Waktu ada acara kumpul dengan teman-teman, iseng-iseng menata rias wajah. Boleh dong sesekali jurnalis tampil kece. Tapi, setelah beberapa jam, rasanya begah. Memang gak bisa lama-lama pakai perlengkapan make-up!
Bulan: November 2013
Bookworms cafes around the world
I really like to write, especially on stories, with my laptop. Finding a comfortable place to be able sitting and writing is a short of requirement for me. Unfortunately, its not easy to find a quiet place where I can connect my laptop and quietly write.
Almost every corner in Jakarta, my hometown where I live right now, is full of noisy frenzied chitchats.
However, one day a friend of mine asked me to this place: bookstore with small cafe located in its second floor. Its a small place but its very convenient one.
Every Saturday or Sunday, I come to this place when off work, to write stories.
And I directly Imagine that I can go to the similar comfortable places around the world, drowning my self in bunch of books. Here’s my list.
1. Booklink is a Cafe and Bookstore at the North Terminal of Miami International Airport.
2. IMC bookstore coffee&gallery&J little theater, Beijing
designed by Approach Architecture Studio
3. CAFEBRERIA EL PENDULO, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
4. Bookworms, Beijing, China
The Bookworm is known for its cafe and European bistro, as well as its lecture series featuring both local and international authors and its musical evenings. It also has an annual literary festival, The Bookworm International Literary Festival, which takes place in Beijing as well as Suzhou and Chengdu (the locations of two other Bookworm stores) over the course of two weeks — as quoted from thebewildered20somethingwriter.wordpress.com
5. Nasobem Bookstore&Cafe Interior, Basel, Switzerland
6. Aksara&Canteen, Pacific Place
7. Reading Room, Kemang
Govt seeks ways to curb shark fin exports
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Mon, November 04 2013, 8:31 AM
photo. http://www.speakupforblue.com
The government is seeking to restrict shark fishing in a way that will not severely hurt fishermen in the country, which has become one of the world’s largest suppliers of shark fins.
The best option may be a quota system, though it would be difficult to enforce, director of fish species conservation from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry Agus Dermawan said.
Entailed in the quota system, the government would issue a new regulation establishing the status of shark species at the end of this year, he said.
“We are still discussing the regulation with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences [LIPI], which will determine what four species of sharks should be inserted into appendix II [the table on protected species],” he said on Friday.
He added that sharks listed in appendix II could still be caught and sold but only in limited number as per the quota set by the government.
The government recently issued a ministerial decree on shark protection status in May this year. The regulation stipulates that whale sharks (rhincodon typus), which can grow to more than 12 meters long and live up to 100 years old, have full protection status.
Agus said this meant killing a whale shark for any reason was strictly prohibited.
Besides whale sharks, other shark species, including the largetooth sawfish (pristis microdon) and the thresher shark (alopias vulpinus), also have protected status under other government regulations.
Regulations on shark protection fall under the government’s compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a multilateral treaty created in a 1963 meeting of World Conservation Union (IUCN) members.
Indonesia participated in ratifying the endangered species convention in 1973 and adopted it into a presidential decree, No. 43/1978, which allows Indonesia to issue and implement regulations on endangered species in line with that international treaty.
There is high demand in the international market for shark fins, especially from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Along with India, Indonesia is one of the largest exporters of shark fins in the world.
According to the National Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia’s shark fin exports reached 434 tons worth about US$6 million in 2012
Fisheries program leader from the World Wide Fund (WWF) Indonesia Imam Musthofa Zainudin said that most of the time the negotiating process within countries to decide types of endangered flora and fauna was politically loaded.
“Indonesia in the very beginning refused to adopt regulations on the endangered shark trade. However, in 2012, Indonesia backed regulation,” he said.
He chalked up Indonesia’s official refusal to regulate the shark trade to pressure from businessmen from countries such as China, Japan and the United States.
The government’s move to finally issue regulations on endangered sharks had put Indonesia one step ahead of other top shark fin producers, Imam said.
Agus from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry said that in Indonesia many fishermen relied on shark fishing for their livelihoods because it was highly profitable.
According to a 2010 survey from the fisheries department of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Indonesia was the largest supplier of sharks in the world, with 109,248 tons of sharks being caught per year, followed by India with 74,050 tons and Spain with 59,777 tons. The number has grown significantly since 2000, when shark fishing really took off in Indonesia. At that time, Indonesia caught 70,000 tons of sharks.
“I don’t care about the regulation. As long as the demand in the village market is still robust I will catch and sell sharks,” said 37-year-old Goro (not his real name), a fisherman from Keruak village in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.
He added that he had no choice as climate change had caused his fish catch to decline. He said that he fished for sharks in a small motorboat with a pole and line. Goro is only one of an estimated 2.2 million fishermen nationwide whose livelihoods are being threatened by the impacts of climate change. Goro said that to survive he had shifted from tuna to shark fishing, which was more profitable.
“If you only aim to catch tuna nowadays you will often come back empty,” he said.
