Global firms join rush to bet on Indonesia as next start-up frontier

Yahoo – AFP, Harry PEARL, October 8, 2017

Indonesia has seen a surge of cash into its technology sector over the past two years,
helping support dozens of homegrown start-ups ranging from ride hailing apps to
e-commerce firms. (AFP Photo/GOH Chai Hin)

Jakarta (AFP) - Big-name investors including Expedia and Alibaba are pumping billions of dollars into Indonesian tech start-ups in a bid to capitalise on the country’s burgeoning digital economy and potential as Southeast Asia’s largest online market.

Indonesia has seen a surge of cash into its technology sector over the past two years, helping support dozens of homegrown start-ups ranging from ride hailing apps to e-commerce firms.

And with a population of more than 250 million, a swelling middle class and growing availability of cheap mobile devices, firms from across the world are piling in.

"We believe that Indonesia is poised for a huge leap forward for its digital economy, following China's growth and becoming the leading tech destination in the Southeast Asia region," Adrian Li, a partner in Jakarta-based Convergence Ventures, told AFP.

Last year $631 million in disclosed venture capital was ploughed into the country, according to research firm CB Insights, up from $31 million in 2015.

But that figure has already been shattered in 2017, with $3 billion worth of deals clinched as of September 2017, said Meghna Rao, a tech industry analyst at the firm.

Tokopedia -- a marketplace that allows users to set up online shops and handles transactions -- won $1.1 billion in capital from China’s Alibaba in August.

Motorbike on-demand service Go-Jek secured $1.2 billion from Chinese tech giants JD.com and Tencent Holdings in May, according to data from Crunchbase.

In another sign of confidence, Koison became Indonesia's first e-commerce service to go public in October.

"While it's too soon to say that this investment is indicative of a larger pattern of Indonesian startups pulling in many big ticket investors, it is part of a growing clutch of mega-rounds," Rao said.

Motorbike on-demand service Go-Jek secured $1.2 billion from Chinese tech 

giants JD.com and Tencent Holdings in May, according to data from Crunchbase.

(AFP Photo/GOH Chai Hin)

A golden opportunity

Internet use is growing faster in Southeast Asia than any other region in the world, with 124,000 users coming online every day over the next five years, according to a 2016 report from Google and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.

By 2020 an estimated 480 million people are expected to be connected to the internet, up from 260 million in the region last year.

Indonesia's mobile-first market will comprise more than half of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market by 2025, with an estimated value of $46 billion, the Google report said.

"When you do startup business in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, the cost, effort and time that you spend is almost even. But when you go to Indonesia (growth) is unlimited -- the market is so big," said Willson Cuaca, whose venture capital firm East Ventures specialises in early-stage investments.

As a result, big names like US venture capitalist Sequoia Capital, Japan's Rakuten Ventures and travel company Expedia -- as well as Chinese tech giants -- have all made investments in the country.

Navigating challenges

Indonesian president Joko Widodo has been a vocal supporter of digital innovation, most notably in his plan to create 1,000 local tech start-ups worth $10 billion by 2020. But the sector still faces a number of challenges.

Internet use is growing faster in Southeast Asia than any other region in the world, 

with 124,000 users coming online everyday over the next five years, according to a 

2016 report from Google and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. (AFP Photo/GOH Chai Hin)

A limited pool of engineering talent to draw from, low rates of internet penetration outside densely populated Java, bureaucratic delays, and poor quality infrastructure are all obstacles to growth.

For e-commerce companies, the large number of "unbanked" Indonesians limits the scope of online transactions, and logistics problems make it hard to move goods.

While young entrepreneurs and small businesses are flocking to co-working spaces springing up in major centres, it is a decidedly different scene in most parts of the country.

Farid Naufal Aslam, the chief executive of Aruna, an e-commerce company that links fishermen to buyers, said navigating Indonesia's disparate communities is a challenge too.

"One of the biggest challenges faced is on social approach," Aslam, 23, said. "Indonesia is a unique country with diverse communities and different customs in each region."

Yet many venture capitalists and entrepreneurs remain optimistic.

"The window of opportunity is there," Cuaca said. "As long as you can innovate and solve real problems using technology, you can be successful."

Teenagers Hack Into Tiket.com, Steal Over $300,000 Worth of Airline Tickets

Jakarta Globe, Iman Rahman Cahyadi and Farouk Arnaz, April 05, 2017

A group of teenagers and one 27-year-old hacked into Tiket.com — one of the
 largest online travel agents in Indonesia — and siphoned Rp 4.1 billion ($308,000)
 worth of airline tickets from the website, the National Police said in Jakarta on
Tuesday (04/04). (BeritaSatu Photo).

