Anas Urbaningrum elected Democratic Party chairman

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 05/23/2010 8:00 PM | Headlines

New Democratic Party chairman:Anas Urbaningrum

The second congress of Democratic Party, the biggest political party at the House of Representatives, elected on Sunday evening young politician Anas Urbaningrum as its new chairman. 

Anas, currently chairman of the party faction at the House of Representatives, beat House of Representatives Marzuki Alie 280 by 246 votes. 

In the first round, Anas also collected most votes during the first round of elections. Anas collected 236 votes, followed by Marzuki Alie with 209, and Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng trailing at the bottom with only 82 votes.

"This is the victory of the Democratic Party. Three of us will fight for the betterment of the Democratic Party," Anas said, as quoted by TVOne as saying, referring to Marzuki, Andi and himself.  

"This election shows that we can practice democracy well, full of friendship. This is the friendship democracy in Indonesia," he added.

Before the second round of voting, the party's patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told participants of the party congress to “listen to their hearts” when voting for the new chairman of the party.

"The first round of elections ran smoothly. Congratulations to Anas Urbaningrum and Marzuki Alie. Andi, you have fought your best but you have to accept your defeat," Yudhoyono told the candidates in front of the congress participants.

Yudhoyono told participants to not succumb to pressure from others in the next round of voting.

"I hope all of you will listen to your hearts. There must be no pressures from anyone. No Democratic [Party] members may pressure others. Everyone may vote according to their hearts," he said.

Blackberry 8520 Gemini

City to put smoking ban into effect after June 2010

The Jakarta Post | Sat, 05/22/2010 9:04 AM | Headlines

The city administration plans to enact the bylaw banning smoking in buildings in the near future but questions on its effectiveness remain.

“The bylaw has been in place since May 6. However, there will be an awareness campaign through the media and to building owners before it really takes effect,” city environmental agency (BPLH) head Peni Susanti told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

She said the campaign would last probably until June.

The 2010 Gubernatorial Decree states that smoking areas must be located outside of buildings and away from entrance areas. The sanctions, which are directed to building management, include a written warning and naming the establishment in the media if it continued to allow

smoking.

The new bylaw was drafted following a study conducted by BPLH and Swisscontact Indonesia Foundation, which discovered that nicotine still seeped into the air even if smokers lit up in designated smoking areas.

The study discovered that nicotine was found in 86 percent of no-smoking areas in surveyed restaurants, 32 percent of school areas and 68 percent of hospital areas inspected, which, according to the survey, proved that designated smoking rooms were ineffective in containing cigarette smoke.

The new decree amends the 2005 decree, which stated that smoking areas must be separated from non-smoking areas, equipped with exhaust fans, ashtrays and information about the dangers of smoking.

Swisscontact executive director for Indonesia Dollaris Riauaty Suhadi said her foundation had prepared financial support for the administration to perform inspections on 780 building up to April next year, with one inspection costing around Rp 300,000 (US$32.4). After April, the administration will have to fund its own inspections.

Association of Shopping Center Managers of Indonesia head Stefanus Ridwan said shopping centers had spent millions on building special smoking rooms. “It’s impractical to think that visitors have to go outside the shopping centers just for a smoke,” he said.

Stefanus said the heart of the issue lied in the administration’s commitment to enforcing the rules it drafted.

“In 2005, officials actively supervised the implementation only in the first few months, after which they stopped. In the end, people went back to their old habits.

Agus-Anny duet gets seven top priorities for new jobs

Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/21/2010 10:37 AM | Headlines

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Seven crucial tasks await new Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo and Deputy Finance Minister Anny Ratnawati to maintain the already sound financial sector and improve the still-lagging real sector.

On Thursday Agus and Anny were officially inaugurated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace. Former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati will fly to Washington, DC, on May 26 to start her new job as one of the World Bank’s managing directors.

In his speech, Yudhoyono hoped Agus and Anny could follow the “seven instructions” given. “If there are problems, report to the President or the Vice President; we will together find the solutions,” he said.

Congratulatory kiss: Outgoing finance minister Sri Mulyati Indrawati kisses her successor, Agus Martowardojo, after being officially inaugurated by the President into the new Cabinet post at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday. JP/Ricky Yudhistira

The instructions include designing a prudent and accurate fiscal policy; increasing domestic state revenue; improving tax collection by preventing misappropriations; continuing reform at the tax office and the customs and excise office; expanding fiscal decentralization; improving the government’s financial reports by working with the Supreme Audit Agency and Finance Development Comptroller; and playing a global role at international forums like the G20 as had Mulyani.

Yudhoyono thanked Mulyani for her work as finance minister.

“The nation and the government record your tireless efforts in normal times and in crisis. Indonesia was saved in the last crisis also because of your work. You should be thankful for getting this important role [at the World Bank].

“[Your efforts] may not always be remembered by the people, but they will always be recorded by God.

So long, do your job for the interest of the world and emerging countries,” he said.

