Two Son's -Two Events- Two Proud Parents

The past seven days have truly been a busy and wonderful time around the Bellefontaine household.

First our youngest son Darius was very fortunate to extend his birthday from its midweek April 19 official date when we had dinner and cake with our family and staff.

The party continued on to Saturday inviting his friends and an ever ending list of relatives and friends to our home .

Even the following day the party continued when friends who had stayed the night and relatives could not make it the prior day showed up to share this once-in-a-lifetime double digit birthday.

 

Can't help but wonder whether Darius is daydreaming here at the end of the day wondering how hebcan ever go back to normal after a week of celebrating.

 
Then the emphasis shifted towards our second son Xander was almost 14.

He was invited to participate in the Gandhi school,  G.M.I.S. production of a famous classic "Sleepy Hollow".

 Throughout the week he spent many late nights rehearsing the play.

Finally the big night came Saturday night and frankly I was pretty impressed with the overall production. Congratulations to all the teaching staff who made it happen.

Having come from a theatre family myself with my mom winning best costume in Canada one year the set, the props, the customs and even acting was far beyond what I expected from a bunch of students in a short time .

 Our son had two roles, one as a baker who briefly walked on the set. 

Later he played a fiddler and I was very proud of his nonverbal role. Last night last night hello you can read it on my Facebook

 Mom watched intently and obviously proudly as her son who is going up very quickly the last two years took on such a challenging role.

 The Gandhi GMI's school was full of other proud parents who I hope were as I was impressed with the overall production.

 Xander fiddled on for several minutes during a key scene during the play.

 Again I can't believe how fast is grown from a little child is a few years ago to a young man who both mom and I are very proud of.

All in all a very satisfying and rewarding week now time to gear down and study for your and exams have for dad and mom to work hard at their careers to pay for all this .

Donald may receive Nobel Peace Prize and re-election

I think I’m going to be profusely sick. 

I just woke up in Bali to the news that Donald Trump may be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the meeting a few days ago between North and South Korea for the first time. 

Sir Alfred Nobel must be turning in his grave at the thought of such a obnoxious person receiving his prestigious Peace Award.

 Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and for work in peace. 

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 98 times to 131 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2017, 104 individuals and 27 organizations

The fact that Donald Trump from could receive the same prize as some of the most famous laureates of all time such as Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu just makes me want to vomit.

During the same week news came out  that Time magazine  stated that Donald Trump was the 'Worst President Ever'. Time wrote “How Donald Trump has disgraced the highest office in the nation.” 

Also this week according to experts from the American Political Science Association who were asked to rank all U.S. presidents." "Donald Trump is the worst president ever.

"Donald Trump is the worst president ever"

While quickly while scanning the news I read that Donald may in fact be re-elected because there’s no strong Democratic leader to challenge him yet.

If either one of these actions happens it will be one of the biggest mistakes in history.

Donald should not receive a Nobel Peace Prize the only prize he deserves is a “piece of ass prize.

The only thing Trump seems to be pretty good at is lying especially about his womanizing and extramarital affairs.

A Bloomberg news article for example this week has found that he lied about staying overnight in Moscow during the Miss Universe pageant which has generated a acquisition from several of this universe pageant participants that he acted inappropriately. For example he allegedly entered their dressing room unannounced when participants as young as 16 were half clothed. 

"The only prize he deserves is a piece of ass prize" 

All this following a press release that  a "Republican-led House intelligence committee on Friday released a lengthy report concluding it found no evidence that Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign", drawing praise from the president and rebuttals from Democrats.

Of course, a Republican committee is going to find him innocent because if they don’t few Republicans will be re-elected in the fall midterm elections. Newcomers on the Republican plate will have little chance of winning a seat.

I will give Donald credit for one thing he sure knows how to spin anything to his benefit.

Americans often asked why do I care, Canadian living in Bali. My answer is simple because this guy is so erratic that he could start something that ends the world as we know it . He has already cancelled such important agreements such as the Paris Climate Accord, The ban on offshore oil drilling, and even cancelled the ban on shooting innocent elephants.

In my golden years I care about leaving a world that's cleaner, safer and more environmentally friendly than it is now for my children and grandchildren. I'll stick my neck out and publicly denounce such a egotistic, lying womanizer who in my opinion will only make the world worse.

This guy cares about only one person, himself.

He is so insecure that he needs to be in the press every moment .

Now that he's in the most prominent press position in the world he has met his point of incompetence.

Not just another cheesy love story: The offbeat couple behind the all natural cheese brand giving Bali’s dairy industry life

By Juminten Jones Apr. 27, 2018

Getting cheese in Bali isn’t easy. There aren’t many choices and what’s readily available is either processed… well, crap — or mere slivers of the good stuff, made unreasonably expensive thanks to drastic import markups.

The couple behind cheesemaking company Pasti Enak is hell bent on changing that. Odit Hartati, 41, and Chris Hayashi, 46, dropped everything they were doing to study the science of cheesemaking and aging, as well as the business skills needed to get their cheese brand O-Dairy up and running. It now churns out more than 20 cheese varieties.

