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Pekerja memeriksa pelumasan roda penggerak mesin penggiling tebu di Pabrik Gula Sumberharjo, Kabupaten Pemalang, Jawa Tengah, Sabtu (12/7). Pabrik gula yang didirikan tahun 1911 ini memproduksi sekitar 21.645 ton kristal gula selama satu musim giling.


Chinese investors have expressed interests in building two sugar plants in Malang, East Java, with total investment of Rp 2 trillion ($195 million), but have yet to get licenses from the central government.

Malang regent Rendra Kresna told Antara news agency on Monday that the currently Malang had two sugar plants, with combined capacity of 20 tons per day, but the two plants could not absorb all sugar canes produced in the regency.

"I hope the two sugar plants will be materialized. We at the local government will surely help the investors in processing their required licenses," he said, without giving details on the investors.

Meanwhile, Malang Investment Coordinating Board chairman Adji Jatmiko said the central government had given its green light for the Chinese investor’s proposal to build the sugar plants. Adji explained that in addition to the Chinese investors, a number of other foreign investors had also proposed to invest in the regency.

They include a Japanese investor who planned to invest a $5.3 million in retail business, an Indian investor who proposed to build textile plant in Pakis subdistrict, and a Singaporean investor who would invest in salmon canning industry in Sendangbiru beach.

One of the world's largest paper companies plans to clear a large swath of unprotected forest being used as a sanctuary for critically endangered orangutans, according to environmental groups working in the area.


Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper and a local joint venture partner, Sinar Mas Group, have received a license to clear hundreds of hectares (acres) of trees just outside the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park on Sumatra island, WWF-Indonesia and four other groups said Tuesday.

Though not protected, the plush, lowland forests are considered an important area for biodiversity and have been used since 2002 as a release point for around 100 Sumatran rehabilitated orangutans - some orphaned when their mothers were allegedly killed by workers on nearby palm oil plantations.

"It took scientists decades to discover how to successfully reintroduce critically endangered orangutans from captivity into the wild," said Peter Pratje of the Frankfurt Zoological Society. "It could take APP just months to destroy an important part of their new habitat."

Asia Pulp & Paper could not immediately be reached for comment. But the company said in a statement released last month that the government had officially allocated the forest for plantation use and that it would follow all legal procedures - including carrying out an independent, third party assessment about potential conservation threats.

There are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, around 10 percent of them on Sumatra, and the rest on the nearby island of Borneo, which is divided largely between Indonesia and Malaysia. Rain forests have been cleared and burned at alarming rates on both islands to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations and for timber.

The forests around Bukit Tigapuluh National Park are also home to 100 of the last 400 critically endangered Sumatran tigers left in the wild, said Dolly Priatna of Zoological Society of London, and roughly 50 endangered elephants.

The groups protesting the APP's plans - which include WARSI and the Sumatran Tiger Conservation and Protection Foundation - have written an official letter of complaint to the government.

Asap masih mengepul di puing pesawat Hercules TNI AU yang jatuh di Desa Geplak, Karas, Magetan, Jawa Timur, Rabu (20/5).

Indonesia’s military is likely to experience more deadly crashes like the one that killed 100 people this week unless the government boosts defense spending, analysts said Friday.



Investigators retrieved one of four engines from the C-130 Hercules that slammed into a residential neighborhood Wednesday.

They were sifting through the wreckage for other key parts that could help determine the cause. It was the third accident involving a military plane in just two months.

“The problem is money,” said Dudi Sudibyo, an aviation analyst, who said the military struggles to maintain its aging fleet and hold onto experienced pilots. “Sophisticated military equipment requires a huge budget for maintenance alone. What we have now is only enough to ensure the welfare of the troops.”

“We’re sitting on a time bomb here,” he said. “If the government doesn’t fix this, we’re going to see more and more deadly accidents.”

There were 112 people on the C-130, which was carrying troops and their families from the capital, Jakarta, to Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, home to a decades-long insurgency. It was making several stops along the way and was attempting to land at an air force base in East Java province when it slammed into a row of houses and then skidded 700 yards (meters), eventually landing in a rice field and bursting into flames.

At least 100 people were killed, including two villagers on the ground, Bambang Samoedra, commander of the base, said Friday. Fifteen others were injured, many with severe burns.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has long acknowledged that the budget for defense was too low: The military requested $12.7 billion for 2009, but only got $3.3 billion — $2.7 billion of which goes toward troop salaries and administration. But he insisted after the crash the shortfall affected only the ability to purchase new equipment, not maintain the old.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono was quick to disagree. “Ideally, the maintenance cost should be 20 percent to 25 percent of the overall military budget, but at present it’s below 10 percent,” he said, promising to ground all C-130s if it turned out the crash was the result of technical or mechanical failure.

Indonesia’s air force, long underfunded and handicapped by a recently lifted U.S. ban on weapons sales, has suffered a string of plane crashes. Twenty-four people were killed last month when a Fokker 27 crashed into an airport hangar during a training mission.

And just last week another C-130 lost its landing gear and slammed into a house, injuring four people. Bantarto Bandoro, a defense expert, said the government should learn from the latest tragedy. “If we don’t want to see similar accidents every month we need to increase funds for maintenance,” he said.

The air force has experienced an exodus of experienced transport pilots in recent years, as they sought to join the rapidly expanding network of low-cost commercial airlines formed after the industry was deregulated. The C-130s are the only aircraft in the Indonesian air force capable of transporting personnel and heavy military equipment as well as emergency relief in the event of an earthquake, tsunami or other disaster.

The air force has received more than 50 Hercules since the late 1950s, many secondhand and provided by Washington, until the U.S. started banning military deliveries in the 1990s because of violence carried out by Indonesian troops in East Timor.

The military complained that many of the planes quickly became unserviceable because of the lack of spare parts. Though the embargo was lifted four years ago, the air worthiness of many planes remained in question.