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A8 October 12, 2011 The President Post www.thepresidentpost.com Education Encouraging Innovation Among University Students Dana Siswa Bangsa Sets Aside $5 m to Students from Less Prosperous Families S.D. Darmono, the founder and CEO of PT Jababeka, in September conducted a seminar entitled “INNOVATON” at President University, with A.B.M Witono, the Head of Business and Administration of President University, as the host. IIn the seminar, Darmono underscored the importance of innovation in the industrial sector. “Innovation is essential in order to excel against competitors in the globalization era, regardless the type and size of the industry,” he said. He added: “In making innovations, its economic value must be taken into consideration. No matter how innovative a product or a service is, it would be pointless if it has no economic value”. In pursuit of becoming an innovative human being, Darmono encouraged all students to get their hands “dirty” or to have handson experience before graduating from the University. He said that theories learned in classrooms and good academic scores were not enough to support learning experiences, let alone to guarantee success in life. “Students must also learn practical skills which could only be obtained by being an intern in a company,” he said. Moreover, he added, many companies within the Jababeka In- dustrial Estate are open to President University’s students who wish to gain working experience and earn some pocket money. Darmono reminded all students of President University that their rivals in future employments are not limited to local graduates only, but also overseas students from reputable and world-class universities. “Therefore, mastery of English is compulsory,” he said. During the question and answer session, a student asked whether Indonesia as an emerging force should conduct a revolution in its economic sector. Darmono President University S.D. Darmono, the founder and CEO of PT Jababeka (Right) and Prof. Dr. Ermaya Suradinata, the Rector of President University. said that in a sense “making an innovation is making a revolution”. “By innovating in the economic sectors in terms of introducing new products and services, procedures and processes, policies, and technologies, we help to revolutionize Indonesia as a whole,” he explained The inspiring seminar, which lasted for two hours, was attended by Prof. Dr. Ermaya Suradinata, the Rector of President University, along with hundreds of PU’s students. Bright students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds now have bigger opportunities to continue their higher education studies. As one of Putera Sampoerna Foundation’s programs, Siswa Bangsa provides ‘Dana Siswa Bangsa (Siswa Bangsa Fund)’, a comprehensive support system for Indonesia’s brightest students from less-prosperous families to access quality higher education without having to worry about tuitions. ‘Siswa Bangsa Fund’ has set aside $5 million in the form of student loans through a unique public-private-partnership between USAID, UBS AG (UBS), Raiffesein Bank International AG (RBI) and Putera Sampoerna. According to Putera Sampoerna, the loan system or Ganti Bantu is the most appropriate solution for education funding in Indonesia. “We are lending funds to students until they complete their education. After that they can return it in installments within a period of 14-15 years, in percentage of their income. It is aimed to help sustain the education of younger generations,” said Nenny Soemawinata, Managing Director of Putera Sampoerna Foundation. The management of the education loan is in the hands of the Siswa Bangsa and Putera Sampoerna Foundation, both of which have experiences in education and providing scholarships. The fund will be allocated to 300 students. Siswa Bangsa will select potential students and is the unit that will be lending funds to the students. Scot Marciel, U.S. Ambassador to RI, was present on the MoU signing ceremony and stated that “the student loan program is our commitment to increase education opportunities for young Indonesians.” Putera Sampoerna said, “I personally believe that education is the key to improving our society. Together with our partners, we want to be able to provide access to a quality education for so many gifted children who are otherwise deprived from the opportunity because of their economic background. With this loan, we hope to see more gifted students achieve their dreams and to be future leaders of this nation”. “As such, one of the Foundation’s four pillars is Education with its core mission to develop future leaders for this country by providing deserving students from the economically disadvantaged — who have distinguished themselves academically — a value system that sits on top of a world class secondary and tertiary education,” Sampoerna added. The Putera Sampoerna Foundation is a non-profit organization which has distributed more than 34,600 scholarships, organized training programs for more than 19,000 teachers and principals, adopted 23 schools and 5 madrasah schools (Islamic schools). In 2009, the PSF founded a boarding school with international standards, the Sampoerna Academy. There is also the Sampoerna School of Education, an advanced school that creates future generations of educators, which became the first element in the establishment of a world-class university. In 2010, the foundation launched the Sampoerna School of Business. Nenny added there were 200 students who passed through a stringent selection process that saw more than 1,000 registrants from all over Indonesia, who sought to obtain a full scholarship with a total value up to $3.15 million from the ExxonMobil Foundation. The selection process was divided into five phases, namely selection of documents, academic test, psychological test, interview, focus group discussion (FGD), and home visit to prospective students. The Sampoerna Academy consists of students from regions in Indonesia, including Sumatra, Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and to West Papua. A number of students also came from the operational areas of Exxon- Mobil such as Blora, Cepu and Bojonegoro, East Java. The students are taught international-caliber curriculum based on the standards of the University of Cambridge International Examinations. The Putera Sampoerna Foundation founded Siswa Bangsa, an organization that is registered as a cooperative. Siswa Bangsa instituted the "Siswa Bangsa Fund" (Dana Siswa Bangsa), a long-term student financing program for students, aimed at providing access to various groups in order to enjoy quality education without having to worry about funding. The Siswa Bangsa Fund uses a system of revolving soft loans that are formulated to help train every student to be responsible and have a strong commitment to what each student wants to accomplish without forgetting their obligation to contribute back to the next generation, which will also require student loan assistance. The focus of Siswa Bangsa activities include raising funds to run the program, distribute educational funds, cooperate with organizations and educational institutions within and outside the country, build a dynamic cooperative, and provide consultation in terms of potential and career development to students receiving educational loans. At present, the program "Siswa Bangsa Fund" has benefited 167 students of the Sampoerna School of Education and the Sampoerna School of Business. In the future, Siswa Bangsa will continue to forge new cooperations with selected institutions of higher education in Indonesia and abroad for the implementation of the ‘Siswa Bangsa Fund’.