The former president director of Bank Mandiri was considered as the right person to replace Mulyani.

The local stock market also reacted positively to his appointment. The Jakarta Composite Index rallied during early trading. But stocks lost the steam in the afternoon as the fall in share prices in other Asian markets hit home. The index finally lost 1.28 percent to end the day at 2,694.24.

After the inauguration, Mulyani told Agus he would face many challenges in developing the Finance Ministry. “I see Agus has the integrity and high dedication. We will wait for your leadership,” she said.

Mulyani, who never cried in public, broke down in tears at the ministry Thursday night as she bade farewell after nearly five years in office.

Agus, who has filed his resignation as Bank Mandiri president director, said he would keep on with reform at the ministry. “I will make civil servants proud of their corps, and make them perform their duties with dedication although the salary may still be considered low,” he said.

Agus also said he would increase tax collection by registering more taxpayers and creating a healthy business climate to boost more business profits, which would be taxed.

Whether he would chase tax evaders, he said: “I will learn about them first.”

He added that he would communicate with all stakeholders, including the House of Representatives and non-profit agencies, to gain their support.

In a surprising move, Anggito Abimanyu, the Finance Ministry’s head of fiscal policy, filed his resignation Thursday. He said he would return to Yogyakarta after finding out that he would not become deputy finance minister.

“Within these six months I was considered as [possible] deputy minister but without any certainty. Now there’s a definitive deputy minister [in place] I have my option to return to Gadjah Mada University. It’s been 10 years, time to return,” he said, adding that his family is now in Yogyakarta.

Anggito denied any political link that might have cost him losing the deputy minister’s position, calling such allegations “slanderous”.

Songwriter Gesang dies at 92

Ganug Nugroho Adi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/21/2010 11:20 AM | Headlines

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Keroncong maestro Gesang Martohartono, whose songs gained fame all the way to Japan, passed away Thursday shortly after 6 p.m. in Surakarta, Central Java, after being hospitalized since last week. He was 92.

Earlier rumors of his death, worsened by the speed of news, added to the family’s “shock and disappointment”. A false report of Gesang’s death was broadcasted by a news station and a news portal on Tuesday.

The senior composer of keroncong (Portuguese-influenced traditional music), best known for his classicBengawan Solo (Solo River), was admitted to PKU Muhammdiyah Hospital on May 12 with a digestive problem. Gesang’s niece, Yuniarti, said her uncle had eventually died of asphyxiation and heart failure.

Surakarta Mayor Joko Widodo and artist Jujuk Juariyah from the Srimulat comedy troupe were among those paying last respects. The place of burial was yet to be decided.

Gesang, who could not read musical notation, composed Bengawan Solo in 1940. It became popular throughout Indonesia, Japan and other Asian countries since first being recorded, and after it was aired in the 1940s on SRV, a local radio station. It also became popular with the Japanese forces occupying Java during World War II.

When Surakarta’s regional station of Radio Republik Indonesia was established in 1950, Gesang gained his own keroncong program.

In 2003 the Indonesian Records Museum awarded him for his long career in the recording industry; in 2004, he received another for Bengawan Solo’s record of being the song most covered by other artists.

In 2009 Gesang told The Jakarta Post that “unfortunately [the river] is not as beautiful as before.”

President names Agus Martowardojo new finance minister

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 05/19/2010 8:36 PM | Headlines

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New Finance Minister: Agus Martowardoyo

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono named on Wednesday Bank Mandiri president director Agus Martowardojo as the new finance minister, replacing Sri Mulyani Indrawati who has resigned.

The President also appointed Anny Ratnawati, Finance Ministry’s director general of budget, the deputy finance minister.

Yudhoyono said Agus, who has just been reelected Bank Mandiri president director, was deemed capable of taking up the ministerial job due his international exposure.

Agus was the President’s choice of Bank Indonesia governor in 2008, but was rejected by the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Anny was one of Yudhoyono's lecturers when he was finishing his doctorage degree at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.

Agus, a gruaduate of the School of Economics at the University of Indonesia, is a long time banker. He started his banking career as an international loan officer at the Bank of America's Jakarta branch.

Then, he moved to Bank Niaga as vice president corporation and stayed there for eight years before he moved to Bank Bumiputera as president director in 1995. Three years later, he was appointed president director of state-owned Bank Expor Impor Indonesia. In 2005, he was appointed as president director of Bank Mandiri.

Meanwhile, Anny Ratnawati, born in 1962, earned all of her degrees at the IPB. She attained a bachelor’s degree in 1985, a master’s in 1989 and a doctorate in 1996. She has built her career as a bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry.

Reforms will go on: New finance minister

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 05/20/2010 12:09 PM | Headlines

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New Finance Minister: Agus Martowardoyo

New finance minister Agus Martowardojo pledged Thursday to continue with the reform agenda started by his predecessor, who maintained economic growth but angered some with her anti-corruption sweep and tax enforcement.

