic cost of living for 2015 at slightly over Rp 2.5 million (US$208), falling short of the Rp 2.69 million demanded by workers.

Manpower Agency head Priyono said that the number was approved on Thursday evening after several meetings by the Jakarta tripartite wage committee, which is represented by city administration, employers and workers.

“We have approved the new basic cost of living at Rp 2,538,174.31 per month. Next week, we will set the new minimum wage,” Priyono told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Priyono said the new basic cost of living was based on 60 factors, including the cost of services like water and transportation.

The number is slightly higher than this year’s basic cost of living, which was set Rp 2,299,860, and the minimum wage, which was set at Rp 2.4 million.

Separately, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Jakarta deputy chairman Sarman Simanjorang said that no new components were considered in determining the new basic cost of living. Instead, he said, the components were “improved in quality”.

Sarman, who is a union member representing employers, said that based on surveys and studies, employers had proposed Rp 2.49 million as the basic cost of living. The workers, he said, had asked for Rp 2.69 million.

“Previously, the workers had asked to change several things in the components. For example, they wanted to change the ‘newspaper’ component to ‘tabloid’, ‘coffee and tea’ to just ‘coffee’, and ‘flour’ to ‘instant noodles’. These changes totaled up to Rp 2.69 million,” Sarman told the Post on Friday.

In the end, the committee agreed to change “flour” to “instant noodles”, which, Sarman said, was the most sensible change.

Although Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said that the fuel-price hike would take place some time in November, Sarman said that it had not been taken into account.

“We do not know when the fuel-price hike will take place and how much it would increase. Therefore, we have made it the responsibility of each employer to increase their workers’ transportation allowance,” Sarman said.

“[The committee] has referred to the Regulation of the Minister of Manpower No. 13/2012 on components and implementation to determine standard cost of living. I think all stakeholders are satisfied with the number,” he said.

However, one union member representing workers in the tripartite discussion, Muhammad Toha, said that workers were dissatisfied with the new standard.

• 2015 level decided in tripartite meetings
• Standard is below workers’ proposals, slightly higher than employers’ proposal
• Union representative disappointed that cell phones were excluded from list of considered expenses

“The basic cost of living is supposed to provide workers with a decent life. Sure, we can live on
Rp 2,538,174.31, but I do not think anyone can live comfortably with that amount of money,” Toha told the Post on Friday.

He said that workers had demanded additional expenses be taken into consideration, such as mobile communication.

“Mobile communication is a basic necessity in this era. However, it was not included [as an expense]. This does not make sense,” Toha said.

He said that he also regretted that basic cost of living had failed to consider the fuel price hike. Toha added that workers hoped the minimum wage would be set at a level of least Rp 3 million a month.

“We will try to discuss this with the city administration. We will keep trying, even if it takes sending 1 million workers into the streets to protest,” Toha said.

NEWS CASTING 4

aughter dies, parents
hurt in Sukapura fire

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Mon, November 10 2014, 7:52 AM

An underage girl was killed in a fire that razed 23 houses on Jl. Elang, Sukapura, North Jakarta, on Saturday.
The head of operational affairs at the North Jakarta Fire and Natural Disaster Agency, Muchtar Zakaria, said on Sunday that his side had received a report that the fire had claimed one life.
According to the report, 4-year-old Nurul Aini died while her parents, Suketi and Wati, sustained burns. Nurul’s body was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) while her parents underwent intensive treatment at the hospital.
Muchtar said that upon receiving a report of a fire, his agency had deployed 17 fire trucks to the scene and was able to put out the fire an hour later.
He said his side had yet to identify the cause of the fire.
“The police are still investigating what caused the fire,” he said.

NEWS CASTING 3

Researchers unveil new
method to save Ciliwung

Sita W. Dewi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Mon, November 10 2014, 10:24 AM

Instead of using heavy technology and engineering, a research center has suggested a more ecological approach to rehabilitating the heavily polluted Ciliwung River, which flows through West Java and Jakarta.

