WTO confrrmed U.S ban on Kretek Cigarettes

Every year, Indonesia exports Kretek/Clove flavored cigarettes to other countries at a value of US$ 500 million, a fifth of which go to the United States. 

On June 2009, the U.S government issued a Tobacco regulation that ban Indonesian Kretek/Clove flavored cigarettes from entering the U.S market.

This regulation was designed to prevent teenagers in the U.S from starting to smoke cigarettes..

The Indonesian government claimed that this regulation was discriminatory because it only outlawed Kretek/ Clove flavored cigarettes but not Menthol flavored cigarettes. Due to which fact, on April 2010 the Indonesian  government filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Bloomberg reported that on 2 September, WTO has rejected Indonesia's complaint saying that there is extensive scientific evidence supporting that the ban of Kretek/Clove and other flavored cigarettes could reduce youth smoking.

However, WTO said that the ban is inconsistent with the national treatment obligation because it accords Kretek/Clove-flavored-cigarettes less favorable treatment than that accorded to Menthol-flavored cigarettes.

Considering that the Kretek cigarette industry employs around six million labors in Indonesia, I hope that the above WTO's decision would not be followed by other countries. 

Must we pay attention to Wikileaks ?

On Friday morning Australian newspapers Sydney Morning Herald and The Age wrote on their front page  about power abuse by Indonesian President SBY and corruption-bribery practiced by several top officials including former Vice President Jusuf Kalla and current Chairman of the People's Consultative Council (MPR) Taufik Kiemas.

According to The Jakarta Post, both newspapers mentioned that their source of information were diplomatic cables of the US Embassy in Jakarta that have been leaked by the controversial website Wikileaks.

The government was very angry at the above news, and Foreign Minister Mary Natalegawa has conveyed a strong protest to the US government via its Ambassador to Jakarta Scott Marciel

In a press statement published on the Embassy's website last Friday, the US government condemns the said disclosure of diplomatic cable on SBY.

Further, The Age has issued SBY's denial on the corruption claim.

In my opinion, the government's said reaction was exaggerating, in the sense that they are protesting news which were published based on unclear source of information i.e the Wikileaks.

Because Wikileaks was operated by people who have no connection with the US government and their embassies around the world. So if Wikileaks claimed that they have access to diplomatic issued by US Embassies, the only way they can do that is by stealing them either from the embassy concerned or from the receiver of those cables at the State Department in Washington DC, USA.   

Moreover, the US government has never confirmed the validity of the materials issued by Wikileaks.
In an interview with TV-One, Foreign Minister Marty Natelegawa quoted the US Ambassador in Jakarta as saying that the material were only hearsay, gossip by some people at their Embassy.

Is Obama too Scared to come to Indonesia?

Earlier today, TV stations reported that U.S President Barack Obama has once again postponed his trip to Indonesia which has been scheduled on 14 June.

Please find below a news report about this matter that I have quoted from Kompas .

Considering that no clear reason has been mentioned for this postponement, I wonder whether Obama is afraid to come because of the current wide spread protests in Indonesia against the Israeli deadly attack on a humanitarian ship.heading for the Gaza Strip - Palestine.  

Is Obama Too Afraid of being in Indonesia This Month?

Jumat, 4 Juni 2010 | 16:49 WIB

 

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - News on the postponement of US President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Indonesia from June to November 2010 was no surprise to some Indonesians. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told Reuters in an email that Obama postponed the trip again in order to deal with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and other important issues.

    
In Jakarta, presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal confirmed  the postponement, saying "President Yudhoyono and his US counterpart agreed to set right date for the visit either in November or before that."  Patti Djalal said , adding the two presidents spoke about it on the phone  on Friday morning.
      
It was the second time in a little more than two months that Obama canceled a trip to Indonesia and Australia. He previously was due to have come to Jakarta in March but later decided  to stay at home to give a final push to his healthcare overhaul plan in Congress. He  later rescheduled his trip for mid-June but he had again informed Jakarta he could not make it.
    
Although it was not mentioned by the White House spokesman, some political observers had earlier predicted that besides the oil spill disaster, the shootings by Israeli military of  humanitarian activists aboard the Freedom Flotialla’s MV Mari Marmara last May 31, would  add pressure on Obama if he continued his plan to visit  Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country, this month,
    
Since the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound humanitarian aid-carrying ship where 19 activists were killed and tens of others were wounded including two Indonesians,  demonstrations have been staged in Indonesia’s capital city  and regions daily, to condemn  not only the Zionist country, but also Uncle Sam as the Jewish state’s closest ally and protector, for doing nothing to stop the violence.  One day after the Israeli assault  in international waters, some 1,000 Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) members staged a rally outside the US embassy in Jakarta, on June 1, to condemn Israel’s attack and reject US President Barack Obama’s planned visit to Indonesia. 