For them, it was a “natural business decision.” There was an unmet demand for affordable parmesan, cheddar, and other all-natural cheeses — especially from the island’s hungry tourist and expat population. But, Hartati and Hayashi did not go in cheesemaking based on business alone.

Hayashi is the kind of guy who will pack up the car with his wife and toddler, driving from Colorado to Los Angeles, and then on to the Arctic Ocean, “just to check it out.” Hartati is the kind of woman who will chart the course, make it happen, and “go along with his crazy ideas.”

“Within 17 years, we’ve probably been apart five days,” says Hayashi.

He’s Hawaiian and she’s local Balinese. Hartati’s childhood home is just a stone’s throw away from the couple’s cheese-making facility in Klungkung, East Bali. The couple welcomed us into their home, onto their terrace overlooking Mount Agung, to chat cheese and nibble on some of their creations. They also told us that they prefer to keep a low profile, so we’ve only got one photograph of them. From behind.
Cheese: the final frontier

So why cheese?

Over glasses of homemade flower-infused water, Hayashi explains to us that it was the difficulty of cheesemaking that attracted them to it in the first place. The couple had already been in the habit of producing foodstuff from their kitchen, until Hayashi tried his hand at homemade cheese and realized it required a totally different level of knowledge and skill:

“So, it’s kind of like the last frontier for me, as like, the culinary arts of how to do this.”

They started making cheese in 2003 as a hobby, but were quickly frustrated.

“Our cheese was horrible. The taste, the texture. The color, the consistency, everything. We didn’t have the right setup or knowledge. We were just trying to do it from books. This was really before anything was on the internet. The only thing that was good was our camembert and cambozola, but that even made me more confused because I was like how come this works, but the cheddar doesn’t.”

At that time, the couple had a farm in a quiet spot in East Bali some 40 kilometers from Bali’s tourist hub of Kuta. The farm had a rotation of rice, sweet potatoes, and other assorted crops. It was a nice life, but not a particularly challenging one.

For cheeselovers, this is a true wheel of fortune. Photo: Juminten Jones/Coconuts Bali

And so, they sold the farm and went back to university in the United States to enroll in a bachelor’s program in dairy sciences. “We had the choice between doing like one of these really nice ‘come and stay in our chateau in France and learn cheesemaking from an old lady for a few weeks’ things, which we were really tempted to do.

“And then we were like, no, we really need to do this right, so we challenged ourselves and submitted our transcripts and got some credits.”

We asked the couple about the school, but Hayashi refused to reveal any further details. “I prefer not to say which university because it took us a lot of time to figure out which the best one was and we spent some money actually traveling around and seeing other universities so I’d like the people who try to copy us to at least spend that 15 grand to do that too.”
The facility

After finishing up their courses, it took them about another year to put together a full-on operations manual demonstrating their facility’s compliance with international health and hygiene standards. It came out to be about 2,500 pages. Single-spaced.

Then came the day Hayashi and Hartarti had to present this manual to Indonesia’s Food & Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), which is in charge of granting licenses in the country’s dairy industry.

With BPOM, companies must get 100 percent before they can get their final license, but that process usually takes about two years, says Hayashi.

“When BPOM came, Odit was like ‘we’ve gone overboard with this, there’s no way they’re going to need to know all of this stuff.’ And then, they were here for about 11 hours and went through it page by page. When they left, she [the official] was like ‘Thank you!’, because we got a 100 [that same day]. They said that it’s unheard of.”

Setting up a state-of-the-art facility that meets the many government-mandated requirements to obtain Makanan Dalam certification, (needed for domestic companies in larger scale food production) wasn’t a walk in the park, but the couple has pulled it off. Their current facility has been operational since last July.

The couple now has a whole complex complete with comfortable living quarters, a green-roof in the works, office space, and facilities to produce cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. It’s in Klungkung, on a lot of land that Hartati’s father bought when she was in high school. You can see her old town from the Pasti Enak complex’s terrace.

The couple essentially ended up building the whole complex with their bare hands, originally hiring a series of contractors, only to ultimately dismantle it and rebuild it their way, to get the quality they wanted.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get into the facility to see the actual production up close. The facility is virtually sealed off, closed to the public for an important reason: “Because it’s the dairy industry, you can kill people,” explains Hayashi. He explains that they run a clean room environment that requires people to wear “bunny suits” on the premises. Potential new employees have to undergo strict medical testing before getting hired.
A wheel of cheese is nothing like a ‘piece of cake’

From sourcing the milk to the actual cheese production, cheesemaking is not for the disorganized or impatient. “It’s hardcore. It’s not cooking,” says Hayashi.

Truckloads of fresh milk from Java get pumped into the building. The milk has to come from the next island over: “You can’t have milk cows in Bali. The genetics of the Balinese cow is a specific line and they’re trying to keep the genetics pure, so you’re not allowed to bring milking cows or any other genetic type of cows onto the island. So there are a few people who have them, but yeah, you can’t get cow milk here, legally.”