During a recent symposium entitled “Future City Jakarta: Swiss and Indonesian Research and Technology in Practice”, at the University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java, the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) — a collaboration between ETH Zurich and Singapore’s National Research Foundation — presented the Ciliwung Rehabilitation Project, which pointed to a paradigm change in river rehabilitation as an alternative solution.

“We believe in an ecological and softer solution [..] It’s not high tech, it’s green-tech solution. There’s a relationship with the river that we should bring back. In the old days the temple, the front of the river, was the noble, important side of the village until the Dutch came and made it the back side,” FCL principal investigator Christophe Girot, who leads a team researchers on a flood control project in the coastal metropolis of Jakarta, said on the sidelines of the symposium.

The team exhibited 3-D modelling of the Ciliwung River’s topography generated by photogrammetry, in which the Ciliwung River is studied in its entirety to generate solutions based on the spatial scale of the river’s catchment, corridor and individual urban sites to capture the dynamics of the river and its surroundings.

• Research team from Switzerland, RI, S’pore say ‘green-tech’ is key to rehabilitating polluted river
• Team uses 3-D model to test flood scenarios and better understand Ciliwung
• Local residents are key to efforts to clean up river, says local group

“You can test and simulate flood events in there. [The model] allows us to map flooding events in an existing context. It also allows us to insert and test new projects within that realm. We have developed this technique in the ETH’s landscape visualization modelling lab,” he said.

According to the team, comprising at least 50 researchers from Indonesia, Singapore and Switzerland, the interactive visualization system enables the visualization of the extent of flooding and can contribute to urban planning decisions.

“The idea is to get rid of slums and build new high-density, low-rise housing along the river that can actually withstand floods,” Girot said.

“The river is sometimes flat and sometimes high. Where the river is flat you should not have a city, you should have a park.”

Meanwhile, Een Irawan Putra, the coordinator for the Ciliwung River Care Community, emphasized the importance of involving local communities as the key to rehabilitating the Ciliwung.

“No matter what we do to improve the river, it will be nothing without the involvement of local residents. However, our government is too lazy to think about ways of boosting people’s awareness and participation. It takes continuous effort to build that awareness,” Een said during the symposium.

“I once approached government representatives to talk about this issue but they shrugged off such ideas, saying that it was too complicated and instead suggested infrastructure project-based solutions. It won’t work with only infrastructure projects,” he said.

Swiss Ambassador to Indonesia Yvonne Baumann acknowledged that building awareness would contribute significantly to restoring a degraded environment, as proven in her home country, which faced such challenges a few decades back.

“The awareness built up over several decades. I think it started in the 1960s and 1970s. I remember being a child and [at the time] the river was polluted. We are all now very aware of [creating] sustainable environments and it does not just come like that. We had to go a long way to reach this stage,” she said.

NEWS CASTING 2

Garbage piles in Puncak
raise concerns

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor, | Jakarta | Mon, November 10 2014, 10:24 AM

Environmental experts and activists have drawn attention to domestic garbage mounting up in the water resource area of Puncak, West Java.

Puncak Conservation Consortium chairman Ernan Rustiadi said recently that environmental damage to the Puncak area was severe because of residents and tourists littering.

Ernan, also the agriculture faculty dean at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), said that based on the 3-month research of the consortium members, manned by researchers, NGOs, activists and local administration officials, the garbage was not only scattered throughout tea plantations and villages, but also in water springs.

“It’s not only residents, but business entities like hotels and restaurants as well as tourists who often litter,” he said.

Ernan said they wanted all people to realize that it was the responsibility of all parties to keep Puncak as a sustainable area.

“You cannot presume that when the garbage is away from you, the problem is solved,” he said.

He added that garbage littered on streets and rivers would harm local residents and affect downstream areas, including Jakarta.

Forest Watch Indonesia member Dwi Lesmana said he wanted the Bogor Sanitation Agency to give “shock therapy” to residents, especially those who lived in the Tugu Utara and Tugu Selatan villages in Cisarua district, by not picking up their garbage for one month or one year.

“With this method, we hope they will start thinking how to handle their garbage on their own, so the environment is kept clean,” he explained.

Dwi said he found that garbage did not only pile up on sidewalks but also in residential areas away from the main streets, the springs of the Ciliwung River and tea plantations.

