Boediono: Infrastructure!

Last Monday, Prof. Boediono the elected vice-president, came to the town. Giving some general descriptive about our macroeconomics condition, that overall could been read on his new book. For me, most important point of his speech is about government critical issues for next 5 years. Boediono put stress on infrastructure. They are, physical infrastructure, soft infrastructure, social infrastructure, and creativeness. I fully agree, since remembering previous post

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Bail Out?

I just questioning, why people think that Rp. 6,7 T for Bank Century is a bail out? "Bailout" terms will confusing us and misleading about, where did the money came from?

It is important to understand that Rp. 6,7 T is come from LPS (Lembaga Penjaminan Simpanan). It mean there are no one rupiah is allocated from APBN. LPS funds was came from BPPN liquidation on 1998 (BPPN is a temporal institution which created facing '98 crisis) and collected premium from all Indonesian bank. So, protest again LPS injection, because it use "society money" (uang rakyat), is no more relevant.

But, I agree that we must questioning the transparency and calculation of injection amount.

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Indonesia Dijual?

Benarkah Indonesia sedang dilelang lewat situs http://www.privateislandsonline.com? Setelah Sipadan dan Ligitan Indonesia siap melepas beberapa pulau lagi dengan hanya $1,000,000 - $ 8,000,000. Gila, tentu jika bagian sebuah negara bisa dijual dengan harga sejumlah tersebut.

Maka gila pula orang yang mentah-mentah menerima logika media massa, yang sedang asyik menggembar-gemborkan penjualan beberapa resort pulau di Mentawai. Sebelum melacak siapa saja pembeli pulau tersebut, lebih baik menangkapi orang asing yang memiliki rumah di pinggir jalan dekat Anda atau mungin Anda sendiri yang baru saja membeli rumah atau tanah.

Apakah dengan membeli pulau tersebut, si pembeli lantas boleh bertindak di luar hukum Indonesia dengan, yah, membunuh orang sekenanya disana dan tidak bisa ditangkap? Disini lah perlu disadari tidak semudah itu "menjual" negara. Memang perlu dikaji lebih lanjut jenis hak apa yang diperoleh dari penjualan tersebut (tentu teman-teman fakultas hukum lebih tahu). Jika yang dibeli hanya hak sewa atau hak mendirikan usaha bahkan penjualan itu justru positif bagi perekonomian Indonesia (toh selama ini pulau-pulau itu dianggurkan). Benar perlu aturan tegas untuk mengawasi kepemilikan tanah oleh asing. Pemerintah bisa saja menetapkan batas luas. Jika tidak bisa, cukup memberi hak sewa, mendirikan bangunan, atau izin usaha dengan menindihnya dengan kebijakan fiskal yang menguntungkan bangsa ini. Rasanya terlalu buru-buru menuduh.

Jadi tidak ada itu namanya "Indonesia sedang dijual?". Sayang, jawabannya ada. Indonesia adalah rechstaat, negara hukum. Ketika hukum dibeli disitulah negeri kita dijual. Justru di Pengadilan-Pengadilan Negeri, di kantor-kantor polisi atau mungkin Gedung DPR/MPR bangsa ini sedang diobral.

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Quotes For This Semester

Greg Mankiw asked to pick 15 Harvard's freshman to took his Seminar (linked on books's suggestion). Simply, he could fill up the class with top fifteen highest SAT (like Hasil Ujian Nasional). Here's the answer...

...but I won't, as there is more to life than test scores. I am looking also for passion about the subject, interesting life experiences, and a balance among the group of students to promote good discussion...

Pure inspiration for students who looking for an alibi [read: why they have middle-low or lower GPA] -> including me..laugh..I agree that a group student like me (middle-lower grade) will make class discussion more "lively"

Thanks Professor Mankiw, moreover for your books suggestions.

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Blog Update: "Read More" Things

I've made some improvement on our beloved blog. To simplifyi main page, Kigendeng posting will not fully displayed. So, kigendeng add "read more" link. To open whole posting just click the "Read More" link...Hopefully you'll enjoyed. But, sorry for everyone, who feel inconvenience. Thanks

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Atheist Must Concern...

This picture below is taken from fourblockworld.com. I found this link from Jahen's blog.

I think believe in God still our optimum strategy.

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"Simalakama" Taste Sweet

Indonesian people shocked. Sugar price nowadays reach Rp. 10.500. Even in Ramadhan season, this price booming seems unexplainable. But, it still interesting that how people blame world market for sugar booming

There was a dilemma. Like other food commodity, sugar farmer feel normal sugar price are too low. On January 2009 (Kompas, 27 August 2009) price of rafinated sugar only $310 per tons. Fantastically, in 24 August price bounce up to $615 per tons. World price fluctuation is pointed out as main factor, which lead domestic price going higher. Sugar farmer looked happy, not so consumer (also me). Just like eating simalakama fruit, our ancestor said.

So, it's fair to blame the world market? It is true that our circumstance will get better if we going to autarky? I don't think so. Sucofindo co. assumed that our domestic production was only 2,74 million ton per year. Our Industrial (middle-higher scale) consumption is about 1.054.121 ton per year. At household level, we consume 11,86 kg per capita (since we have 200 million people, it means we consume 2.372.000 ton per year). From those sector, exclude household industry and small-scale industry, we need 3.426.121 ton per year. The only way is doing import.

Increasing import tariff idea and stop sugar import truly unrealistic. For short-run solution we need import. Further, we must consider on how we strengthen our supply side (more productivity) than consider on banning sugar import or close our sugar trade.

Yes, it's like eating simalakama fruit, but this one taste sweet

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