Finding a stable supply of good, quality milk has taken time, with the couple going through a number of suppliers: 11, to be exact. They had to cut ties with 8 of them. “They try to add water. They try to add melamine. They try to add powdered milk. They try to add everything under the sun. That’s one of the reasons we have to lab test before they are allowed to pump it into the building.”

After milk gets pumped into the building, it gets molded and an initial test is run. From there, Hayashi explains: “We’ll go down there by three in the morning and we’ll pasteurize the milk and cool the milk and make cheese.”

After pasteurizing the milk, they’ll run another test, to make sure they did the job right. Then the process continues: “Generally with making cheese, you take the milk and turn it into its own filter and then you let what’s called the whey drain out of the filter. And that’s cheese.”

“Then the art comes in of how you handle that to turn it into different types of cheese. We age our cheeses for up to two years depending on the variety. You have to flip the cheese and do all kinds of stuff to it to treat it and promote the life that’s growing in it and make sure it doesn’t turn in to some nasty cheese.”

Pasti Enak has their own cheese caves in the facility, because different cheeses require different types of environmental conditions to “do their thing,” says Hayashi.

Before the cheese is sold, each batch gets tested. If it passes, they take a sample, reserve it, and then sell it.

Making cheese goes way beyond following recipes to a T, something which the couple really struggled with in the beginning. “I thought that you just follow a recipe and it’s not that. It’s something else. You really have to know what you’re doing.

“It’s like cooking is dealing with death. You cut the vegetables and then you cook them. You kill the animal and then you cook it. But with natural cheesemaking, you’re taking something that’s not really living and you’re putting bacteria into it and creating life and like a child, you have to take care of it. If you treat it badly, you’ll get a nasty piece of cheese.”

“And then if you treat it right, you will often get great cheeses. But even if you treat all of the cheese the same, every once in awhile, there’ll be a few pieces of cheese that are really really special. You’ll go back in your notes and go how the hell did I do this?

“It’s the exact same as this piece of cheese over here. They should be the same. They came from the same milk. They were made on the same day. They have the same treatment. Except that one is off the scale good and that one is good.

“Before I send the cheese out, almost always if I’m there, I’ll cut a piece off and every once in awhile I’ll find a special one and I’ll put it aside. Put my name on it and I’ll put it in the cave. Don’t touch that stuff, it’s for me and Odit.”
The cheeses

With about 24 cheese varieties at the moment (and more to come in development), Pasti Enak has the range of it all: the stinky crumbly stuff, the fresh creamy stuff, the hard salty stuff, and even the spicy stuff.

Cheddar and haloumi are the best sellers, along with the pungent Matahari (Indonesian for sun), a sake-washed Trappist-style soft cheese that we’d say can be quite polarizing — meaning you kinda gotta be into stinky cheese to enjoy this one. Named for its yellowish color, the Matahari is an experience worth having, especially for the epicure; you will find the inside of the wheel much milder. The sake used during production ferments into vinegar on the rind, so there’s no residual alcohol content and you’re left with nothing but potent flavor.Hello, haloumi. Photo: Juminten Jones/Coconuts BaliHooray for gournay. Photo: Juminten Jones/Coconuts BaliA little slice of paradise. Photo: Juminten Jones/Coconuts Bali

But for Hartati and Hayashi, asking them to name their favorite Pasti Enak cheese is like asking them to name their favorite child — only, choosing their favorite kid is easier, since they only have one: a five-year-old daughter, Tara Odelia.

Instead, Hayashi demonstrates for us that it’s more about choosing and applying the right cheese according to what you’re making.

This is where Hayashi’s background as a cook becomes evident. Moving naturally around his kitchen while continuing to speak to us, in about 30 minutes he whipped up an entire meal: bruschetta with arugula, bell pepper, and grilled haloumi. Chicken pasta in a truffle cream sauce made from a garlic and herb gournay (Pasti Enak does gournay in chili, mushroom & truffle, and Spice Islands, Herbes de Provence, and Mexican varieties). The highlight, though, was his pizza — thick crust, American-style, and drizzled with some of his flaming homemade hot sauce.
The Odelia

On a technical level, Hayashi and Hartati do have one that they cite as being the most proud of: the Swiss cheese, since it’s been the hardest for their team to develop.

“We’re the first to make cheese with holes in Indonesia. It’s really, really difficult,” says Hartati.

“To get the holes and the flavor right took a lot of trial and error. We finally just got a cheese we were happy with in December,” Hayashi tells us.

“To get the air in there and have it make the right shape is the challenge. Instead of being long and cracks in the cheese. The holes are gas put off by a different type of bacteria. The gas affects the flavor of the cheese.”

For their daughter Tara Odelia, identifying her favorite Pasti Enak cheese is easy. The Odelia: a rich, semisoft cheese with a slight sharpness balanced with cold pressed cacao butter rind.

