Local News
Clarkson, Djarum Cigarette Company Stamp out Sponsorship Deal
Bowing to mounting public pressure, the promoters of a scheduled concert here by US pop star Kelly Clarkson have parted ways with a controversial tobacco company sponsor.
Promoter Adrie Subono told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday (22/4) that the concert by the original American Idol would be held in Jakarta on April 29 as scheduled, but will no longer be sponsored by tobacco company PT Djarum’s LA Lights cigarettes.
“The show must go on without its main sponsor,” he said, without clarifying whether the promoter had dropped the tobacco company or the company had pulled its sponsorship.
Adrie said everything related to LA Lights would be removed from advertising billboards and concert paraphernalia. However, he refused to disclose how much it would cost the promotion company, JAVA Musikindo. By Thursday, the billboards promoting the concert with the LA Lights logo hovering over the portrait of the singer had disappeared.
“This is JAVA’s commitment to Clarkson and her fans,” Adrie said. The decision came after anti-smoking activists decried the sponsorship, saying it was akin to Clarkson being a spokeswoman for the tobacco industry and helping them to market to children. Her Facebook account had been fl ooded with calls from her fans for her to ditch the sponsorship to show her opposition to smoking.
On her blog, Clarkson said she had no idea LA Lights was sponsoring her Jakarta concert. “I was not made aware of this and am in no way an advocate or an ambassador for youth smoking,” she wrote. “I’m not even a smoker, nor have I ever been.”
She continued, “I think the hardest part of situations like this is getting personally attacked for something I was
completely unaware of and being used as some kind of political pawn.” On Clarkson’s Facebook page, fans welcomed the decision to ditch the sponsorship. One fan created
becauseofyoukelly.com, a Web page where fans could leave messages of support for Clarkson’s move.
“Kelly is a role model for millions of young people, so this sponsorship is sending the wrong message,” the page reads. Religious groups and anti-tobacco activists had protested against the sponsorship, which included the cigarette brand’s logo adorning billboards featuring the Grammy Award-winning singer.
Yunahar Ilyas, who heads the fatwa body of Muhammadiyah, the country’s second-largest Islamic group with about 30 million members, said he supported the move to end the sponsorship. “Advertisements for tobacco very easily lure people” to smoke, he said, adding that Muhammadiyah had suggested, through its health council, for tobacco sponsorship to be completely removed from all kinds of shows.
Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), said the group welcomed the decision. “Hopefully other promoters will follow, and not just for music events,” Seto said.
Two years ago, an affi liate of US-based Philip Morris International, which dominates Indonesia’s tobacco market, removed its logo from ads promoting an Alicia Keys concert in Jakarta after the singer publicly denounced the sponsorship and apologized to her fans.
World Health Organization statistics show that in Indonesia almost 70 percent of men older than 20 smoke and the number of young smokers between 15 and 19 years old was rising annually. (April 24th
2010, Jakarta Globe)
Indonesia Garment Makers Blame China for Bankcrupcy
Mufardi Rusli’s neighbor’s hunch over tables covered in brightly colored fabric, the whirring of their sewing machines echoing across his Jakarta neighborhood. For Rusli, the sound is a bitter reminder of the $2 line of jackets that bankrupted him, costing him a garment business it took 15 years to build.
He blames himself. He blames the government. But most of all he blames China - specifi cally, the fl ood of cheap clothing that has poured into Indonesia this year under a free-trade agreement between the rising economic giant and its Southeast Asian neighbors.
The new competition quickly drove down prices, forcing Rusli to sell the jackets for less than they cost to make. Within months, he was broke and unable to pay his 22 workers. The Indonesian government and many businesses leaders have hailed the pact as an economic boon that will allow the free fl ow of goods between countries encompassing 1.7 billion people, lowering prices for consumers and offering new opportunities for producers.
The Trade Ministry expects two-way trade between Indonesia and China to double to $50 billion within fi ve years. But some Indonesian industries say their small operations can’t keep up with the Chinese juggernaut and they’re calling on the government to do more to save their businesses from collapse.
“We’re the ones losing this trade war,” Rusli says, warning that soon his neighbors’ sewing machines will follow his into silence.
The deal between China and six founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - went into full effect Jan. 1, eliminating barriers to investment and trade on 90 percent of products. Four more ASEAN countries - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam - will be added by 2015.
The deal is expected to benefi t Indonesian industries such as palm oil, rubber, coffee and coal by making it easier for them to feed China’s voracious appetite for industrial raw materials and other commodities. Yet there are other
industries - among them textiles and garments, tires, steel and footwear - who say they aren’t ready to go head-to-head with China’s aggressive, lower-cost producers and have called on the government to delay the elimination of protective tariffs on 228 product lines.
