JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - Indonesia's PT Bank Arta Niaga Kencana (ANK) will be merged into Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) Indonesian unit once a takeover has been completed, the banks said Friday.

Bank Commonwealth has already purchased ANK stock held by private shareholders amounting to 57 percent of the bank.

ANK has assets worth 1.48 trillion rupiah while Bank Commonwealth has assets of 5.49 trillion rupiah.

After the merger, Bank Commonwealth will have 50 branches operating in Java and Bali island.

The banks said there will be no lay-offs after the merger.

 

Garuda Crash in Yogya

All Indonesian airlines including national carrier Garuda are to be banned from the European Union. An updated blacklist of unsafe airlines also includes operators from Bulgaria, Moldova, Angola and Ukraine. Indonesian carriers do not currently fly to Europe, but the ban serves as a warning to consumers not to use these airlines elsewhere in the world. "European citizens should avoid flying with these carriers," an EU official said. "They are really unsafe." The last version of the blacklist, published in March, featured 91 airlines, 74 of them from Africa, and most of the rest from Kyrgyzstan. The new list includes all 51 carriers from Indonesia, eight from Moldova, six from Bulgaria, Angolan carrier TAAG Angola Airlines and Volare Aviation from Ukraine. It will be formally approved on 4 July and published the next day. 

The black list has been updated as predicted and can be found here.  As you can see there are many airlines but the only international carrier is Garuda, and the significant domestic carriers all have 3 letter "airline designations".  The 2nd column with "unknown" is for air operator certificate number - and apparently Indonesia's failure to supply this info is part of the problem.  The weekly Bali Update newsletter reported on this ban and said:

The far-reaching decision to generalize and label all Indonesian carriers as "unsafe" apparently was done by the "Eurocrats" in Brussels at a distance without the aid of a direct audit. Jean Breteche, the EU Ambassador to Jakarta, admitted as much in the Jakarta Post this week, saying that the decision to impose "blacklisting" was done after the Indonesian aviation authorities failed to respond to two letters inviting them to air consultations. This statement suggests that the current aviation warning has more to do with pique than any concrete information on the true status of Indonesian aviation.

On July 9, Al Jazeera reported that this ban will be reviewed - they said:

Experts from the European Union will head to Jakarta to review a ban prohibiting 51 Indonesian airlines from entering European airspace due to safety concerns.
The team is expected to check the safety standards of the affected airlines before considering whether or not to lift the ban which took effect on Friday.
Although none of the affected airlines - including national carrier Garuda - fly to Europe, the ban requires tour agencies to warn customers that Indonesian airlines are unsafe when selling related packages.
Indonesian aviation officials were unhappy over the decision, saying the ban was ill-informed as it failed to take into account recent improvements to airline safety.
The EU "blacklist" is updated every three months based on reports from the US Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), as well as reports from individual countries.

John Howard

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) is warning of imminent terrorist attacks in Indonesia, possibly in Bali.

Australians are being urged not to travel there with intelligence reports suggesting terrorists are planning attacks against western targets.

The Department warns the attacks could happen at any time and Australians in Indonesia should avoid known targets.

"There have been recent arrests of high level terrorist operatives in Indonesia, but we assess terrorists are continuing active planning of attacks," the Department said in a statement.

"These attacks could take place at any time and could be imminent. Australians should consider this information carefully when considering travel to Indonesia.

DFAT maintains web pages that show their assesment of current risk levels associated with travel to different countries.  For a long time now Inodnesia has been rated at the 4th level (reconsider your need to travel) on a scale of 5.  Now they mention intelligence reports suggesting terrorists are planning attacks but they have not changed this rating.  So are the intelligence reports the same old ones they used when setting level 4 some time ago, or what?. 

With an election looming late this year, you can't help but wonder if there is a political dimension here.

Rooster

The old rooster was teaching the newbie one day telling him "You need to chase me around the farmyard 4 times. If you can catch me in that time, you get to take over the flock with no complaints from me.  However. if I get away I get to use you as a hen.  One, Two, Three, GO.   And off he ran.   The farmer, who sitting on the front porch witnessed the first run, then the second run, then got up and got his shotgun.  On the third run, he blasted the young rooster.  Under his breath he said "That was the 4th gay rooster this month!!!!"