Jakarta. A group of teenagers and one 27-year-old hacked into Tiket.com — one of the largest online travel agents in Indonesia — and siphoned Rp 4.1 billion ($308,000) worth of airline tickets from the website, the National Police said in Jakarta on Tuesday (04/04).

The alleged perpetrators were identified only by their initials. SH, who is 19-years-old and identified by the police as the mastermind of the crime, admitted that he made around Rp 600 million in proceeds from the act.

His partner, MKU, also 19-years-old, admitted to making Rp 600 million. Two other alleged perpetrators have also been identified: AI, 19 and NTM, 27.

SH admitted to using the loot to buy expensive motorcycles.

"I bought a Ducati motorcycle [...]. None of the money was used for investment [purposes]," SH said at the National Police headquarters on Tuesday.

The police said they may face up to 12 years in prison under Indonesia's Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) revised in 2013.

Global Network, the company behind Tiket.com, reported the case to the police in November when it suspected someone hacked into Tiket.com and stole tickets allotted for the budget airline Citilink Indonesia.

Airlines usually set aside a ticket quota for each travel agent, and are usually paid for the tickets in advance. In this case, the teenagers hacked into the website and accessed Citilink's ticket pool.

"The perpetrators had illegal access to Citilink Indonesia's server, using an account owned by Global Network from Oct. 11 to 27, 2016," Brig. Gen. Fadil Imran, the director of cyber crime at National Police's Criminal Investigation Unit (Bareskrim) said on Tuesday.

The perpetrators then sold the stolen tickets on Facebook, Fadil added.

MKU, AI and NTM were arrested on March, 28 in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. The police nabbed SH in Ciputat, Banten two days later.

The case shed light on security issues on Indonesia's booming online services industry.

"He [SH] is quite sophisticated and the website was also not that hard to hack," Adj. Comr. Idam Wasiadi of the cyber crime unit at Bareskrim said last week.

Idam said SH, who only finished middle school, taught himself using materials available online to hack into various websites.

He honed his skill by hacking into 4,237 foreign and local websites and defacing their homepage. Among his victims are the National Police's website and app-based ride-hailing service Go-Jek, Idam added.

Citilink Indonesia, a low-cost subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia, said that the integrity of its ticket security and customer's information was not compromised by the hackers and the breach was only limited to the online agent, Tiket.com, Ageng W. Leksono, corporate communication manager of Citilink told news outlet detik.com.

UK fans try to push Eagles of Death Metal to No. 1

Yahoo – AFP, 16 Nov 2015

Gunmen attacked an Eagles of Death Metal gig at the Bataclan in Paris, 

gunning down fans and blowing themselves up as police stormed the building

(AFP Photo/Marion Ruszniewski)

London (AFP) - British fans of the US rock band Eagles of Death Metal, which was playing at a Paris concert hall targeted in Friday's attacks, have started a social media campaign to push one of its songs to number 1.

"Get Eagles Of Death Metal to the No.1 this week as a statement of support and peace," read the description of the campaign on Twitter on Monday.

A Facebook page calling on supporters to download the song "Save a Prayer", a cover of Duran Duran's hit single of the same name, had more than 6,500 "likes".

Campaign organisers said that the downloads would be "a nice gesture" and stressed they were not representing the band, who escaped unharmed, and their initiative was not being done for profit.

The song is at number 96 in Britain's charts and climbing, with a new ranking set to be released later on Monday ahead of the official ranking on Friday.

The campaign "has started gathering momentum," the Official Charts Company said in a statement.

The song is already at number three on the Amazon UK singles chart and number 1 on the iTunes rock chart.

It was at number 35 on the main iTunes chart.

Gunmen attacked an Eagles of Death Metal gig at the Bataclan in Paris on Friday, gunning down fans and blowing themselves up as police stormed the building.

The attack claimed 89 lives -- by far the worst loss of life of the night.

The band, which was formed in 1998 in Palm Desert, California, was celebrating the October release of their album "Zipper Down" with a European tour.

The band's previous highest UK single's chart position was number 73 with 2006 record "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)".

The video featured Josh Homme -- frontman of Queens of the Stone Age -- along with former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and Hollywood comic actor Jack Black, all of whom have made live cameos with the band.

Messages about the campaign were being retweeted on the official account of the British band Duran Duran.