Business The President Post www.thepresidentpost.com Display until November 12, 2011 /// N0. 28 B BUSINESS BRIEFS Medco to Acquire Exxon Block in Aceh PT Medco E&P Indonesia intends to acquire two oil blocks in Aceh namely Block B and North Sumatra Offshore offered by ExxonMobil. Its president director, Lukman Mahfoedz, said here last week his side would discuss the plan with Exxon soon. “We are waiting for an invitation from Exxon to discuss its commercial aspects,” he said. He said his side was serious in seeking to take over the Exxon blocks because they would be integrated with Block A that his company is now operating. “Their locations are close to Block A. So we are serious to take the Exxon offer,” he said. Lukman however said he would only focus on the Exxon offer for the blocks and not Exxon shares in Arun Refinery. ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia spokesman Jeffrey Haribowo meanwhile said a number of investors had also expressed their interest in them but “we could not as yet announce their names.” ExxonMobil officially offered the two blocks last August. The participating interest in the blocks is 100% owned by ExxonMobil. Exxon meanwhile has also offered its 30% stake in Arun Liquified Natural Gas Refinery that receives supplies from the two blocks. Exxon sells the assets so that it could focus on other projects in Indonesia such as Cepu Block in the border between Central and East Java, the Natuna Block in Riau Islands and CBM (coal be methane) projects in Kalimantan and Sumatra. Exxon also views giving the operations of the two blocks to other parties would be more beneficial. The Arun project has carried out production since 1971 or more than 40 years. BMW Sales in Indonesia Up 18% BMW sales in Indonesia until the middle of September were up 18% compared with the figure for the corresponding period last year, a company spokesperson said. “BMW product sales rose 18%. Last year BMW was able to sell 1,240 units,” PT BMW Group Indonesia communications director Helena Abidin said here last week. Speaking to the press after signing a cooperation agreement with Bank OCBC NISP, she said the BMW sales hike was definitely associated with improvements in the country`s economy. Every month, she said, BMW car sales always increased. In August 150 units were sold, up from 120 in the previous month. “The hike is also inseparable from our participation in a number of automotive exhibitions in Jakarta,” she said. She said BMW cars that have been sold the most are BMW Series 3 reaching 399 units or 41% of total sales, followed by BMW Series 5 reaching 256 or 26% and BMW Model X reaching 231 or 24%. “A total of 47 units of BMW Series 7 meanwhile have been sold so far this year,” she said. In Indonesia the number of BMW car users reaches 20,000. Citilink to Have Four More Planes Citilink, a strategic business unit of state-owned airlines PT Gaurda Indonesia , will add four A320-200s to its fleet in February next year, a Garuda Indonesia director said. “As part of its rejuvenation program, Citilink will introduce four additional A320-200s in its service to the public in the October 2011 - February 2012 period,” Garuda Financial Director and Citilink Vice President, Elisa Lumbantoruan said recently. The new type of A320-200 aircraft offers more comfortable flight to passengers with wider passenger cabins and has 180 seats, she said. For its introductory flights in September 2011, Citilink is offering a cheap ticket price between Rp359,000 and Rp486,000 with destinations Balikpapan, Banjarmasin and Medan from Jakarta. www.balier.info Govt to Cut SOEs To 25 by 2025 The number of SEOs by 2014 would be decreased to 78 and finally to 25 by 2025. In addition, 10 SOEs were now known to be gradually running at a loss; only 131 out of 141 companies were profitable and only 67 were able to give dividends to the state. TThe government is to reduce the number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from 141 today to 25 by 2025, a minister said here last week. Speaking at a seminar themed “SOEs as Engines of the National Economy”, Hatta said there were now too many SOEs and this caused them to lack focus while the businesses of many of them overlapped. “The ideal number is four to five sectoral holding companies handling infrastructure, investment and transportation,” Hatta said. According to the SOEs roadmap`s PT Mandala Airlines, Saratoga Group and Tiger Airways have signed a conditional purchase agreement and various other commercial as well as legal documents. The signing of all the documents was done on September 23, PT Mandala Airlines said in a press statement received here last week. Under the agreement, Saratoga Group would act as a financial investor and Tiger Airways as a corporate strategic investor. Saratoga would be the majority shareholder controlling 51% of the company`s shares and Tiger Airways 33%. The rest of the shares was to be held by concurrent creditors