Archive for April, 2008
(The Jakarta Post) The Jakarta Bintangs Australian Rules Football Club has launched a new program to develop “Aussie Rules” among young people in Jakarta with support from the Australian Government.
Former Australian Football League (AFL) player Chris Bandy, who has been living in Indonesia for several years, was chosen by the Australian government’s overseas aid program (AusAID) to lead a group of Indonesian coaches to set up regular training sessions and games in around 100 schools, involving more than 10,000 students and teachers in East and South Jakarta.
“I really think Indonesian children will love playing Australian Footy — it’s fast, skillful and a great team sport,” Bandy said in an e-mail statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
“I am looking forward to teaching local kids about our great game.”
Australian rules football is a version of rugby that was developed in Melbourne in 1858. It is played with a prolate spheroid ball, on large oval shaped fields, with four posts at each end. The inner pair of posts on each end are known as the goal posts, while the outer posts are known as the behind posts.
No more than 18 players of each team are permitted to be on the field at any time, with four interchange players on the bench, the primary aim of the game is to score by kicking the ball between the posts. The winners are the team who has the higher total score at the end of the match.
The one-year-training and games arrangement is part of AusAID’s Australian Youth Ambassador Program.
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said, “The Australian Government is proud to support this initiative, which will provide a sporting outlet for Indonesian youth and promote our unique game in Indonesia.”
“Learning about this very popular part of Australian culture cannot help but strengthen the extensive people-to-people links which exist between our two countries,” said Farmer, who is also the patron of the Jakarta Bintangs.
Jakarta Bintangs’ spokesman Jason Moynihan told the Post that the Australia-Indonesia Institute, an Australian Government initiative, had given them a grant which would be used to provide training materials, equipment and wages for Indonesian coaches, helping to ensure the Bintangs can develop a network of local coaches to manage the long-term development of the game.
By: Matheos V. Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
April 7th, 2008
By KRISTIN DIZON
P-I REPORTER
Run by a sweet, solicitous family from Semarang, in central Java, Indo-Padi Restaurant in the University District is a casual little cafe with small, clean tables and entrees that start at $6.25.
pen for a year, it attracts students, Indonesian immigrants and Americans who’ve lived in Indonesia.
Popular dishes include oxtail soup, grilled chicken with house special sauce, iced durian fruit and nasi campur, which is rice served with egg, dried fish, peanuts, eggplant, beef stew, potatoes and chile flavoring.
I had the nasi goreng ($6.25), Indonesian fried rice with chicken, egg and sausage.
Servers will ask how spicy you like a dish, but there’s always extra chile sauce (similar to the bottled Sambal Oelek) on the side to spice to taste. The sausage turned out to be chopped hot dogs, but the fried rice, flavored with garlic, onions and spices, had a lot of pop and character. The plates were prettified with a small side of pickled vegetables and some shrimp chips.
The Sumatran-style noodles ($6.25) with chicken, egg and sausage (again, hot dog), came in a mystery sauce, mildly garlicky and tasty but without the heat of some other dishes.
I had high hopes for the ayam bakar kecap, grilled chicken with special house sauce ($8.85). Some of the meat was on the bone, some was tender white chunks, but the soy-based sauce wasn’t as flavorful as I’d hoped, and really needed some of the side hot sauce to bring it to life.
Other dishes I aim to taste include nasi rendang — spicy beef stew with coconut and curry overtones (7.85), tilapia with chile sauce ($12.85) and the gado gado, a dish featuring tofu, egg, potato, rice cake and vegetables in peanut sauce.
There’s often a daily special and the restaurant has six takeout-only dishes for the super student-friendly price of $5.
But go prepared. They only take cash.
Post-Intelligencer food critics arrive unannounced and pay for all meals and services.
Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
April 4th, 2008
INACRAFT to be held on April 23-27, 2008, attain the age of ten years. In spite of annual event, it has many experiences and improvement for the future to be full of challenges.
From the first INACRAFT in April 1999 through the ninth, INACRAFT has indicated its own acteristics a right showcase for promoting handicraft products for entrepreneur/ exporter/ craft men from Indonesia and handicraft producing countries within Asia. Moreover, INACRAFT has been well known by domestic and overseas buyers as an exhibition to be necessarily visited to find high quality and favorite handicraft product. The 10th Jakarta International Handicraft Trade Fair (INACRAFT 200) will be held on:
• Date : April 23 - 27, 2008 Opening Hours : 10.00 am - 09.00 pm
• Exhibition Hall : Hall A & B, Lobby A & B, Cendrawasih Hall, Plenary Hall, Assembly Hall & Main Lobby Balai Sidang Jakarta Convention Center, Jakarta - Indonesia
• Hall Area : ± 24.080 M2 (gross)
• Focused Products : Indonesian Handicraft (Gifts, House wares & Fashion Product)
Exhibited Products
• Gift Item
Ballpoint & Wooden box, Candy jar, Woven blanket throw, Key accessories, Lighter box, Jewelry box, Small photo frame, Cigarette box, Aromatherapy, Stationery item, etc.