Secretary general of the People’s Coalition for Fisheries Justice Indonesia (KIARA) Abdul Halim said that society should not put the blame for rampant shark fishing on the traditional fishermen.
“It is important to know that the fishermen are only workers. They have no choice because this is the job that will provide money for them,” he said, adding that the government thereby needed to provide alternative opportunities for the fishermen to reduce shark fishing.
The issuance of regulations on the shark trade had already affected fishermens’ income. Goro said that the price of shark fin in the village market had declined from Rp 1.6 million (US$140.92) per kilogram to Rp 700,000 per kilogram.
Chairman of the Indonesian Fisheries Product Processing and Marketing Association Thomas Darmawan said that he supported the government’s move to protect endangered shark species. However, he didn’t advocate for a total ban on the shark trade.
“Even if the government gave punitive sanctions, you would still have an illegal shark trade, which would be more difficult for the government to supervise,” he said.
He added that it would be better for the government to impose an annual quota on shark trading rather than ban it completely. “Our target is to reduce the annual shark catch to less than 100,000 tons without ignoring the fact that our fishermen have to earn a living,” he said. (tam)
Merpati saved from liquidation
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Wed, November 13 2013, 11:53 AM
The government’s decision on Tuesday to save ailing state-owned carrier Merpati Nusantara Airlines from liquidation has opened the way for the entry of new investors who had earlier expressed an interest in acquiring the carrier, a minister said.
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said on Tuesday that a number of foreign and domestic investors had expressed an interest in becoming strategic investors to maintain the airline’s operations.
However, the investors had been awaiting the government’s decision as to whether it would keep the company afloat or close its operations down.
Merpati faced the real threat of closure due to its tremendous debts, totaling Rp 6.7 trillion (US$578.7 million), which is owed to the government and several state-owned companies including oil firm PT Pertamina, airport management companies, PT Angkasa Pura I and PT Angkasa Pura II and the Asset Management Company (PPA).
During a meeting led by Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, the government decided to keep the airline flying and help find investors to repay its debts and fund a route expansion. The PPA had proposed to liquidate Merpati as it doubted the airline’s capacity to grow and to pay its debts.
“The government thinks the company still has potential,” Hatta said.
He said the government would invite strategic investors to take over the airline by assuming its loans. This approach has been adopted before, for National flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia to handle the company’s debts in 1998.
Hatta added that the government’s decision to save Merpati from liquidation was based on market considerations. He said the aviation industry in Indonesia was growing while the airplane services industry had yet to meet market demands.
He added that Merpati had one month to draw up a business plan and present it to the government’s economic team before it would be submitted to the House of Representatives. (tam)
Many locals spend more than their gains
A large section of Indonesian consumers spend more money than their monthly income in order to create the facade of an affluent lifestyle to buy social status making them prone to bankruptcy, according to a recent survey.
The survey by Kadence Indonesia has found that the trend will seemingly continue in the following years indicating growing consumerism in society.
“Lifestyle and pressure from society have driven these consumers to spend a lot of money,” Kadence Indonesia deputy managing director Rajiv Lamba said on Wednesday.
Nearly one fourth of Indonesian consumers spend more money than they had, he said.
The survey conducted from July through October this year involved 3,000 respondents in Greater Jakarta, Surabaya (East Java), Medan (North Sumatra), Balikpapan (East Kalimantan) and Makassar (South Sulawesi), among others.
The main purpose of the survey was to compile data on average incomes, spending and savings of consumers living in big cities and rural area.
The survey reveals that 28.3 percent of total respondents or the “broke” consumers had spent more than their income, which eventually prompted them to borrow money at the end of the month to pay their debts.
“Most of these ‘broke’ consumers are not necessarily poor or economically backward,” he said. “These people want to live an affluent lifestyle, which requires them to spend more money.”
Rajiv added that the ‘broke’ consumers, with an average income of Rp 4.3 million, spent more money than other consumers on non-basic necessities, such as vacations, arisan (social gatherings), house maintenance and paying off loans.
Meanwhile, 33.3 percent of the ‘on the edge’ consumers had the lowest average income of Rp 3.9 million but were still able to save their money at the end of the month even though the amount was not big, he said.
The smallest group were in the category of ‘pragmatic’ consumers, which only accounted for 17.1 percent of total respondents. Rajiv said that these consumers were the most realistic people, who know how to live their life proportionately.
The survey also shows that the percentage of ‘deep pocket’ consumers with average incomes of Rp 8.8 million and average savings of Rp 4.3 million accounted for 21.3 percent. (tam)
In this fast sp…
In this fast speed and crowded life, we often forget to take care of our inner self interest and need. We plunge ourselves into smartphones, hangouts, dates, works, children only to avoid the feeling of being alone. In fact, a state of alone is a rare gift moment when you can finally grow strong sense of yourself as a person.
This is an excerpt I take from my soon-to-be-finished novel. The novel on a self discovery of a woman in her early 30s is expected to be launched in the mid of next year. Hopefully.
Sharks
from various sources.