"We will continue the bureaucratic reforms that have been administered by Minister Sri Mulyani," Martowardojo told reporters Thursday at his house as quoted by Associated Press.

"In addition, we will maintain fiscal resilience and will maximize all efforts in creating a harmonious relationship between fiscal and monetary policy, so that our economic growth can be sustained."

Agus Martowardojo, CEO of state-owned Bank Mandiri - the country's largest bank - was named Wednesday to take over the Finance Ministry from Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who resigned to take a position at the World Bank.

Finance Ministry’s director general for budgeting Anny Ratnawati was named the deputy finance minister.

Outgoing Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati hailed the appointment of Agus Martowardojo as her successor Thursday, calling him “the right choice”.

Mulyani said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had picked a figure the ministry needed.

“The President is very wise as he knows exactly what must continue at the Finance Ministry and what kind of leadership it needs,” Mulyani said as quoted by kompas.com after a ceremony to mark the National Awakening Day at her office.

She said Agus was widely known as a professional with good leadership qualities and the integrity to ensure the ministry’s programs, particularly its bureaucratic reform, work well.

Mulyani called on all Finance Ministry employees to support Agus, who will be installed later on Thursday.

Economists and businessmen have also voiced support for Martowardojo, who will go from leading a national bank to managing the budget of Southeast Asia's largest economy.

"He has dedicated his knowledge as banker to maintain a good performance in managing the country's largest bank," said economist Fauzi Ichsan. "He really understands how to keep the country's rupiah and bonds stable."

Martowardojo is a career banker who successfully led a private bank before becoming CEO of Bank of Mandiri in 2005. He was reappointed just last week for a second term as CEO at the bank after reforming Mandiri's assets by slashing non-performing loans and raising the bank's profile among international investors.

His weakness may be his lack of government experience, Ichsan said, but that will be balanced by his deputy minister, Anny Ratnawati, a longtime bureaucrat who is the ministry's current director-general of budgeting.

Marketing Management System

Marketing Management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Rapidly emerging forces of globalization have compelled firms to market beyond the borders of their home country making International marketing highly significant and an integral part of a firm's marketing strategy.[1] Marketing managers are often responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand accepted definition of the term. In part, this is because the role of a marketing manager can vary significantly based on a business' size, corporate culture, and industry context.

For example, in a large consumer products company, the marketing manager may act as the overall general manager of his or her assigned product [2] To create an effective, cost-efficient Marketing management strategy, firms must possess a detailed, objective understanding of their own business and the market in which they operate.[3] In analyzing these issues, the discipline of marketing management often overlaps with the related discipline of strategic planning.

Traditionally, marketing analysis was structured into three areas: Customer analysis, Company analysis, and Competitor analysis (so-called "3Cs" analysis). More recently, it has become fashionable in some marketing circles to divide these further into certain five "Cs": Customer analysis, Company analysis, Collaborator analysis, Competitor analysis, and analysis of the industry Context.

Department analysis is to develop a schematic diagram for market segmentation, breaking down the market into various constituent groups of customers, which are called customer segments or market segmentations. Marketing managers work to develop detailed profiles of each segment, focusing on any number of variables that may differ among the segments: demographic, psychographic, geographic, behavioral, needs-benefit, and other factors may all be examined. Marketers also attempt to track these segments' perceptions of the various products in the market using tools such as perceptual mapping.

In company analysis, marketers focus on understanding the company's cost structure and cost position relative to competitors, as well as working to identify a firm's core competencies and other competitively distinct company resources. Marketing managers may also work with the accounting department to analyze the profits the firm is generating from various product lines and customer accounts. The company may also conduct periodic brand audits to assess the strength of its brands and sources of brand equity.[4]

The firm's collaborators may also be profiled, which may include various suppliers, distributors and other channel partners, joint venture partners, and others. An analysis of complementary products may also be performed if such products exist.

Marketing management employs various tools from economics and competitive strategy to analyze the industry context in which the firm operates. These include Porter's five forces, analysis of strategic groups of competitors, value chain analysis and others.[5] Depending on the industry, the regulatory context may also be important to examine in detail.

In Competitor analysis, marketers build detailed profiles of each competitor in the market, focusing especially on their relative competitive strengths and weaknesses using SWOT analysis. Marketing managers will examine each competitor's cost structure, sources of profits, resources and competencies, competitive positioning and product differentiation, degree of vertical integration, historical responses to industry developments, and other factors.

Marketing management often finds it necessary to invest in research to collect the data required to perform accurate marketing analysis. As such, they often conduct market research (alternately marketing research) to obtain this information. Marketers employ a variety of techniques to conduct market research, but some of the more common include:

Qualitative marketing research, such as focus groups
Quantitative marketing research, such as statistical surveys
Experimental techniques such as test markets
Observational techniques such as ethnographic (on-site) observation
Marketing managers may also design and oversee various environmental scanning and competitive intelligence processes to help identify trends and inform the company's marketing analysis.