14 Reports: (Courtesy Joyo News Service)

- Telkom: IDR1.6T To Cover Retirement Prog, Forex Losses-Report

- Indonesia's Matahari Closes Down Half Its Supermarket Outlets

- United Malacca Aborts Oil Palm JV In Indonesia - Report

- Indonesia's Bakrie Plantation Posts 23% Decline In Sales

- Indonesia's Bakrie Telecom Sets Up Disaster Handling Teams

- Bank Mandiri Rejects Credit Offers Of $500 Mln

- Indonesia's Bank UOB Buana Set To Continue Credit Expansion

- Indonesia's Bank Kesawan Needs Capital Injection Of $12.5 Mln

- FIF Indonesia To Issue Bonds Valued At $45 Mln Next Week

- Slowdown Predicted In Indonesia's Sharia Financing This Year

- Indonesia's Modernland Set To Chalk Up 44% Increase In Sales

- Itochu Expected To Take Part In Jakarta MRT Tender

- Indonesia's Semen Tonasa To Build Fifth Cement Plant

- Indonesian Furniture, Handicraft Ass'n Aims For $2.1 Bln Sales

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Telkom: IDR1.6T To Cover Retirement Prog, Forex Losses-Report

JAKARTA, March 10 (Dow Jones)--PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia
(TLKM.JK) is planning to spend IDR1.6 trillion to help cover
foreign exchange losses and finance the early retirement program
for its 1,000 employees, Bisnis Indonesia reported, quoting an
executive.

"The early voluntary retirement program which will be started
from this year will cost up to IDR800 billion, while foreign
exchange losses will also be around IDR800 billion," said
Telkom's President Director Rinaldi Firmansyah, according to the
report.

Firmansyah said that both expenses will be booked in 2008.

Telkom, Indonesia's largest telecommunication company by assets
and subscribers, is expected to announce its 2008 earnings later
this month.

The company will also hold road shows in London and New York
next week to brief its investors on its business plan for 2009.

"We will depart on March 14 or March 15," Firmansyah said.

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Indonesia's Matahari Closes Down Half Its Supermarket Outlets

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - Indonesian publicly traded retail
company PT Matahari Putra Prima (JSX:MPPA) has shut down more
than half of its supermarket outlets due to failure in market
competition.

Supermarkets are in a difficult situation as they are dwarfed at
higher level by hypermarkets and could not compete in lower
level facing mushrooming mini markets which are closer in
location to consumers, a company executive said .

Corporate Communications Directors Danny Kojongian said in the
past four years the number of the company's supermarket outlets
has been reduced from 60 to 27 units .

Supermarkets have lost a large part of their customers to fast
growing hypermarkets and mini markets Matahari itself plans to
increase the number of its hypermarket outlets by opening six to
seven new outlets this year, Kojongian told the newspaper Bisnis
Indonesia.

It also plans to open four to five new department stores this
year, he said, adding the company will focus more on department
stires and hypermarkets.

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United Malacca Aborts Oil Palm JV In Indonesia - Report

KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Dow Jones)--Malaysian plantation firm
United Malacca Bhd. (2593.KU) has aborted its maiden oil palm
plantation joint venture in Indonesia after a year of
negotiations, the Star reported.

Quoting United Malacca's Chief Executive Leong Tat Thim, the
daily said the company decided not to venture into Indonesia
after "encountering many difficulties with its Indonesian
partners."

United Malacca had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding
to develop a 20,000-hectare oil palm plantation in East
Kalimantan.

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Indonesia's Bakrie Plantation Posts 23% Decline In Sales

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - Sales recorded by publicly traded
plantation company PT Bakrie Sumatera Plantations (JSX:UNSP)
fell 23 per cent to Rp144.4 billion (US$13 million) in January,
2009 from Rp187.5 billion in the same period last year.

Company investor relations office Dian Indah Kencana attributed
the decline to falling prices of crude palm oil (CPO) and rubber.

The price of CPO fell 36 per cent from Rp7.8 million per ton to
Rp5 million per ton and the price of rubber shrank 32 per cent
to Rp16.4 million per tons, Dian said.

CPO accounted for 75.74 per cent of the company's income and
rubber accounted for 24.26 per cent in January, the newspaper
Investor Daily said. .

Its sales of CPO fell 18 per cent to Rp109.4 billion from
Rp133.1 billion despite a 36 per cent increase in volume to
19,600 tons, and its sales of rubber shrank 36 per cent to Rp35
billion , Dian said.

