Word: jakarta
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...hard-boiled general like Yudhoyono blanche. Over the past six years, since the 1998 fall of dictator Suharto, Indonesia has been losing ground on several fronts, beset by civil strife, separatist movements and terrorism. Just 11 days before the election, suicide bombers detonated explosives outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing nine and wounding 182. Earlier this year, the military undertook a brutal crackdown on Islamic separatists in the province of Aceh that left 2,200 dead, according to army estimates...
...mere prospect of fresh thinking in Jakarta has been enough to send a wave of optimism surging through the capital. After years of dithering leadership, economists, businessmen and ordinary Indonesians are hopeful that Yudhoyono's popular mandate (past leaders were chosen by parliament, not through direct elections) will give him the authority to overcome obstacles that his predecessors could not. "There are grounds for confidence," says Andrew Steer, the World Bank's country director for Indonesia. "The recognition of the problems is now there...
...methodical and orderly, and it's almost as if he feels sinful if he leaves some aspect neglected." Old friends from the military have similar recollections. "He won't rock the boat," concludes retired General Agus Wijoyo, who served with Yudhoyono in East Timor and at military headquarters in Jakarta. "Those who want faster reform will see him as too slow...
...Labor-reform efforts, Sari says, will probably be met by strikes and protests?the kind of civil unrest Yudhoyono would like to avoid. The potential wrath of the unions was on display Sept. 21 outside the High Court in central Jakarta. Hundreds of workers laid off last year from aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia raged in protest when the court rejected their claim that layoffs were conducted illegally. Nandang Rusmana, a mechanic who worked at Dirgantara for 20 years, is still unemployed more than a year after he lost his job and is borrowing money from his family to keep...
...Yudhoyono will also have to set straight the country's stance on the development of key industries such as mining and oil-and-gas production. Although Indonesia is rich in natural resources, investors in recent years have shied away from development projects because of confusion over industry regulations as Jakarta grants more power to local governments. In one case, three years of haggling between Exxon-Mobil and Indonesian oil company Pertamina, now in the process of being privatized, has stalled the development of the massive Cepu oil field on the island of Java. The negotiations were dealt a serious blow...