• House wares, Home & Garden Decorative
Artificial flower, dried flowers, ceramic flowers vase, candle holder, lighting lamp, wood carving, ornament, craft silver, table cover embroidery, cushion cover, place mate, embroidery bed cover, Wooden furniture, rattan furniture, fiber furniture, coconut furniture, bamboo furniture, garden furniture, A kitchen wares, basket wares, table wares, bathroom wares, carpet, painting, candle, glass item, natural stone, pottery, bird house & accessories, umbrella, wind chime, doormat, garden ornament, plan terrace set, self watering hanging planter, garden bridge, garden statue, etc
• Toys & Game
Wooden toys, soft toys, game board, inflatable toys, toys box, footballs, jigsaw puzzles, education games, etc
• Jewelry
Gold jewelry, silver jewelry, pearl jewelry, shell jewelry, precious stones, etc
• Batik
Painting batik, Printing batik, Stamped batik, Silk, etc
• Fashion Garment & Embroidery
Fashion embroidery garment, Moslem dress, Indonesian ikats, Indonesian songket, Indonesian ulos, Hand oven fabric, etc
Product Zoning
• Main Lobby & Plenary Hall : Gifts & House wares, Toys & Games, Miscellaneous Crafts
• Hall A : Fashion, Embroidery, Batik, Jewelry & Accessories
• Assembly Hall 3 : International Hall/ Export Hall
• Hall B & Lobby B : Dinas, Pemkab & Pemda, Dekranas and Dekranasda
• Lobby A : Sponsorship
Supported
• National Agency for Export Development, Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia
• Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia
• Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia
• State Ministry for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Indonesia
• State Ministry for State Owned Company of the Republic of Indonesia
• Asean handicraft Promotion and Development Association (AHPADA)
• Indonesia Exhibition Companies Association (IECA)
For more information click http://www.inacraft2008.com
Source: http://my-indonesia.info/
April 3rd, 2008
JAKARTA, April 1 (Reuters) - The number of foreign tourists in Indonesia rose nearly 16 percent in February from a year ago, helped by a surge in visitors to the resort island of Bali, government data showed on Tuesday.
The predominantly Hindu island of Bali, which accounted for about 40 percent of total foreign arrivals, has seen tourist numbers rebound after a slow recovery from the impact of suicide bomb attacks by Islamic militants in 2002 and 2005.
The number of foreign tourists in Indonesia was 446,425 in February, up from 385,400 a year ago. Tourist arrivals in Bali rose 29.59 percent to 197,700 in February from a year ago.
“It’s a positive start compared to last year when the industry, as in 2005-2006, was still affected by low arrivals caused by the Bali bombing,” said Yessy Hidajat, a communication manager at Alila Hotels and Resort Bali.
Foreign tourist arrivals in Southeast Asia’s largest economy climbed to 5.51 million in 2007 from 4.87 million in 2006, but fell short of the government’s target of 6 million.
Tourism is estimated to have contributed around $5.3 billion to the economy in 2007.
Indonesia, which boasts tourist attractions ranging from rainforests to beaches, volcanoes and ancient temples, launched its campaign “Visit Indonesia Year 2008″ in a bid to increase the number of foreign arrivals to 7 million this year.
The campaign has suffered some early glitches, particularly after serious flooding in Jakarta in February paralysed the capital’s main airport for hours and caused chaos on the streets of Jakarta.
Hidajat said the hotel industry was fully behind the campaign to promote Indonesia, although recognised more could be done.
“We are a few steps behind (in promoting), but we believe we can accelerate it,” she said.
The tourism industry, which accounts for around 5 percent of gross domestic product, has been hit by a string of disasters in recent years including tsunamis, bomb attacks, and fatal outbreaks of bird flu. (Reporting by Muhamad Al Azhari; writing by Andreas Ismar; editing by Ed Davies)
Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/
April 2nd, 2008
JAKARTA, March 31 (Bernama) — Malaysia is wooing Indonesian tourists to the islands off the east coast of the peninsula, especially Tioman, Redang and Perhentian islands.
Malaysian Tourism Director for Indonesia Abdul Halim Saruji said the Indonesian tourists were more familiar with the tourist destinations in the west coast of the peninsula such as Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Selangor, and Penang.
“We are intensifying efforts to entice Indonesians to visit the islands this year through various promotional programmes such as the Indonesian International Travel Fair here last week,” he told Bernama Monday.
Abdul Halim said that generally holidaying, in the east coast islands was cheaper than in the west coast.
“Tourists can enjoy the idyllic setting and explore the food, culture and unique shopping experience in the east coast. They will be greeted by friendly locals,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Travel Business manager Zubaidee Yusof said his company was offering a special package for Indonesian tourists to visit Kuala Lumpur during a shopping carnival from July 5 to Sept 1.
“Ten vouchers, each worth US$300 (RM958.20), are up for grabs,” he added.
Source: BERNAMA
April 1st, 2008
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