It was unclear who would receive the royalties from the increased sales of the single.

A musical ensemble from Saung Angklung Udjo will perform in Paris on

Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Saung Angklung Udjo)

Related Article:

Indonesian Music Ensemble Brings Anklung to Paris

Bringing the Internet within reach of 100 million Indonesians from 20 kms above Earth

Google Blog, Thursday, October 29, 2015  

In Indonesia today, only about 1 out of every 3 people are connected to the Internet. And even though most of their connections are painfully slow, they’re doing some pretty incredible things. Startups like motorcycle delivery service Go-Jek are building impressive adaptations to Indonesia’s unique challenges, while small businesses like fashionable hijab shop HiJup are using the web to redefine marketplaces.

Still, a majority of Indonesians don’t have access to the educational, cultural, and economic opportunities of the Internet. That’s why we’re pleased to announce that Indonesia’s top three mobile network operators—Indosat, Telkomsel, and XL Axiata—have agreed to begin testing Project Loon balloon-powered Internet over Indonesia in 2016. These tests represent an important step toward bringing all of Indonesia online.

From left to right: Ririek Adriansyah, CEO of Telkomsel; Dian Siswarini, CEO of
XL Axiata; Alexander Rusli, CEO of Indosat; Mike Cassidy, VP of Project Loon;
Sergey Brin, President, Alphabet Inc

Loon balloons act like floating mobile phone towers; flying on the stratospheric winds at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, each balloon beams an Internet connection down to the ground, and as one drifts out of range, another moves in to take its place. Loon can help telecommunications companies extend their networks; high in the sky, we can help overcome the difficulties of spreading equipment across an archipelago of 17,000 islands of jungles and mountains, providing connectivity to even the most remote islands.

Project Loon balloons travel approximately 20 km above the Earth’s surface in

 the stratosphere. Winds in the stratosphere are stratified, and each layer of wind 

varies in speed and direction. By moving with the wind, the balloons can be 

arranged to form one large communications network

  

Over the next few years, we’re hoping Loon can partner with local providers to put high-speed LTE Internet connections within reach of more than 100 million currently unconnected people—that’s enough speed to read websites, watch videos, or make purchases. From Sabang all the way to Merauke, many of these people live in areas without any existing Internet infrastructure, so we hope balloon-powered Internet could someday help give them access to the information and opportunity of the web.

But it’s not the only step Google is taking toward making the Internet both accessible and useful for people in Indonesia. Android One phones are helping to make high-quality smartphones more accessible in a country where most people first access the Internet on a mobile device. And along with that, we’re working to ease the use of data with features sure as Search Lite, which streamlines search so pages load more quickly, or by optimizing web pages so that they require less data to load. Indonesia is also one of the first countries where YouTube users can take videos offline to watch later during periods of low or no Internet connectivity.

We’re also doing what we can to ensure that language isn’t a barrier to the opportunities of the web. Google Translate was introduced for Bahasa in 2008, and more recently we’ve expanded it to Sundanese, a language that’s spoken by nearly 40 million people living on the island of Java.

Soon we hope many more millions of people in Indonesia will be able to use the full Internet to bring their culture and businesses online and explore the world even without leaving home. And for those of you who’ve never been to this country of rich culture and natural beauty, we invite you to head over to Google Street View to explore the famous temples at Borobudur and Prambanan.

Posted by Mike Cassidy, Vice President, Project Loon

Indonesian Online Marketplace Elevenia Sees Strong Growth in Transactions

Logging On. Elevenia.co.id welcomed 20 million visits to the marketplace in February alone

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Delia, May 16, 2015

Jungsung Lee, chief executive of Indonesian online marketplace Elevenia, views
 other marketplaces as ‘cooperators’ not competitors. This twist on traditional
business relationships is indicative of the change and development Elevenia
is planning to evoke in Indonesia’s e-commerce industry. (GA Photo)

Jakarta. Indonesia as an e-commerce paradise in just two years’ time may seem an idle dream to those who still struggle with connectivity as a massive burden in their lives. It is, however, an emerging reality for some of the people behind Indonesia’s growing online market ecosystem.

Meet Jungsung Lee, chief executive of Indonesian online marketplace Elevenia. Hailing from South Korea, he prefers to be called James and is one of those who have thrown off any doubts about Indonesia’s potential.

His company is already starting to tap the country’s huge e-commerce potential, he said in an interview.

While he acknowledged that Internet infrastructure is still far from ideal, there are methods to tackle the problem.