“She could do a blind taste test,” Hayashi jokes.

It was originally called “Bali Cheese”. Then, one day, Hayashi tells us: “We went to sell it and she pointed to like 50 kilos of it and was saying ‘that’s my cheese!’ And we’re packing it because someone ordered it and she [started] to throw a fit. She was four years old [at the time].”

After some negotiation, their daughter finally accepted the following compromise: the cheese would be officially named after her.

As with the cheese’s name, getting their hands on the culture for Odelia Cheese was anything but conventional.

“Odit had to sign a contract with the French government to get the bacteria culture that she needs to make it. But it’s worth it.

“They own the bacteria. No, it’s not common that a government owns a bacteria, but it’s the French. So, cheese. It’s not normal that you have to do something like that to get a bacteria, but it was absolutely worth it.”

Getting the bacteria came with stipulations: “You can just make cheese from it, that’s it. You can’t grow it or anything.”

So, that’s why Odelia is the most expensive, because of the cost of the culture. The couple actually keeps it on reserve since it’s only made in small batches.
The future

The Pasti Enak team continues to develop more cheese varieties. Soon to be released: the Applebert, a triple camembert with an apple-washed rind, making for a soft, creamy cheese with subtle apple notes.

One of the big projects they’re also working on right now is the formulation of their ice cream and frozen yogurt. The expected launch date is later in the year, on Indonesia’s Independence Day, August 17.Chris, Odit, and Tara Odelia in the middle. They have a looming view of Mount Agung on a clear day. Photo: Juminten Jones/Coconuts Bali

And they’ve got plans to expand their client network to even more hotels, restaurants, grocery shops, and other suppliers.

Hayashi’s existing client network is impressive, but he refuses to go on the record with his his customer lists. “It’s not really my right to just give away their secrets. If they want to say they use my cheese, then yes! Sweet! But I try not to name drop. We just let our cheese speak for itself,” he says.

Pasti Enak seems to be entering the market right at a time when there’s a growing appetite for cheese and other dairy products amongst Indonesians. It also helps that their cheese — unlike most natural cheese found in Bali — is affordable, with most 200-gram wheels running somewhere around IDR50k (US$3.60).

“I think it’s more expats and visitors who eat our cheese, but Indonesians like our cheese. The problem is that all natural cheese is expensive. And they really just don’t have the finances usually to buy all natural cheese, so they buy what they can afford,” says Hayashi.

“I used to eat that processed cheese, because that’s what I could get my hands on. But then Chris bought some cheese. I just tried a little bit, after that the flavor got to me and I started to like it. But before I met Chris, I just ate processed cheese, that’s it,” Hartati chimed in.

Pasti Enak’s cheddar is available at Coco Mart, while Frestive in Canggu & Kerobokan, Grand Lucky in Kuta, and Bali Pure in Ubud have limited varieties. The only place that offers the entire range of their cheeses is on Pasti Enak’s online shop here.

The best of Bali

The famous temple of Tanah Lot. Source: Getty Images

TripAdvisor recently released its 2018 Traveller's Choice report, including a list of the world’s Top 25 destinations, based on traveller reviews and ratings of hotels, restaurants, attractions and tour bookings worldwide over a 12-month period.

According to that list, Bali is the fourth-best destination on the entire planet, after only Paris, London and Rome.

The Indonesian island is packed with a daunting array of incredible sights, so we thought we’d help you refine your itinerary with a guide to some of the most compelling things to see and do on Bali.

Uluwatu TempleUluwatu Temple, perched at the edge of a cliff. Source: Getty Images

Located about 30km south of Denpasar, this famous sea temple sits high on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean, as if on guard. It’s one of the six holiest places of worship on Bali which are meant to provide spiritual balance to the island. Sunset here is a must – afterwards, head to Jimbaran Bay for a seafood dinner at one of the many restaurants.

Sekumpul WaterfallsThe scenic Sekumpul Waterfalls. Source: Getty Images

Located in the northern part of the island (about an hour’s drive southeast from Lovina Beach), the Sekumpul Waterfalls are actually a cluster of cascades and one of Bali’s most beautiful natural attractions. However, the picturesque falls are only accessible to the fit and sure-footed as reaching them requires a bit of a jungle trek.

Tegallalang Rice TerracesLush rice terraces near Ubud. Source: Getty Images

One of the most iconic photos you can take in Bali is of these verdant rice fields – layered terraces that line the hills just outside of the famous inland town of Ubud. The emerald-green fields are worked by local rice farmers who use an ancient irrigation system called subak that’s apparently been passed down from the eighth century.

Besakih Temple

Besakih Temple, the holiest Hindu temple on Bali. Source: Getty Images

Known as the ‘Mother Temple’ of the island, Besakih Temple has sat on the southwestern slopes of Mount Agung for more than 1,000 years. It’s the most important, the largest and holiest Hindu temple in Bali. Built on six levels, around 1,000 metres up the slope of the mountain, the temple is surrounded by breathtaking scenery.


