20 September 2008

Indonesian Dance Festival


Graha Bakti Budaya TIM
Teater Kecil TIM
Teater Luwes IKJ
P4TK Seni Budaya Yogyakarta
14 - 31 Oktober 2008
A place to increase the public's appreciation...
An innovative creativity forum...
A meeting place of choreographers, dancers, critics, international observers with different artistic orientations and cultural backgrounds...
About IDF
The Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF) was established in 1992, initiated by a group of Indonesian dance artists: Dr. Sal Murgiyanto, Nungki Kusumastuti, S.Sn., M.Sos, Melina Surja Dewi S.Pd,M.Si, Maria Darmaningsih S.Sn,M.Ed., Dedy Lutan S.Sn., Tom Ibnur S.Sn., supported by Prof. Sardono W. Kusumo, Dr. Julianti, Farida Oetoyo, etc.

17 September 2008

Indonesia Resmi Keluar Dari OPEC

Vienna (ANTARA News) - Indonesia secara resmi keluar dari Organisasi Negara pengekspor Minyak (OPEC), menurut pengumuman organisasi itu, Rabu, setelah pertemuan di Vienna.

“Konferensi dengan hormat menerima permohonan Indonesia untuk menunda keanggotaan penuhnya di organisasi ini dan menitipkan harapannya negara ini akan berada di posisi untuk kembali bergabung dengan organisasi dalam waktu tidak terlalu lama di masa mendatang,” kata OPEC dalam pernyataannya pada akhir pertemuan.

Indonesia salah satu anggota terkecil OPEC dan satu-satunya dari Asia, akhir Mei mengumumkan keinginannya keluar dari organisasi pengekspor minyak karena telah menjadi negara pengimpor minyak.

Menteri ESDM, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, mengatakan bagaimanapun Indonesia akan kembali bergabung jika produksinya meningkat, sejalan dengan upaya yang telah dilaksanakan untuk meningkatkan kapasitas produksi setelah bertahun-tahun investasinya di sektor ini turun.

“Jika produksi kami kembali ke level seperti semula yang memberi kami status sebagai negara pengekspor minyak, saya fikir kami dapat kembali menjadi anggota OPEC,” katanya.

Ketika anggota OPEC lainnya menikmati keuntungan dari kembali tingginya harga minyak di dunia, Indonesia yang bergabung dengan OPEC 1961 justru tidak mampu mencukupi kebutuhan cadangan terbukti ke pasar sebesar 4,37 miliar barel.

Beberapa pejabat Indonesia mengkritik kurangnya perhatian dari OPEC untuk anggotanya yang kecil, yang menderita dari ketidakpastian organiasasi untuk memperkuat pasokan.

Kalangan analis juga menuduh pemerintah terdahulu lalai untuk mengelola kandungan minyak dan gas yang kaya di Indonesia.

Produksi minyak di kapulauan ini turun sejak 1995, kata Yusgiantoro. Pemerintah awal tahun ini menurunkan perkiraan penjualan minyak untuk 2008 menjadi 927.000 barel per hari dari sebelumnya 1.034 juta barel per hari, demikian AFP.(*)

14 September 2008

Visit Indonesia does not fail


Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Visit Indonesia Year 2008 program does not fail, Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said at a hearing with House of Representatives said here Monday.

"According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, in the first semester of this year, the number of foreign tourists has reached 3.4 million. If the number continues to increase, by the end of the year, there would be 6.4 million foreign tourists visiting Indonesia," Wacik said.

The number expected to be reached by the end of the year is 600 thousand, still below the target of the ministry of 7 million.

"To successfully reach that target, we are trying to make some breakthroughs in our promotions," said Wacik, adding that the result of a promotion is not instantly, but takes time.

Wacik giving an example said the Film Festival and Vegetarian Food Festival in Batam are good ways of promotion.

In the hearing with Commission X, the General Director of Marketing of Visit Indonesia Year 2008 program Sapta Nirwandar said Indonesia uses quite different methods of promotion.

"We don`t really rely on advertisements on television. We use a strategy we called "marketing guerilla". We come to our main marketing target sharing about our programs," he explained.

The Minister also said that with Indonesia`s bad experience of bombing incidents and natural disasters, the number of foreign tourists until today is proof that Indonesia still has a chance to reach its tourist targets.

"Therefore, we have remain opetimistic that we will successfully reach our target," Wacik added.

Trade Expo Indonesia




The 23rd Trade Expo Indonesia 2008 is set to open on 21 - 25 October 2008. Following its previous shows, Trade Expo Indonesia 2008 will showcase all Indonesian export products ranging from industrial, mining, agricultural to Craft sectors.
Last year, Tradexpo Indonesia successfully attracted more than 7.333 buyers from 109 countries, and generated in total trade transactions valued at US$ 208.26 milion. The fact that thousands of buyers from many countries come to visit Resources (Tradexpo) Indonesia every years demonstrates a high commitment of our trading partners around the world; and also a solid prove that Indonesia is one of the potensial and reliable suppliers of qualified and competitive consumer products.