Elevenia, registered as a business entity as XL Planet, opened for business in March last year as a joint venture between mobile provider XL Axiata and South Korea’s online marketplace, SK Planet.

It began modestly, with around 500,000 products and 6,000 sellers.

In just a year, the online marketplace had almost a million registered members, two million products and more than 20,000 sellers.

Elevenia.co.id had 20 million visitors in February — 5 million of which were unique visits.

The online marketplace posted Rp 250 billion ($19.45 million) in total transaction value last year and in the first two months of this year had booked Rp 60 billion.

“It has exceeded [my plan]. We achieved more than our business target so our shareholders are so happy with us,” he said, noting that the investors now plan an additional capital injection within the next two years.

Initial investments from XL and SK Planet last year amounted to $18.3 million and another $24.2 million was injected earlier this year.

Calm, focused and friendly, Lee is clearly investor-friendly. At first glance he looks like any other businessman in his 40s but his nature manages to radiate a sense of security and optimism amid the hustle and bustle of an online business community populated by employees in their mid-20s.

Jokingly, one of his employees said his calmness is the product of months of training. Korean businessmen are not accustomed to talking with the press and dealing with informal work atmospheres, yet Lee has been able to keep his cool.

The Korean set out to explain the principles he believes are needed for success in the online world.

“The first thing is trust. The second is good products, then good prices and convenience. For the Indonesian market, trust is very important; it is the customers’ basic demand,” he said.

Many Indonesians remain hesitant to use online shops due to a lack of information. Potential customers think that fraud and crime are easily concealed in an apparently anonymous digital world.

That is not the case with Elevenia, Lee said.

“We use a system called escrow,” a formal account which holds funds prior to completion of a transaction, allowing Elevenia to guarantee a safe transaction for both buyer and seller.

Elevenia also has some unique traits. For instance, customers can directly ask Elevenia to find a certain product, local or otherwise.

“If there is something the customer can’t find, they can inform us, then we will get the product. [Especially] products from Korea. We have the experience, we have good channels. From Korea, we can get anything,” said Lee.

To further the trust factor, the company has set limits on trading. It will not sell counterfeit goods, drugs or other illegal items.

The growing business of Elevenia is a glimpse of Indonesia’s blossoming e-commerce industry.

A survey conducted by the Indonesian Internet Providers Association (APJII) and University of Indonesia shows that online shopping is catching on fast with younger Indonesians.

Samuel A Pangerapan, chairman of APJII, said the survey showed that there were 88.1 million Internet users in Indonesia in 2014. A huge portion — 49 percent — are young, around 18 to 25 years old, with 51 percent of them women.

They use the Internet for various reasons, from networking through social networking applications to searching for information and exchanging messages, downloading and sharing videos.

Internet users’ behavior has shifted, Samuel stated, from only using the Internet to interact — like exchanging stories from blogs, chatting through messaging services or talking directly through video chat — to more complex behavior like trading.

In its latest report, APJII said many Indonesian Internet users have started to use the Internet for shopping. Around 11 percent of users purchased goods online in 2014, double the number a year earlier. The vast majority — 85 percent — browse the Internet with their phones, although many also use laptops, tablets and PCs.

To meet this multiple gadget lifestyle, Elevenia has made sure it can be accessed from website, mobile web and mobile application.

According to Lee, being in every digital space was critical, since competition is beginning to intensify as companies recognize Indonesia’s e-commerce potential.

The number of popular e-commerce sites in Indonesia is growing each year. Local sites with a similar business model to Elevenia include Tokopedia, BukaLapak, Quoo10, Lazada and Rakuten, and new ones keep coming.

“We welcome the competition,” said Lee. “At the moment, this market is really in its early stage. It’s not mature, that’s why at this moment I don’t think the other players are our competitors. At this moment, they are our cooperators.”

Elevenia is keen to work with other e-commerce players in Indonesia to build an ideal ecosystem.

GlobeAsia

Google Indonesia Wants to Know Your Business and Help You Market It

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, May 07, 2015

A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich,
Switzerland on April 16, 2015. (Reuters Photo/Arnd Wiegmann)

Jakarta. Google Indonesia, the local arm of the global Internet giant, launched on Thursday a free platform called “Google Bisnisku” that will allow small and micro businesses to register and promote their works over the Internet.

The service will let Google to recognize almost every small and medium-size enterprise in Indonesia, offering free services to widen the businesses’ exposure to markets.

“Every kind of business can have the online presence while building its credibility and visibility on the eye of the customers without any charge with Google Bisnisku,” said Mira Sumanti, Google Indonesia’s head of small and micro business.

