Highlights
Politics
·         An agenda has been agreed for the December climate change summit
·         The Constitutional Court rejected appeals against the death penalty
Regions
·         Major eruption of Mt. Kelud still threatens
·         Indonesia and Japan discuss further bird flu cooperation
Economy
·         Companies across the range of sectors reported strong third quarter earnings
·         Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Indonesia would cope with higher oil prices
Business briefs
Macroeconomy
·         Inflation eases after holiday season peak
·         Exports rise 7.69% in September in slow trading month
Investment
·         Indonesia invites Chinese firms to assist in seaport upgrades
·         Bridgestone commits to $133 million expansion program
State Concerns
·         Government to hold tenders for 11 toll road projects
·         Decision by year-end on steel dumping allegations
SOEs
·         PT Jasa Marga IPO raises $380 million for expansion
·         PT Telkom posts 6.5% net profit increase in first nine months
Private sector
·         PT Astra International net profit jumps 53% in first nine months
·         PT Indofood Sukses Makmur post 35% net profit increase in first nine months
Banks
·         PT Bank Mandiri leads bank net profit increases with near threefold gain
Power
·         State utility PLN seals $1.36 billion gas deal in one of 12 gas contract signings
·         Chevron enthusiastic on geothermal expansion
Oil & gas
·         Government to invite bids for 26 exploration areas
·         President inaugurates oil and gas production at two fields
Mining
·         PT Bumi Resources reports five-fold earnings jump boosted by Tata Power sale
·         Coal output tipped to rise by 11% in 2008 on strong international demand
POLITICS
Agreement Reached on Climate Change Agenda
Environment ministers and delegates from 35 industrialized and developing countries agreed on the elements of issues to be negotiated at the climate change conference in Bali in December, conference head Rachmat Witoelar said on Monday (29/10/07).
The deal indicates the readiness of the countries to act on the threat of the global warming, which could impact the entire world in general and the developing nations in particular, Xinhua reported.
The informal ministerial meeting ended on October 25 at Bogor, West Java. The agreed draft comprises the issues of forestry, adaptation, finance and the Kyoto Protocol, said Witoelar.
Agreement on the agenda also indicated that the rich nations, including the United States and Australia, were committed to taking the talks seriously, he said.
Neither the US nor Australia have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. They remain opposed to mandatory emissions reductions and argue that a framework for tackling climate change should include emissions cuts by rapidly industrializing nations.
But, recently the countries have given a signal of commitment to a new regime on climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 13th Conference (UNFCCC) Yvo de Boer said.
Developing countries are seeking financial compensation from the rich nations for protecting their forests and insist on negotiating the incentive at the Bali talks.
Indonesia, which has mobilized nations with most of the world's tropical rainforests - Malaysia, Brazil, Congo, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Gabon, and Papua New Guinea - before the Bali conference, has called for payments by developed countries for not cutting forest.
Court Ruling on Death Sentence
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday (30/10/07) rejected an appeal by three Australian and two Indonesian drug smugglers currently on death row, Xinhua reported.

The five inmates, sentenced under the Criminal Code, had challenged the legality of capital punishment, claiming that according to the country's constitution, every human being has the right to life.

In a split decision, judges found that the right to life is not absolute and that drug-related crimes can be punished with death.
Three members of the panel dissented in favor of the Australians, two of whom also dissented in favor of the Indonesians. A fourth judge dissented in favor of the Indonesians but not the Australians, Agence France-Presse reported.

Chairman of the National Narcotics Agency, Comm. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, praised the ruling.  

"Even the death penalty cannot deter drug dealers, so imagine if there is no death penalty," Pastika said in an interview with The Jakarta Post .
Syamsuddin Undecided on VP Chances
Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, said he has not decided whether he will take part in the 2009 elections despite a survey that says he has the opportunity to run for the vice presidency, Antara reported.

"For me, everything is merely a discourse. I am not in a position to give an opinion," he said in response to questions on his readiness to stand for nomination. "Up until now, I haven't thought about my role in the government," Syamsuddin said.

Syamsuddin has been courted by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who he assisted in setting up a Muslim branch, Baitul Muslimin.
He also served as a member of the People's Consultative Assembly in 1998 for Golkar Party before resigning after the government introduced a ruling stating that university professors should not be members of political parties.
REGIONS
Activity at Mt. Kelud Volcano
Despite a number of claims that Mt. Kelud in East Java had already erupted, some scientists continue to say that a real eruption has not yet occurred but is still likely too at one of Indonesia's volcanoes.
Mt. Kelud is only 95 km from the regional capital of Surabaya and sits in the crowded regencies of Blitar and Kediri.
The first claim that Mt. Kelud had erupted came at 4.30 PM on Saturday (3/11/07) but scientists later cast doubt on the claim, saying monitoring equipment near the crater was still working.
The mountain in East Java did not erupt on Saturday (3/11/07) afternoon but remained highly dangerous, volcanologists reported.
The Associated Press quoted Surono, a government volcanoligist, as telling el-Shinta radio that the mountain remained on the highest alert level, meaning scientists fear an eruption is imminent. They fear any eruption may be large, given the signs so far. But they also note it could be small - or may not happen at all, The Associated Press reported.
Agus Budianto said an eruption could have occurred, since seismic data indicated continuous, escalating tremors that were too strong to be measured on instruments. Visual monitoring was made impossible by clouds of fog.