Therefore, you and your associates are cordially invited to pay a visit to The 23rd Trade Expo Indonesia 2008, from 21 - 25 October 2008 at Jakarta Fairground, Kemayoran, Indonesia.

http://www.tradexpoindonesia.com/

The Puppet Museum

The Puppet Museum in Jakarta is very famous and displays one of the best assortments of Wayang Puppets in Java. It has a huge store of wonderful characters that were once upon a time used for live shows. The museum has articles mainly from Indonesia, and also other countries like China, Malaysia, India, and Cambodia.

The museum building is quite old, going back to 1912, and was previously known as the Museum of Old Batavia. It also has on display the memorabilia related to Dutch Governor Generals. They include Jan Pieterszoon Coen, (he was the founder of Batavia). The site of the museum has many historical landmarks related to it, like colonial occupations, and natural calamities. The original occupant of the museum was a Dutch Reformed Church that got destroyed by an earthquake in 1808, followed by a warehouse up till 1912. There is a cemetery on the backyards of the museum where a few Dutch ruling officials were buried.

The Puppet Museum has a huge collection of puppets, thousands of them, ranging puppets from every corner of Indonesia. Two puppets are particularly famous: the Wayang Kulit, and the Wayang Golek. These are shadow puppets and are used for recreation and entertainment with live shows, scheduled usually around 10 am on Sundays. You can also get to see free puppet shows on Sunday afternoons. There are many guides who will show you around the museums and also arrange puppet shows for you. In case you think of purchasing a puppet be sure to inquire the correct prices beforehand, as these guides at times expect extraordinary amounts.

Overlooking the Fatahillah Square and the Old City Hall (Dutch-colonial make), is located the Café Batavia, a famous and popular restaurant. Here, museum visitors can relax, hang around and enjoy some typical Indonesian delicacies for lunch, dinner or as snacks.

When you visit Jakarta as a tourist or businessmen, keep a day to go visit the Puppet Museum, as you'll have a great time there, regardless of your age. Stay at a nearby Jakarta hotel to ensure you have easy and quick access to the museum and other attractions worthwhile to be paid a visit. You can select accommodations from any hotel in Jakarta during off-peak season, but it's advisable to book ahead during the tourist season.

Meet the Candidate - A Brief Background on Barack Obama

When voting for a presidential candidate, it's critical to know as much as possible about that candidate. Understanding who they are and where they've come from will give you a better idea of where they are going ... and where they hope to take the country.

The trouble is that most information about the candidates falls into one of two categories -- exaggerations from their supporters, and smears from their detractors. This makes it hard to find unbiased information about the person's past.

In the case of Barack Obama, we hope to fill this void by providing some basic facts and background information about the presidential hopeful.

Birth and Early Childhood

Barack was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1961. His parents met while attending the University of Hawaii. His father was a former economist with the finance ministry in Kenya, and attended the University of Hawaii on scholarship. His mother was an anthropologist born in the United States.

Barack's mother and father separated when he was two. She eventually remarried and took the family to Indonesia (her new husband was from that country). Barack went to school in Jakarta (the capital) until he was ten years old, at which time he moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.

Educational Background

Barack attended Punahou School in Hawaii and graduated in 1979. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental Collage (a small, private, coed liberal arts college). After two years at Occidental, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City and majored in political science. He graduated from Columbia in 1983 and moved to Chicago.

Civic Duty and First Exposure to Politics

In Chicago he worked at the Developing Communities Project, a church-based community improvement organization located in Chicago's south side. Obama often cites his work with this grassroots organization as the start of his political development. It also helped to shape his current political views and work ethic.

Education Revisited and a Historic First

After several years with the DCP organization, Obama advanced his education by attending Harvard Law School. He became the editor of the Harvard Law Review and eventually became the first black president of the prestigious legal journal. He graduated from Harvard Law with honors in 1991.

The Political Path Begins

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Barack returned to Chicago and (in 1993) joined the law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Galland. He specialized in civil rights law and neighborhood economic development. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years.

Obama was very active in political and civic affairs in Chicago, and in 1996 he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. He held assignments in many committees during his first and second terms in the senate, including co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

He eventually sponsored a civil rights law that monitored racial profiling and made Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations (to prevent violations of civil rights).

In 2005, he accompanied Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ill.) on a trip to Russia. It was a mission to renew anti-proliferation efforts between multiple nations -- i.e., efforts to find and secure nuclear weapons that have spread around the world.

In February 2007, Barack Obama stood before the historic capitol building in Springfield, Illinois and announced that he would run for president.

Over the years, he has been an active writer. He is the author of two best-selling books: Dreams from My Father in 1995, and The Audacity of Hope in 2006.

A Common Misconception

A Newsweek poll found that 12 percent of voters think Obama is a Muslim. Many of his detractors have latched onto this, spreading false rumors that he is a radical / extremist Muslim. In truth, he is a Christian. His father was an atheist who [in Barack's words] thought religion was "mumbo jumbo." His mother was interested in many of the world's religions but was an agnostic [again according to Obama].

About the Author: Brandon Cornett is the creator of 21Facts.com, a fast-growing library of facts on topics ranging from science to celebrities. To find more interesting facts on this subject, please visit http://www.21facts.com/people/obama.php