A recent study by Google and  Ipsos MediaCT, a Paris-based media research firm, fund that business with complete information on the internet can attract 29 percent more customers, Mira said.

Indonesia is home to 56.5 million SMEs with monthly sales between Rp 100 million and Rp 4 billion ($7,700 and $308,000), data from the Cooperative and SME Ministry showed.

A business owner can register with the program simply by logging in to the “Business” section on the Google.com home page. The owner must wait for around two weeks to receive the verification code mailed.

“We need to send it by mail to make sure of the validity and the presence of its owner is such as the address,” Mira said.

After the validation process has been completed, anyone who has registered can then find the business’s name, address, operating hours and phone number at the right side of Google.com’s page. Both customers and the business owner can leave ratings, feedback or comments on the page.

Maulana Cristanto, who owns Locco Gelato, a small ice cream shop in Bumi Serpong Damai City at Tangerang District, is enthusiastic of the new Google facilities. “I’ve been wanting to have my shop on the right side of Google’s search page, just like those big companies do.”

“I hope it will increase awareness about my shop because they can see my shop address right on the first page,” Maulana said.

Right now, search results for “Locco Gelato” only show lists of some blogs, its website and Twitter account.

Google also offers business owner the ability to view simple statistics that might help the business, such as how many people search for their business, how often they look for it, and when is the busiest time at the store.

“We want to introduce hundreds of Indonesia’s local business with the importance of being online,” said Jason Tedjasukmana, Google Indonesia’s head of communications at the press conference on Thursday.

“Small businesses help the economy. We’ve seen how Indonesian economic growth was very slow in the first quarter — 4.71 percent, the weakest since the 4.12 percent pace in the third quarter of 2009. With those small businesses thriving, we might have a chance to grow,” he said.

GlobeAsia

Lippo’s Mochtar Riady Donates Nanotech Center to UI

Jakarta Globe, Maria Fatima Bona, Mar 10, 2015

Lippo Group chairman Mochtar Riady, left, Research and Technology Minister
 Muhammad Nasir, center, and University of Indonesia rector M. Anis.
(ID Photo/David Gita Roza)

Jakarta. Lippo Group founder Mochtar Riady donated a cutting-edge research center to the University of Indonesia (UI) on Tuesday in a sign of strong support for nanotechnology development in Indonesia.

In ceremony on Tuesday at which the Lippo Group founder handed over the center to the university, named Mochtar Riady Quantum Plaza, Mochtar said progress in research and development was essential for advancing any country. He cited the United States’ leadership in technology research and development as an example.

“Technology really determines the fate of a nation and shapes a university,” he said in a speech at UI’s School of Engineering.

The 3,000-square-meter, five-story building will provide researchers, students and lecturers with state-of-the-art equipment.

Also attending the ceremony was Research and Technology Minister Muhammad Nasir, UI rector Muhammad Anis and Engineering School dean Dedy Priadi.

UI is one of the nation’s greatest sources of strength, Mochtar said, adding that he hoped the new research center would enable the university to lead the field in researching and developing new technology.

Since there are already numerous nanotechnology researchers at UI, Mochtar said he believed that the center had the potential to unite and accelerate field’s advancement in Indonesia.

Dedy praised Mochtar, saying that his encouragement propelled the university to become a center of excellence for nanotechnology research when he chaired the university’s highest body, Wali Amanat, from 2002-06.

He added that the donation would make it easier for UI to become a world-class university.

Minister Nasir said that the government would continue to support research for the benefit of people as a whole.

“The government will continue to work together with companies to advance research,” through incentives such as tax deductions, Nasir said. “We hope that more companies like Lippo Group are willing to cooperate with universities and the government,” he said.

The Jakarta Globe is affiliated with the Lippo Group.

Glodok Gets US Trade Rep’s ‘Notorious Market’ Moniker

Dubious Distinction: Jakarta electronics emporium causing US ‘significant losses’

Jakarta Globe, Victoria Slind-Flor, Mar 08, 2015

Harco Glodok market in Jakarta, Indonesia’s largest trade center for consumer
electronics and related goods. ( JG Photo/ Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

The US Trade Representative’s office released its latest list of so-called notorious markets, identifying sites that cause “significant financial losses” for US companies to piracy and other forms of intellectual property infringement.

The 2014 survey identified physical marketplaces in 10 countries where significant amounts of counterfeit goods are sold. The markets are in Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand and Uruguay.