Despite signs ministers were not unanimous in supporting the trade pact; the government has said delaying is not realistic because it would involve renegotiating not only with China but with all the Southeast Asian nations. Baso Rukmana, chairman of Indonesia’s National Workers Union, predicted the trade deal would drastically increase unemployment in labor-intensive industries, with up to 7 million jobs lost.
“We are not ready to compete with China, and the government must have the courage to admit that,” he said. Rukmana’s estimate of job losses couldn’t be corroborated by other sources. Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said the government doesn’t have fi gures on how many people could lose their jobs but has set up a task force to monitor the impact.
“We realize now that Indonesia is not yet quite able to compete in global markets with a full commitment to free trade,” Iskandar said. “But we should not be left behind other ASEAN countries in facing global trade competition.”
While some analysts believe the impact of the deal so far has been relatively positive - the contentious tariff lines account for only a fraction of the goods covered by the agreement - it is too soon to say how it will fully play out. Still, early trends on who will be hardest hit are clear.
“The main losers in Indonesia would be the low-skilled workers and the sectors that produce low-end products, mainly the textile sectors,” said Maria Patrikainen, an Indonesia analyst with IHS Global Insight in London.
That explanation is little comfort, though, to Rusli, the bankrupt garment maker. He said he doesn’t have much hope for the future of the garment makers of Kalibata. “It’s a bitter business now,” he said, clutching the last of his red jackets, a morbid souvenir. “And there are thousands of others facing the same fate as me.” (April 22nd Globe)
Villagers Threaten to Poison Wild Elephants Blamed for Crop Destruction
Villagers in western Indonesia have threatened to kill endangered Sumatran elephants unless something is done to stop the animals from trampling their crops, a local offi cial said Monday (26/4). A group of six elephants has destroyed several acres (hectares) of crops in the Trumon Timur region of Aceh province in the past few weeks, said Lahmudin, a sub-district chief. He said the villagers are fed up and ready to get rid of the animals. “The villagers wanted to poison the elephants but for now they are listening to my appeal to be patient,” Lahmudin said. Abu Bakar Chekmat, the head of Aceh’s conservation agency, questioned whether the villagers had encroached on the elephants’ habitat. “It is diffi cult to say who is right or wrong between humans and the animals,” he said. He said a team would be sent to the area to investigate and see what could be done. Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild, a number that dwindles each year with poaching. (April 26th 2010, AP)
2nd Suspect Held in Bali Rapes, But the Police Hunt Continues
2010, the Jakarta
Parents and community groups in Denpasar are breathing a sigh of relief after police arrested a second suspect in the recent string of rapes targeting young schoolgirls in the Bali capital. Police announced on Friday (23/4) that Salvador da Costa Soares, 28, had confessed to raping a 9-year-old girl at her home on Jalan Pulau Moyo on April 16. They said forensic tests confi rmed his story. However, police also said they had no evidence that the suspect, who was born in East Timor, was responsible for raping fi ve other girls over the past two months. “We hope to apprehend any other suspects as soon as possible,” Bali Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sutisna said. Salvador, a college student, was arrested on Thursday night by South Denpasar Police at his rented room near the scene of last week’s rape. Police say the suspect entered the home near Sumerta Elementary School, where the victim is a student, and raped the girl. The third-grader was home alone at the time of the attack, with both parents working and the maid having gone home earlier due to illness. Sutisna said police had been able to track down Salvador after recovering a torn scrap of paper at the victim’s house with his cell phone number on it. The offi cer added that Salvador moonlighted as a motorcycle taxi driver, ferrying children to and from school. “We believe it was this that got him interested in young children,” Sutisna said. The National Police’s forensics laboratory in Denpasar has confi rmed that blood and semen samples found at the scene of the crime and on the girl’s underwear belonged to Salvador. None of the other rape victims, however, has identifi ed him as their attacker. The rape attributed to Salvador differed from the fi ve previous attacks in that it took place at the victim’s home. In the earlier rapes, the suspect approached the victims on a motorcycle as they were returning home from school or after-school lessons, and convinced them that their parents had asked him to give them a ride. The suspect then took the victims to a secluded location and raped them. On Monday, police announced they had arrested a security guard believed to have raped a 13-year-old girl. The suspect, I Made Sumarjaya, is alleged to have picked up the student while she was waiting for her parents and taken her to a motel, where the attack took place. Sutisna stressed that while most of the rapes shared the same modus operandi, there was almost certainly more than one perpetrator. Salvador has been charged with one count of rape under the 2003 Child Protection Law and could face up to 15 years in jail if convicted. (April 15th
2010, the Jakarta Globe)
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