Responding, a Bogor Sanitation Agency official for the Ciawi area, Anta, said the agency was overwhelmed with the amount of garbage.

“With only 19 personnel and 19 dump trucks, we have to pick up 72 cubic meters per day from not only Megamendung and Puncak districts but also five others — Cisarua, Ciawi, Caringin, Cijeruk and Cogombong,” he said.

NEWS CASTING 1

New Transjakarta buses
disabled-friendly: Ahok

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Mon, November 10 2014, 2:42 PM

Acting Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has confirmed that the new Transjakarta buses, which have been bought from Swedish automotive company Scania, are disabled-friendly.
“I have asked PT Transjakarta to buy buses which are friendly to physically challenged groups,” Ahok said on Monday on the sidelines of the launch of Transjakarta’s new logo at the National Monument, Central Jakarta, as quoted by Antara news agency.
Ahok added that the buses, which have been tested by the Jakarta Administration, had several special chairs for the disabled and their handgrips were made lower so that those people could easily reach them.
“In the first phase, we will buy 20 buses. We will buy the buses gradually,” he said.
Ahok said that to date, the administration only bought buses from countries which produced low-quality buses, but sold them at very expensive prices, with some far above the price of international-standard buses.
In addition, Transjakarta president director Steve Kosasih said that in the next two years, the company planned to buy 850 new buses.
“We will scrap the passenger-unusable buses and replace them with the new ones,” he said, adding that the new buses would be equipped with the company’s new logo. (ask/nfo)(+++)

PRINCESS ARIEL

Princess Power (Ariel Story)

One day King Triton had to go away for the night. “I am leaving you my trident for protection,” he told Ariel and sisters. “This will keep you safe, but make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands!” “Let’s have a sleepover,” said Ariel. “We can take it in turns to stay awake and watch over the trident, and have some fun while Daddy’s away!” They did not realize that Ursula, the sea witch, was planning some fun of her own. Later that day, an old peddler arrived at the palace. “Like to buy some pretty things, my dear?” she crocked. A music box in the basket caught Ariel eye. “We could have some music at our sleepover,” said Ariel, paying the peddler. At the sleepover, Ariel and her sisters read stories and had makeovers. “I’ve found us some music!” said Ariel, opening the music box. “Now, who would like a sea fruit smoothie?”

When Ariel returned with the drinks, her sisters were already fast asleep! “That’s odd,” said Ariel. Then she notices some strange music coming from her new music box. “The music must be making everyone go tosleep!” Ariel realized. Ariel rushed over to the music box and quickly closed the lid before she fell under its spell, too. “Phew!” said Ariel. Suddenly she noticed that her father’s trident was missing, “Oh, no” she cried. Ariel looked everywhere for the trident but she could not find it anywhere. Just then, Ariel spotted Ursula’s eels Flotsam and Jetsam, swimming out of a palace window. “The sea witch must have stolen the trident,” she said, “and it’s up to me to get it back!” Ariel covered her ears with some shell-muff and swam to Ursula’s lair with the music box. When Ariel arrived, she found Ursula boasting about what she had done. “Atlantica will be mine!” she shouted. “We’ll see about that,” said Ariel as she opened the music box. The strange music sent Ursula to sleep straight away, leaving Ariel free to get the trident back

Before the squids that guarding the trident fell asleep, they squirted out lots of link to try and stop Ariel from stealing the trident. Ariel managed to dodge the ink and it spattered over the sea witch instead. “It looks like Ursula’s had a sleepover makeover, too!” said Ariel, swimming away. When Ariel arrive back at the palace, dawn was breaking. King Triton would be home any moment so Ariel quickly used the trident to undo the sleeping spell and, one by one, her sisters woke up. Just then, King Triton arrived home. “It’s good to see you Daddy,” said Ariel, as she gave him a hug. “I am glad I left my trusty trident behind,” said King Triton, over breakfast. “How else would you Princesses have coped without me?” “Oh, Daddy,” said Ariel, with a grin. “Princesses can do anything…even protect a whole kingdom.” All sisters agreed but none of them realized that while they were asleep, that’s exactly what Ariel had done! The End