Tirta Gangga Water PalaceThe water gardens of Tirta Gangga. Source: Getty Images

Tirta Gangga literally means ‘water of the Ganges’ – the holy river that’s one of the most sacred places in Hinduism. Formerly a royal palace, the gardens feature myriad reflecting and swimming pools, water-spouting stone sculptures of mythical creatures and a lotus fountain with 11 tiers. Known as the fountain of youth in Bali, it’s said that if you bathe in these waters on a full moon, you’ll be blessed with lasting youth and your illnesses will be healed.
Mount Batur

Mount Batur. Source: Getty Images

Mount Batur (known locally as Gunung Batur) is an active volcano located in north-eastern Bali. A sunrise trek is a popular hike for fit and adventurous tourists (it stands at 1,717 metres high). Reach the summit of the ancient volcano and you can watch the sun come up over the sea – and then look across to another volcano, Gunung Agung, the most sacred mountain and highest point on the island.

Tanah Lot Temple

To the Balinese, Pura Tanah Lot [main photo] is one of the most important and sacred sea temples. Located in the sea about 300 metres from shore, it can only be reached at low tide – but non-Balinese visitors aren’t allowed inside anyway. Best to watch it from the mainland. It's the most visited and photographed temple in Bali, but you’ll have to get here early to nab a spot before hordes of tourist descend for the famous sunsets.

The Empire State Moves Against Bitcoin

Dear Reader,

Bitcoin got hammered this time last week after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced an investigation into some of the major cryptocurrency exchanges.

I’ve been warning about a coming government crackdown on bitcoin for several months, and now we’re seeing it happening around the world.

From China to Japan to South Korea and in the U.S., the regulators are closing in on bitcoin. And all those who thought their bitcoin was invisible to the IRS are getting a rude awakening these days.

Bitcoin was the classic bubble. Market bubbles are nothing new. In the 17th and 18th centuries we had the Dutch tulip bubble, the French Mississippi bubble and the U.K.’s South Sea bubble.

The 19th century saw bubbles in canal building (1830s), gold (1869) and railroads (1890s). In the 20th and 21st centuries we have seen bubbles in Florida real estate (mid-1920s), stocks (late 1920s), dot-coms (2000) and mortgages (2007).

All of these episodes of investment mania crashed, causing enormous losses for investors. As always, some investors got in early and got out before the crash and walked away with their winnings. But most did not.

Analysts should remind themselves that those bubble winnings of the lucky few represent not wealth creation or rewards for hard work, but a simple wealth transfer from a mass of latecomer losers to a lucky few winners.

That’s hardly a desirable model for finance in particular or society as a whole, not least because the end result destroys confidence in markets and retards normal financial functions for a full generation.


The latest bubble, of course, is bitcoin. Last December as bitcoin was making its way higher from $8,000, I said that bitcoin might go to $20,000 (it did), but that it would surely come crashing down sooner rather than later.
I based this forecast on a Nasdaq chart showing the dot-com bubble of 1996–2000. The hyperbolic rise in the price of bitcoin and dot-com stocks was a close fit, which made the subsequent crash easy to see coming.

Now that bitcoin has crashed more about 70% based on recent lows, the resemblance to the Nasdaq dot-com episode is even more dramatic.

The biggest difference is that the bitcoin rise and fall happened 15 times faster than the Nasdaq collapse. A projection of bitcoin at $2,000 is easily justified.

My own projection is much lower, but either way economic historians will look back on the bitcoin episode as the greatest bubble since the Dutch tulip bubble, maybe greater.

At least with the tulip bubble, the last investors got to keep the tulips. With bitcoin, investors will end up with nothing.

Goldman briefly flirted with cryptocurrencies but eventually came around to the view that cryptos like bitcoin suffer from too many problems.

All of the cryptocurrencies that rely on clunky “proof of work” to validate their blockchains, such as bitcoin, are heading for the scrap heap. They are too slow, too cumbersome and too expensive to compete with Visa, Mastercard and PayPal in the payments space.

The only use case for bitcoin is to support criminal transactions, and even criminals have moved to some other cryptos because they have better security and privacy features. Bitcoin also suffers from slow processing times and other inefficiencies.

Goldman’s assessment is mostly right. However, some coins will survive. And as I’ve argued before, blockchain technology has a bright future.

Goldman also admits that blockchain technology has a future, but caution is indicated because processing speeds are still not as fast as existing systems. The bottom line is don’t invest in cryptocoins but invest in blockchain technology instead.

Best wishes,

Indonesia's Bali wins 3 awards in China's global tourism forum

Source: Xinhua 2018-04-24 22:49:11

JAKARTA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Bali has won 3 awards in the recently-held Global Destination Marketing Summit and World Culture and Tourism Forum in China's Xian, a statement released by the Indonesian Tourism Ministry said here on Tuesday.

The awards were obtained in categories of Top 10 Overseas Destination, Top 10 Luxury Travel Destination and Top 10 Honeymoon Destination for Chinese Tourists throughout 2017.

