Indonesia Morning News For October 9

Global firms join rush to bet on Indonesia as next start-up frontier
Big-name investors including Expedia and Alibaba are pumping billions of dollars into Indonesian tech start-ups in a bid to capitalise on the country’s burgeoning digital economy and potential as Southeast Asia’s largest online market.
— CTV News

Indonesia police arrest 58 in raid on Jakarta gay sauna
Police say they arrested 58 men, including several foreigners, in a raid of a gay sauna in Indonesia’s capital.
— Business Standard

Why Aren’t Indonesian Consumers Spending?
Almost 4 million new jobs, rising wages and eight interest-rate cuts in Indonesia should have been enough to spur consumers into action in the world’s fourth most populous nation.
— Bloomberg

JCI Has Potential to Reach 6,000
The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) has the potential to reach the level of 6,000. If this level has been achieved, then IHSG will be corrected significantly.
— Netral News

Expo draws 65
THE INDONESIAN Trade Ministry has announced that buyers from 65 countries have signed up to attend Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) 2017, which will be held at the 50,000-square-metre Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in BSD City, Banten, from October 11- 15.
— The Nation

Indonesia Investments’ Newsletter of 8 October 2017 Released
On 8 October 2017, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website over the last seven days.
— Indonesia Investment

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is Seventh Most Connected Airport Globally
Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport has been named the 7th most connected airport in the world, or 2nd in the Asia Pacific region based on the report of the 2017 Megahubs International Index of the British institution, OAG.
— Netral News

Jakarta’s terrible traffic causes US$5 billion in losses per year, lack of MRT major cause: minister
The psychological suffering that frustrated commuters in Jakarta must face on a daily basis due to the capital’s infamous traffic can’t be quantified with a number.
— Coconut

DPD Speaker: Gebu Minang Raises People’s Economy
Speaker of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) Oesman Sapta said mushrooming small entrepreneurs are going to improve the people’s economy that will ultimately make Indonesia prosperous.
— Netral News

Negotiation with Freeport focuses on revenue increase: Sri Mulyani
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has said that the negotiations between the government and gold and copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia are now focusing on efforts to increase state revenue and investment certainty for the company.
— The Jakarta post

President Jokowi: Land Disputes Occur When People Do Not Own Land Certificates
President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo says the certification program will reduce the case of land disputes in Indonesia.
— Netral News

BlackGold tackles Indonesia’s growing power needs
Canadian-born and Indonesian-raised Phil Rickard straddles two worlds. Having lived in Jakarta from age 11, and enrolled in both Indonesian and American schools, the chief executive officer of SGX-listed BlackGold Natural Resources is passionate about South-east Asia’s largest economy.
— The Straits Times

PT Bank Maybank Indonesia Tbk (BNII.JK)’s Tenkan Moves Below The Kijun Line
PT Bank Maybank Indonesia Tbk (BNII.JK)’s moving averages reveal that the Tenkan line of the shares are below the Kijun-Sen line, indicating potential downward momentum building in the bearish chart.
— The Times

Indonesia: Medco takes over Saratoga Power for $129m; Barito Pacific sets up JV with Thai SCG
Indonesia’s publicly-listed firm Medco Energi International has bought a 77.68 per cent stake in Saratoga Power from the Saratoga Group for $129.2 million.
— DealStreetAsia

President Requests Extending Trunojoyo Airport’s Runway to Accommodate Jet Aircraft
President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, has requested that the runway of Trunojoyo Airport, Madura, East Java which has been extended, to extended again in order to accommodate larger aircraft.
— Netral News

SOEs find last resort for financing in capital market
Amid slower expansion in the banking industry, State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Rini Soemarno has pushed SOEs to raise funds from the capital market to oil the country’s ambition for infrastructure, despite Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s warning over state power firm PLN’s excessive debts.
— The Jakarta Post

Indonesia mustn’t botch the endgame
Of all the things Indonesia’s Joko Widodo thought might be preoccupying him 1,085 days into his presidency, credit default swaps and currency forwards probably were not among them.
— Nikkei Asian Review

Taksi Express lays off 400 employees by Q3
Conventional taxi operator PT Express Transindo Utama has laid off 400 of its employees by the third quarter of 2017, following the decline of its financial performance, which is believed to be a result of failing to compete with ride hailing apps.
— The Jakarta Post

M Cash Integrasi only the beginning, 3 more subsidiary IPOs from Kresna, says founder Michael Steven
Publicly-listed investment firm Kresna Graha Investama will push three of its subsidiaries operating in the insurance and digital space, among others, to go public starting next year, founder and president director Michael Steven told this portal.
— DealStreetAsia

Forex Reserves Hit Record $129.4b in September: Bank Indonesia
Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of September, the central bank said on Friday (06/10), attributing the increase to rising export proceeds and auctions of the bank’s forex bills.
— Jakarta Globe

4.5 million Indonesian students will join national university action to reject radicalism on Oct 28, says organizer
One of the concerns related to Indonesia’s rising religious conservatism is that a small but growing number of Indonesians are embracing radical ideologies such as those espoused by the terrorist group ISIS.
— Coconuts

Feature photo Arian Zwegers
Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Indonesia morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Indonesia news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities and is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.