--------------------------------

Indonesia's Bakrie Telecom Sets Up Disaster Handling Teams

JAMBI, March 10 Asia pulse - PT Bakrie Telecom Tbk (JSX:BTEL), a
cell phone operator in Indonesia, will set up disaster teams in
its operational region.

The team members comprise the company's employees cooperating in
disaster handling with the SAR Team and Indonesian Red Cross,
spokesperson for the company Nadia Diposandjoyo said here on
Sunday.

The team has proven its effectiveness when dealing with River
Solo floods recently. The team had also sent relief assistance
to the flood victims.

Bakrie Telecom had set up teams in its operational areas
including Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, North
Sumatra, West Sumatra, while Jami will follow.

--------------------------------

Bank Mandiri Rejects Credit Offers Of $500 Mln

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's largest bank PT Bank
Mandiri (JSX:BMRI) said it has rejected a credit offer of US$500
million from two international financial agencies.

The state bank does not need additional supply of foreign
exchange as it still has excess liquidity in foreign exchange, a
bank director said.

Treasury and International Affairs Director Thomas Arifin said
currently the bank has US$4.2 billion in foreign exchange
collected as third party funds.

The amount is more than enough to meet the bank's requirement of
only US$3.2 billion to finance credits in foreign exchange this
year, Thomas was quoted as saying by the newspaper Bisnis
Indonesia.

---------------------------------

Indonesia's Bank UOB Buana Set To Continue Credit Expansion

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - PT Bank UOB Buana (JSX:BBIA)is
set to chalk up a 15 per cent increase in credit to Rp17
trillion (US$1.5 billion) this year from Rp14.8 trillion last
year.

This year the publicly listed bank would not be as aggressive in
credit expansion as last year when its credits grew 20 per cent,
its director Syafrullah Hadi Saleh said.

Syafrullah said the bank will focus more on credit expansion in
the small and medium business sector which currently accounts
for 75 per cent of its credit disbursement.

The bank, which is controlled by United Overseas Bank Singapore,
will not provide large consumer credits this year as the credit
risk in non productive sector is higher under the present
condition, he said.

With third party funds totaling Rp16.8 trillion, the bank has
enough liquidity to support its expansion plan, he was quoted as
saying by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.

---------------------------------

Indonesia's Bank Kesawan Needs Capital Injection Of $12.5 Mln

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - The management of PT Bank Kesawan
(JSX:BKSW) said the publicly listed bank needs capital injection
of at least Rp150 billion (US$12.5 million) to push up its
capital adequacy ratio to a safer level from current 10 per cent.

The bank president Dinno Indiano said the bank will need the
capital injection not later than in the middle of this year to
allow it to continue with its credit expansion plan.

Without additional capital the bank could not carry on with
expansion plan, Dinno told the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.

Earlier Al Baraka Banking Group planned to acquire the bank,
which had assets valued at Rp2,164 billion in 2008, but the
Bahrain investor shelved the plan due to the global financial
crisis.

A Bank Indonesia official said Al Baraka Banking Group decided
to shelve plans for investment in Indonesia until the third
quarter of 2009.

Al Baraka has suffered heavily in its investment in the United
States and European banks as a result of the global financial
crisis.

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FIF Indonesia To Issue Bonds Valued At $45 Mln Next Week

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - PT Federal International Finance
(FIF) Indonesia is preparing to issue bonds valued at Rp500
billion (US$45 million) next week or a big cut from Rp1.5
trillion previously planned.

Soehartono, the president of the financing company said the
company decided to cut the amount as the market condition is not
stable.

The company would issue more bonds if the condition improve ,
Soehartono said, adding, investors may turn to bonds after the
recent cut in the benchmark interest rate of Bank Indonesia to
7.75 per cent .

FIF has named a number of underwriters including Kresna
Sekuritas, Trimegah Securities and Indo Premier , the newspaper
Investor Daily said.

--------------------------------

Slowdown Predicted In Indonesia's Sharia Financing This Year

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - Financing by sharia banks in
Indonesia this year is predicted to slowdown after a strong
growth of 37 per cent last year, on global financial crisis.

Sharia banking industry, which has proved to be more resistant
to financial crisis could not escape the impact of the present
global economic turmoil, deputy governor of Bank Indonesia Siti
Ch Fadjrijah said.

Siti said sharia financing in January, 2009 grew only slightly
to Rp38.2 trillion (US$3.4 billion) from Rp38.19 trillion in
December, 2008.

Meanwhile, the non performing financing ratio of sharia banks
rose from 3.95 per cent to 4.39 per cent or Rp1.67 trillion, she
said.