The event was co-organized by the Chinese government and C-Trip, China's prominent travel agent, the statement said.

Assistant Deputy Minister for Greater China Marketing Development Vincensius Jemadu said the assessment to deliver the awards for each category was based on the search, booking and comment volumes on the internet and votes of 300 million global members of C-Trip.

"This year we have picked China as the most ultimate tourism market due to its huge aspects of size, sustainability and spending," Deputy Tourism Minister for International Marketing I Gde Pitana said.

About 1.9 million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia throughout last year, growing 42.2 percent from a year earlier, with total spending of 1.94 billion U.S. dollars, he said.

Other priority countries included European countries, Australia, Singapore and India, he added.

Praising the awards, Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that the awards have proved Indonesia's capability to compete in the international tourism sector.

"Winning some awards were important to advance national tourism as it would further expand the 3 Cs in our tourism, consisted of Confidence, Credibility and Calibration," the minister said.

Indonesia to introduce halal travel index to bolster Muslim arrivals

By Rohit Kaul
/ Posted on 26 April, 2018 11:36


Indonesia’s Team for Accelerated Development of Halal Tourism – a taskforce under the ministry of tourism – will launch the Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) this year to boost international Muslim tourist arrivals to the country.

Speaking to TTG Asia at ATM 2018, Riyanto Sofyan, chairman of the Accelerated Development of Halal Tourism, said: “This travel index will help us to have a uniform standard in place for the growth of halal tourism. We are aiming to increase adoption of halal certification among more establishments in the country. This initiative will enhance the appeal of Indonesia among the global Muslim travellers.”Muslim tourists in Bali’s Tirta Empul

In line with the benchmarks of the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI), the four main aspects IMTI will consider for assessing Indonesia’s halal tourism development include access, communication, environment and services. GMTI has measured the level of Muslim-friendly travel in 130 countries since 2011.

While the access part will look into more flights from origin countries to reach Indonesia and ease of visa, communication efforts will emphasise on the digital marketing. The environment and services will focus on providing attractions and services that can appeal to this segment of travellers.

Riyanto added: “Presently, Asia is the main source market for Muslim tourist arrivals. Though the Middle East market is not that big, it is a higher value market as compared to Asia.”

He also shared that the task force is also working to ease the process for any industry player that wants to be halal certified.

Last year, 2.7 million international Muslim travellers visited Indonesia, including 300,000 visitors from the Middle East. Indonesia is targeting five million international Muslim travellers by 2019.

For some Indonesian agents though, highlighting the halal readiness of the destination is not a key concern.

“The Middle East market is already aware that Indonesia has standards in place needed for halal tourism, so the focus should be on promoting tourism products and experiences that we can offer to international Muslim tourists,” said Jongki Adiyasa, executive director of Jakarta-based Nusa Ina Leisure.

Hotel key cards, even invalid ones, help hackers break into rooms

Jussi Rosendahl, Attila Cser 

HELSINKI (Reuters) - By getting hold of a widely used hotel key card, an attacker could create a master key to unlock any room in the building without leaving a trace, Finnish security researchers said in a study published on Wednesday, solving a 14-year-old mystery.

While the researchers have fixed the flaw together with Assa Abloy, the world’s largest lock manufacturer which owns the system in question, the case serves as a wake-up call for the lodging industry to a problem that went undetected for years.

Tomi Tuominen, 45, and Timo Hirvonen, 32, security consultants for Finnish data security company F-Secure, say they discovered the vulnerability about a year ago, and reported it to Assa.

“We found out that by using any key card to a hotel ... you can create a master key that can enter any room in the hotel. It doesn’t even have to be a valid card, it can be an expired one,” Hirvonen said in an interview.


The researchers helped Assa fix the software for an update made available to hotel chains in February. Assa said some hotels have updated it but that it would take a couple more weeks to fully resolve the issue.

“I highly encourage the hotels to install those software fixes,” Hirvonen said. “But I think there is no immediate threat, since being able to develop this attack is going to take some time.”

Any fresh security risk remains low since the researchers’ tools and method will not be published, Assa noted.

The radio-frequency ID key card system in question, Vision by Vingcard, has been replaced by many hotels with new technology, but its current owner Assa Abloy estimated that the system is still being used in several hundred thousand hotel rooms worldwide.

Tuominen said the breakthrough was to figure out a weakness in how the locks are deployed and installed, together with a seemingly minor technical design flaw.

COLD CASE FILES

Sitting at F-Secure’s glass-and-steel-on-stilts headquarters by the Baltic Sea, the researchers show off a small hardware device which they have made able to write a master key out of the information of any card in the Vingcard system.

Clues date back to 2003 when a laptop disappeared from a computer security expert’s room at a high-class hotel in Berlin.

The thief left no traces in the room or within the electric lock system, hotel personnel said. The stolen laptop, which never turned up, belonged to a guest who had presented his research at a security conference.