The protesters unfurled a number of banners which among others read "Wipe Out Israel," "Reject Obama," and "Send Troops to Palestine,".  HTI orator Salman Al Farisi said Obama was Israel’s ally and therefore, he did not deserve to visit Indonesia, a staunch supporter of Palestinians’ struggle for an independent state.  He also called on the Indonesian government not to be cheated by  various policies issued by the superpower country.
   
In a rally held in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Friday, the local HTI members also voiced their objection to the visit of President Obama for letting human right violations by Israel go unpunished. House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I member I Al Muzzammil Yusuf Muzamil who is also coordinator of the Indonesian Parliamentary Caucus for Palestine said in Jakarta, last Monday that  the Freedom Flotilla’s incident was also a test case for US President Barack Obama.

Obama’s efforts to reach out to the Islamic world could be  considered to have failed if his government did not defend humanitarian and human rights after Israel’s arrogant attack. Another legislator believed that the Indonesian government should urge the United Nations to lobby the United States to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza.


"The United Nations must lobby the United States to end the blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt for dispatching of humanitarian aid such as food and medicines," Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Body (BKSAP) of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Hidayat Nur Wahid said in a rally participated in by thousands of members of the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) in Jakarta, Thursday (June 3).

If the UN fails to lobby the US, the international body should be dissolved, he said. Indeed, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had earlier intended  to take up the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla early at his meeting with President Barack Obama in Jakarta later this month.

Presidential spokesman for international affairs Dino Patti Djalal said at a press conference at the presidential office in Jakarta on Tuesday (June 1), President Yudhoyono wished to raise the issue in the meeting with  US President Obama because he was very concerned about  the prospects of the peace process in the Middle East which was now  being revived through the proximity talks involving western countries.
 
"The problem will be one of the issues to be discussed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Obama," he said.
 
Dino said the Israeli attack on the convoy of ships bringing humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza with activists from 50 countries on board would be a factual issue for discussion with President Obama because in a meeting with Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas in Jakarta last week President Yudhoyono had discussed the US position in the peace process to be undertaken.

Planned talks in Indonesia between Yudhoyono and Obama have to wait until November (God Willing!),  but for sure, for those opposing  the occupation of Palestine by the Zionists, Obama, as the head of state of the United States of America, which has been giving strong financial and political supports to Israel, is unavoidably  also responsible for human rights violations committed by the Jewish country.

Complaint against Indonesian Paper

The United States of America have been very worried about the export of Wood and Wood Products from Indonesia and China.

This can be seen from the fact that the U.S government has recently issued the Lancey Act which require that exports of the said goods should be based on legal trading.

At almost the same time, three U.S Paper companies and a workers union submitted petitions to the U.S. Department of Commerce & International Trade Commission (ITC), claiming that Coated Paper imported from Indonesia & China have been exported to the country at abnormal low prices. They said that such sales has eliminated thousands of American jobs and are hurting American producers. So, they called for Anti-Dumping and Anti-Subsidy duties against Chinese and Indonesian coated paper.

The companies need to prove to the U.S Dept. of Commerce that Indonesian & Chinese governments provided subsidies to coated-paper producers, and they were sold in the U.S. at prices below the home-market price or the cost of production. They also need to show the ITC that the paper imports caused material injury to the U.S. market or threaten to.

For detailed media reports on the above, please click here and here.

It is very sad to know that Indonesia is being accused for selling Paper products at very low prices, considering that Indonesia has sacrificed its Forrest Trees to be cut down & sold as raw materials for those products.

Photo: Courtesy of Kabar Indonesia.

Export of Woods

For many years the media reported about experts' allegations that forest trees in Indonesia have been cut and sold illegally as logs to China and Malaysia, which then export them as finished wood products to the U.S.A, Japan, and E.U countries.

Due to this fact, the U.S has imposed the Lacey Act which stipulates that export products based on Wood from third countries now require proper certification.

This new regulation have received positive reactions from Wood and Wood Products exporting countries. Indonesia has introduced a new system of certifying forest management and wood products, and China agreed to cooperate with Indonesia to ensure that legal wood trading between them comply with rules on certification of origin under the US Lacey Act.

For details on the above media reports, please click here and here.

Considering the above, I felt happy that the U.S has issued a regulation which stipulates that trading of woods and wood products should be carried out legally, thereby forcing law enforcement agencies in Indonesia to make sure that illegal forest tree cutting and trading are banned.

Photo: Courtesy of Kabar Indonesia.