An Agence France-Presse correspondent near the mountain said some locals reported hearing an explosion before panic broke out, but the explosion could not immediately be confirmed with scientists.

The spike in volcanic activity at Kelud triggered the evacuation of scores of people, including women hauling babies in slings, from the mountain in police trucks and on motorcycles, witnesses said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, despite reports that many people were staying put on the mountain, evading military and police patrols trying to force them to evacuate.

On Saturday, some recalcitrant residents were dragged from their homes while others hid in scrub and at a church, the AFP correspondent said.

Another possible eruption occurred early on Sunday morning, but again scientists could not confirm that an eruption had occurred, releasing some of what are believed to be millions of tons of magma into the world.
About 130,000 people live within a 10-km danger zone around the mountain, according to the health ministry, but local officials said they were focusing on evacuating about 60,000.

Since record-keeping began, Mt. Kelud's eruptions have claimed more than 15,000 lives, including an estimated 10,000 in a catastrophic 1586 eruption. A 1919 eruption spewed heat clouds that killed 5,160 people.
Indonesia , Japan in Talks on Bird Flu
Indonesia and Japan are holding intensive talks on Indonesia's desire to develop its own capacity in handling the spread of bird flu.
The talks with Japan also encompass possible cooperation in the production of bird flu medicines and vaccines.

"Japan understands Indonesia's strong desire to develop its own capacity in the production of bird flu vaccines and medicines to help overcome the spread of endemic bird flu," head of the National Commission for Bird Flu Control, Bayu Krisnamurthi said Wednesday (31/10/07).

Krisnamurthi said Japan and Indonesia had been holding talks on possible bilateral cooperation in the production of bird flu vaccines.

He said Indonesia must have enough stocks of cheap vaccines because the health conditions of people and animals in many provinces remain difficult.

Australia , Indonesia Conduct Joint Fishery Patrols
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said Australia and Indonesia had taken a "great leap forward" in efforts to prevent illegal fishing in the region following a groundbreaking coordinated fisheries patrol in the Arafura Sea.

A statement from the Australian Embassy in Jakarta said on Friday that the Australian Customs Vessel (ACV) Arnhem Bay and Indonesian Fisheries Ministry vessels Hiu Macan 003 and Hiu Macan 004 had patrolled their respective sides of the Australia-Indonesia maritime border over four days from October 29 to November 1. An aircraft supported the patrols with daily aerial surveillance.

Farmer said these coordinated patrols, a result of ongoing Australia-Indonesia maritime cooperation over recent months, would raise the capacity of both countries to combat illegal fishing and other transnational crimes.

"Illegal fishing costs the Australian and Indonesian economies millions of dollars each year and serves to substantially deplete our fish stocks, which are an important source of food and a key trade commodity," Farmer said.

The operational patrol follows an exercise in June to fine tune communication arrangements. This is the first time, however, that the two nations have rendezvoused at sea to undertake civil cooperative patrolling.
ECONOMY
Strong Third Quarter Results
Companies across the range of sectors turned in strong third quarter results by the end of the reporting period on Wednesday (31/10/07).
PT Telkom was one of the more disappointing performers, turning in only a 6.5% growth figure for the first nine months, below analysts' estimates. Its cellular subsidiary PT Telkomsel put on 16% over the same period. Elsewhere in the state sector, net profit at PT Semen Gresik rose 24% on a 9.4% increase in sales.
PT Astra International reported a 53% rise in nine-month net profit on increased vehicle sales and a doubling of profit over the period at agribusiness subsidiary PT Astra Agro Lestari.
The world's largest noodle maker, PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, put on 35% despite higher prices for flour and cooking oil. Higher international prices for palm oil pushed net profit at PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources & Technology (SMART) up 46% for the period.
Net profit at PT Gudang Garam, Indonesia's largest cigarette manufacturer, was also up 35%, on modest sales growth as the company kept a brake on operational costs.
PT Unilever Indonesia recorded a 15% rise in net profit on sales increase of 10%, while in another strong indicator of good economic conditions leading retailer PT Matahari Putra Prima recorded an advance of 20.3%.
Bank Mandiri led advances in the banking sector, posting an almost threefold gain in third-quarter profit as loan demand increased and as it set aside less money for bad debts.
Bank Rakyat Indonesia reported a 17% increase in profit for the first nine months of the year, while Bank Danamon improved its profit performance by 22% over the same period.
As concern continued over the effect of high international oil prices on Indonesia's economic growth prospects, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the country remained on target to meet its target of 6.3%.
Kalla told reporters that Indonesia receives higher income from oil exports when prices rise, and the government hopes to be able expand into other exports to make up for any shortfall in the balance of payments, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

"We are still optimistic economic growth will be in line with (our) target. Yesterday I met with the economic minister regarding that issue. It is true that rising world oil prices will affect the global economy, however our economy does not rest only on oil prices," Kalla said.

"If oil prices rise, our income also rises from exports. So we must look for the positive aspects of the rise in world oil prices," he said.

He said that corn prices, for example, have risen with support from oil prices due to the use of corn in production of ethanol for use in biodiesel.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange seemed unconcerned by trends in oil prices. The composite index closed at a new record on Friday at 2,710.62, surpassing the previous all-time high of 2,704.66 set Thursday.
Earlier in the day it had lost 2.5% on fears over the US economy before investors bought back major stocks. Over the week, the index gained 86.19 points or 3.3%. The rupiah was trading at 9,130/9,135 to the dollar.



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