and old shareholders. With the signing of the agreement, all parties had moved closer to a settlement of Mandala`s restructuring. Mandala`s press statement did not mention the value of Saratoga`s and Tiger`s stakes. Hatta Rajasa recommendation from independent consultants, the number of SOEs had been increasing rapidly and becoming inefficient. The Ministry of State`s Owned Enterprises is planning to conduct a right sizing of the SOEs` number through mergers, privatization, sectoral holding and liquidation to form sectoral holdings with strong and focused management teams. As an initial step, the number of SEOs by 2014 would be decreased to 78 and finally to 25 by 2025. In addition, 10 SOEs were now known to be gradually running at a loss; only 131 out of 141 compa- Mandala, Saratoga, Tiger Airways Sign Deals Sandiaga Uno “We are very glad about the finalization of the transaction documents and hope Mandala can operate again soon.” Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd. CEO Chin Yau Seng said “we are glad we have reached an agreement on this transaction and hope Mandala can operate again soon.” Sandiaga Uno, one of the founders of the Saratoga Group, said “we are very glad about the finalization of the transaction documents and hope Mandala can operate again soon.” Dono Nurjadin, president director of Mandala Airlines, said he was also relieved that the long process to arrive at the deals had been completed. After the change in Mandala`s ownership, the new airline company would follow a Tiger Airways business model, namely offering low cost fares on routes to international and domestic destinations that can be reached in five hours` time. Mandala had previously stated it would be using Airbus A320 planes. nies were profitable and only 67 were able to give dividends to the state. “We still have a lot of homework to do because of the 10 SOEs that are continuously losing,” Hatta said. To improve the SOEs` performance, an acceleration program needed to be carried out, whereas the SOEs` overall assets totaled 30% of Indonesian`s gross domestic product (GDP). “I`m sure that our SOE`s assets will reach over Rp300 trillion if they are reevaluated. It is a formidable figure and can be of great benefit if used wisely and managed well,” he said. Indonesia`s capital expenditure has already exceeds the state figure of Rp200 trillion, or greater than government spending in the state budget. In fact, if the state can save two percent, then there will be additional funding valued at Rp20 trillion to build infrastructure. Hatta said that SOEs should have allowed to be free to perform actions such as private companies, and only in that way SOE can be a world-class companies. MAYOR OF LAUENBURG VISIT: SD Darmono, CEO of PT Jababeka, with Andreas Thiede, Mayor of Lauenburg from Germany, during a visit at President Lounge, Menara Batavia. The President Post/Nandi Nanti PT Telkom Seeks Financial Adviser for Buyback Plan PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. (Telkom) will conduct a selection on five companies interested in becoming its financial adviser on its planned buyback of Singapore Telecommunication (SingTel) shares in PT Telkomsel. “The names of the five companies for selection have been received and the next step will be a `beauty contest`, the company`s president director, Rinaldi Firmansyah, said on the sidelines of the signing of a memorandum of understanding with other state-owned enterprises for improving national connectivity here recently. Rinaldi said five companies had been chosen from a field of eight companies and had registered their interest in serving as Telkom`s financial adviser in the buyback. “They are both foreign and local companies. We hope we can appoint the most competent one,” he said. He did not tell the names of the companies but said that the local company that had been confirmed to participate in the selection was PT Bahana Securities while the foreign companies come from the US and Europe. “Later we will select one local and two foreign companies,” he said. Telkom`s plan to buyback its SingTel shares in PT Telkomsel which is PT Telkom`s subsidiary has been supported by the state enterprises ministry. “We are open. Telkom`s idea to control up to 100% of Telkomsel shares came from the management. Certainly we support it,” State Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar said. Rinaldi declined to tell the source of funds for the planned acquisition. “We do not know yet how much it would be as the value would only be known after the financial adviros have been appointed,” he said. “What needs to be settled right now is appointing the financial advisors who would then calculate the value and give input to the management.” He said so far it it has been decided the acquisition would be financed using company`s internal cash money and proceeds from sales of government treasury stock.
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