Earlier the central bank predicted that the assets of sharia
banks would rise 91 per cent year-on-year to Rp85 trillion in
2009, the newspaper Investor Daily said.

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Indonesia's Modernland Set To Chalk Up 44% Increase In Sales

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - Publicly traded Indonesian real
estate company PT Modernland Realty (JSX:MDLN) is set to see a
strong growth of 44 per cent in sales to Rp360 billion (US$32.7
million) this year from Rp250 billion last year. .

With the increase in sales, the company hopes to chalk up a 90
per cent increase in net profit to Rp40 billion, company
President Edwin Lim said.

Edwin said his company is building four property projects this
year in Jakarta including Kota Modern, Modern Hill, Modern Park
and Jakarta Garden City.

He said the global financial crisis had no significant effect on
the sales of the company, adding on the contrary sales are
expected to increase with the big cut in interest rate.

------------------------------

Itochu Expected To Take Part In Jakarta MRT Tender

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - Japan's Itochu Corporation has
indicated interest in Jakarta's mass rapid transit (MRT)
project, PT MRT Jakarta, which owns the Rp8 trillion (US$727
million) project, said.

Operational Director of PT MRT Eddi Santosa said Itochu is
expected to take part in a tender for the construction of the
MRT project by the end of 2009.

Itochu also has a project to build 183.5 kilometer railroad to
cost around US$710 million in Central Kalimantan .

Two other Japanese giants Marubeni and Sumitomo have also
indicated strong interest in building the MRT project to be
financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Meanwhile, Santosa said, JICA is expected to sign a second loan
of US$450 million for the project later this month.

JICA already disbursed 758 million yen (US$7.6 million) to
finance preparation of the project, the newspaper Bisnis
Indonesia said.

------------------------------

Indonesia's Semen Tonasa To Build Fifth Cement Plant

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia Pulse - Indonesian cement maker PT Semen
Tonasa will start construction of its fifth production facility
with an annual production capacity of 2.3 million tons in April,
2009.

The subsidiary of state cement producer PT Semen Gresik
(JSX:SMGR) now has four factories, but the first unit built in
1968 is no longer in operation.

The other three plants have a total annual capacity of 3.48
million tons, director general of downstream chemical industry
Tony Tanduk said.

The cost of building the fifth unit is estimated to be around
Rp2.87 trillion (US$260 million) if using machines and equipment
from China, but the cost will be higher at around Rp3.45
trillion with machines and equipment from Europe, Tanduk said.

Meanwhile, another subsidiary of Semen Gresik PT Semen Padang in
West Sumatra plans to build its sixth production facility with
an annual production capacity of 2.3 million tons.

Construction of the new plant which will increase the production
capacity of Semen Padang to 7.54 million tons, is expected to
start toward the end of this year, Tony said.

The new factories planned by the two state companies are
expected to be operational in 2011, the newspaper Investor Daily
said.

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Indonesian Furniture, Handicraft Ass'n Aims For $2.1 Bln Sales

JAKARTA, March 10 Asia pulse - The Indonesian Furniture and
Handicraft Industry Association (Asmindo) has set itself a sales
target of US$2.1 billion in 2009.

"Our sales target this year is US$2.1 billion. We are trying to
maintain our optimism. If our sales could increase by six per
cent to US$2.1 billion from the 2008 figure, we would already be
satisfied," Asmindo chairman Ambar Tjahyono said over the
weekend.

He said domestic handicraft and furniture production grew 6.5
per cent in 2008 with sales proceeds reaching US$2.7 billion.

Of the total, the domestic market accounted for 800 million
dollars, he added.

Competition in the market, even at home, was increasing in
intensity owing to the fact that furniture with leather raw
materials had also entered the country from Thailand since the
last two years, he said.

Therefore, he said, the US$2.1 billion target could be be more
easily achieved if the government provided concrete support such
as promotions and tax holidays for local furniture products.

He cited as an example the obligation to pay tax for the sending
of an export sample. "How could we be successful in carrying out
promotions if even our samples are taxed," he said.

He said the government's stimulus for the real sector was not
aimed at the right target. "It is like taking a drug for stomach
ache to cure a headache." In the meantime, deputy chairman of
Asimindo, Rudy T Luwia, said the government's support for the
promotion of furniture products was not yet maximal.

He cited as an example the big support of Singapore and Belgium
for the promotions of their furniture products.

"The Singapore government freed from rent costs its furniture
companies taking part in the Singapore Fair this year. Belgium
also adopts a special scheme for its companies willing to carry
out export promotions," he added.

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