F-Secure researcher Timo Hirvonen shows a device that is able to create a master key out of a single hotel key card in Helsinki, Finland April 19, 2018. Picture taken April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Attila Cser

Hearing of the theft at the conference, Tuominen and Hirvonen - then youthful computer guys in hacker-style black hoodies - asked themselves: Could one hack the locking system without leaving a trace?

For years, the two worked off and on to solve the mystery of the plastic cards, which guests often neglect to return. First it was purely a hobby, later a professional mission.

“These issues alone are not a problem, but once you combine those two things, it becomes exploitable,” Hirvonen said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if other electronic lock systems have similar vulnerabilities. You cannot really know how secure the system is unless someone has really tried to break it.”

The researchers say they have no evidence whether the vulnerabities they found have been put to work by criminals.

Slideshow (3 Images)

Assa Abloy stresses that its newer offerings are based on different technologies, including a system that allows hotel guests to open door locks with their smartphones.

“The challenge of the security business is that it is a moving target. What is secure at a point of time, is not 20 years later,” Christophe Sut, an executive at Assa Abloy Hospitality, said in a phone interview.

The researchers asked for no money from Assa for their work or discovery, saying they were only driven by the challenge.

“Some people play football, some people go sailing, some do photography. This is our hobby,” Tuominen said.

Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl and Attila Cser, editing by Eric Auchard and Adrian Croft

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Former Pres.SBY warns of ‘invasion’ of foreign workers into Indonesia

Rachmadea Aisyah and Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Tue, April 24, 2018 | 09:40 am

Former president and Democratic Party patron Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivers his remark during the anniversary celebration of the party in Jakarta on Sept. 9, 2015. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration is having to defend its decision to simplify the licensing process for foreign-worker recruitment, with Jokowi’s predecessor warning of an “invasion” of foreign workers.

Following its issuance in late March, Presidential Regulation No. 20/2018 on the utilization of foreign workers immediately drew strong reactions, particularly from labor unions and Jokowi’s political opponents who have since used the issue to attack the government.

Those who have denounced the regulation include the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI), lawmakers at the House of Representatives and even former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri insisted that the regulation did not remove any existing requirements for foreign workers to work in the country but merely simplified procedures.

“This presidential regulation does not remove any qualitative requirements from the [permit application] process,” Hanif said. “It only simplifies the procedural and bureaucratic steps of the requirements.”

Citing an example, the minister said the presidential regulation cut the licensing process for foreign workers to six days from the previous 20 days with some of the steps now being able to be done online.

Moreover, the validity of the Expatriate Placement Plan (RPTKA) obtained by the applicants will be more flexible, for as long as the work contract applied for instead of being valid for only one year as at present.

Hanif also gave an assurance that in addition to requiring foreign workers to pay extra fees, the regulation also limited foreign workers to managerial or higher positions, meaning that they would not take on blue-collar jobs, for which there is already an oversupply of low-skilled workers.

However, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has questioned the rationale behind the issuance of the regulation. In his speech before hundreds of Cilegon residents in West Java, one of the country’s biggest industrial cities, over the weekend, Yudhoyono said the “invasion” of foreign workers could lead to social unrest.

The regulation has triggered particular controversy in the run up to Labor Day on May 1. The KSPI says it plans to deploy 1 million workers in the annual May Day demonstrations, during which KSPI head Saiq Iqbal said they would demand the President revoke the regulation.

Politician Yusril Ihza Mahendra of the Crescent Star Party (PBB) has said he will assist the KSPI in taking the regulation to the Supreme Court for a judicial review. “I will act as the lawyer for the KSPI in filing for a review of the controversial regulation,” Yusril said in a statement.

Outspoken lawmaker Fahri Hamzah, meanwhile, has called for the formation of a special House committee to launch an inquiry into the regulation. He claimed many Indonesians were disappointed that the government had chosen to bring in foreign workers rather than employing them.

Meanwhile, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Thomas “Tom” Lembong said on Monday an inflow of foreign workers was inevitable as Indonesia was still highly dependent on foreign direct investment.

“The investors are willing to take a chance on billions and even trillions of their money being invested [in Indonesia], so they will certainly send their people to safeguard the use of those funds,” Tom said.

He claimed that the permit applications had long been an obstacle for foreign employers who wanted to bring in their own talent, thus discouraging them from maximizing their investments in the country.

Furthermore, foreign workers make up only a tiny proportion of the overall Indonesian workforce. Data from the BKPM shows, as of 2017, there were only 126,000 foreigners among the total of 121 million workers in the country.

Separately, Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Hariyadi B. Sukamdani welcomed the new presidential regulation on foreign workers, saying it gave a clear timeframe for permit issuance for workers and their employers.

“The regulation benefits employers that need foreign workers, because when the process [of permit issuance] has passed the deadline, the permit is assumed to be approved,” said Hariyadi.

He denied claims the regulation would lead to foreign workers stealing local workers’ jobs, as he believed the trend for foreign workers had declined in recent years. “Employing foreign workers means greater costs, as you have to prepare accommodation, flight tickets and if he or she has family, you also have to pay for them,” he said. “I believe that now a company only can afford to employ [foreigners] for three years.”

Hariyadi gave the example of Chinese workers, who have been subject to many complaints, but who will leave as soon as their projects are finished. “It’s logical that a contractor wants its trusted employees to run the projects,” he said.

Rafa proves he is the King of Clay at Monte Carlo

I will never forget several years ago when I was in Monte Carlo and I wanted to play some tennis.

The famous Le Meridien Hotel Concierge referred me to the club just up the hill, the Monte Carlo tennis club. I said at the time, “isn’t that for members only?” He said our guests can play them.

So, I made an appointment to play with the tennis pro later that afternoon.

Lawrence playing tennis in Bali 2018

Just so happens I had one of those magical days where I couldn’t do anything wrong and in fact at one point had him five Games to four.

I went up to him at that point and said, “you’re pretty good have you ever played professionally?”

He answered, “yes” he was ranked 280 in the world at one point. I asked him what his ranking was in Monte Carlo. He stated, “number one”.

I was shocked, and I said, “if I beat you I will publish it in my very large blog that I beat the number 1 Tennis Player in Monte Carlo”.

Soon thereafter he trounced me 7-5.

Then he said Lawrence wait here for a moment. He returned if a can of tennis balls. I said, “thank you very much”. I wasn’t too excited because they were used balls. Then he said, these balls were played with by the tennis pros like Rafael and Federer just a few months before at the tennis tournament when during the Monte Carlo classic.

These balls are proudly displayed for the rest of my life.

Once again Rafi, “the King of Clay” has beaten all foes on Monte Carlo’s beautiful courts.

It brings back fond memories for me of the time that I almost beat the number 1 Player in Monte Carlo. By the way that doesn’t mean I’m a very good player.

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LA UNDECIMA IN MONTE CARLO FOR RAFA

APRIL 22ND, 2018 TOURNAMENT

When a person is referred to as having “feet of clay”, it means they can’t move. They are sort of stuck and legs feel heavy. Nadal is the one person who is an exception to that term and in fact he keeps making a mockery of it.

For Nadal feet of clay can only be a compliment and he has proven it yet again by winning his eleventh Rolex Monte Carlo Open from twelve finals at the stunning location that is the Monte Carlo Country Club.

Nadal defeated Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2, closing the final with a backhand winner to make this his 31st Masters 1000, a record, and 76th career title and there is no signs whatsoever of things getting ho hum.

“I always repeat the same, my true feeling is these kind of things not going to happen forever, so just try to enjoy and to play with the full passion and with the full energy and concentration, full love for the sport until I can. That’s it,” Nadal said.

“I know the day to say good-bye is closer than 10 years ago. Is something that I am not worried about, but is a real thing. So just enjoying every day and trying to play with the best attitude possible, to keep being happy playing tennis, no? That’s all.

“Yeah, of course is a special day for me. Winning again this title here in Monte-Carlo means a lot, especially because is the first tournament in the year that I finished. Have the victory in a Masters 1000, especially in Monte-Carlo, that for me is, yeah, one of the most important ones in terms of personal feeling and in terms of history of our sport.

“Very excited and very happy for everything.”

Nadal lost just 21 games en route to the title and it’s the seventh time he has won his first title of a season at Monte Carlo.

Nishikori explained that Nadal gave him no openings and despite being up an early break the Japanese star found it tough to dominate points with Rafa all the time. Nishikori also admitted he was “kind of out of the gas” in the second set. But it seemed the bigger issue for him was that his wrist continued to trouble him.

“My wrist is not 100% playing on clay,” Nishikori explained.

“Maybe my body, especially my legs, were very heavy today, playing three sets three days in a row, playing with tough players. It wasn’t easy physically, obviously.”Playing on clay you got to use your wrist a little more. You got to hit more spin. Automatically you got to hit spin. I think it makes little tougher than hard court. That makes my wrist hurt little bit. It’s not just my wrist. It’s my hands, my arm, everywhere. Yeah, I got to take care every week.”

Nadal did his acceptance speech in English, Spanish, French and a touch of Italian quite a change from more than a decade ago when he came to Monte Carlo as a bright eyed teen who could barely speak or understand any English.

“Eleven titles here, it’s unbelievable, so… It’s something difficult to imagine,” he said. “I always say the same: If I did, somebody else can do it. But is very difficult. I really don’t know how these things can happen because is lot of years without making mistakes and without being unlucky on this week. I have been unlucky other weeks, but not this week.

“Yes, very special. The history with this tournament is unique. Yeah, put another trophy in my museum, in my academy, is going to be something great. Eleven is a lot, especially here in Monte-Carlo.”

The doubles title went to Bob and Mike Bryan, they defeated Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 7-6(5), 6-3. It’s their sixth Monte Carlo title, 38th Masters 1000 and 116th career doubles title.