Particular areas of concern are Harco Glodok market in Jakarta, listed as Indonesia’s largest trade center for consumer electronics and related goods; Argentina’s La Salada, which the report identified as South America’s largest black market; the Silk Market in Beijing, where vendors reportedly have access “to a supply of newly manufactured counterfeit products to replace those that have been confiscated”; and the Computer Village Market in Lagos, Nigeria, reportedly the largest market for knockoff computer products and accessories in the nation.

China is the source of many of the counterfeit goods sold in markets in Prado, Italy; Lagos; Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, and Bangkok, according to the report.

The report lists a number of websites where enforcement activities have cut down on the quantity of counterfeit goods sold, including Seriesyonkis.com, Aiseesoft.com, Xunlei.com, and wawa-mania.ec, Mp3skull.com and Share-rapid.cz.

In other intellectual property and copyright news:

Rocketman

A challenge by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies to a patent on which Jeff Bezos is the lead inventor received a positive ruling from the US Patent and Trademark Office.

At issue is a patent that covers the sea landing of space launch vehicles and is aimed at re-using rocket elements, instead of discarding them during flight as is usually done. Re-using launch vehicles would make space travel cheaper.

According to the patent, a structure would be positioned in a body of water and the launch vehicle returning to Earth would land tail-first on it.

The patent was issued to Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, a company established by Bezos, the chairman of Amazon.

In a March 3 decision, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board said that Musk’s Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX demonstrated a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail in showing the unpatentability of one of the patent claims.

The board agreed with SpaceX that some of the claims in the patent under review had been anticipated by and were obvious in the light of a technical paper, “Re-entry and Terminal Guidance for Vertical Landing TSTO (Two-Stage to Orbit),” presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1998.

The application for the disputed patent was filed in June 2010.

The board ruled that a procedure known as an inter parties review could be conducted over this patent.

UK blogger vindicated in his contention that someone is wrong on the Internet

A UK blogger who was the subject of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim after he posted a press release sent to him by an organization advocating heterosexual rights won a default judgment in a California federal court.

Oliver Hotham, identified in court papers as a student journalist and blogger, publishes a blog on the WordPress.com website operated by San Francisco’s Automattic [sic].

After reading a news account of Straight Pride UK, he contacted the organization, identifying himself as a student and freelance journalist, and asked for information about the organization, according to his pleadings.

The organization sent him a press release, which Hotham published in part on his blog. That same day, the self-described press officer for Straight Pride sent takedown notices to Hotham and Automattic, claiming copyright infringement.

Hotham sued in federal court in Oakland, California, in November 2013, accusing the press officer of misrepresentation of copyright.

In her March 2 order, US District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton granted a default judgment and awarded damages, including attorney fees, of $25,084.

She said Hotham and Automattic have been unsuccessfully attempting to locate the press officer, Nick Steiner, in order to serve the recommendations of a federal magistrate judge with respect to the default judgment. She said the court would require no further expenditure of resources.

The report from US Magistrate Judge Joseph Sero was filed Oct. 6. He recommended that Steiner be found to have made material misrepresentations in filing a DMCA infringement complaint.

All your assets are belong to us, Kim

Kim Dotcom and his co-defendants in a criminal copyright case have no standing to contest the forfeiture of their assets, a federal court in Virginia ruled.

Dotcom is in New Zealand, fighting attempts to have him extradited to the US to face the charges. The case is related to websites the government claims facilitated unauthorized file- sharing.

US District Judge Liam O’Grady ruled Feb. 27 that because Dotcom and other co-defendants are fugitives, they can’t contest the forfeiture.

He said the government successfully invoked a US law that bars such actions. The law, he said, was enacted to prevent the “unseemly” spectacle of a fugitive criminal defendant who is facing both incarceration and forfeiture from attempting to invoke “from a safe distance only so much of a US court’s jurisdiction” to recover alleged criminal proceeds.

According to court papers, the government is seeking the forfeiture of 18 bank accounts in Hong Kong and New Zealand; Dotcom’s assets in Computershare Investor Services; two luxury homes in Auckland; 21 cars, including Mercedes Benzes and Cadillacs; a Dutch Angel motorcycle; four personal watercraft; a 108-inch television; three 82-inch TVs; a Devon watch valued at $27,000; and a photo by Olaf Mueller.

Bloomberg

Lippo Jumps to E-Commerce, Sees $1 Billion in Sales in 2 Years

Jakarta Globe, Muhamadl Azhari,Feb 25, 2015

Lippo Group representative John Riady, center, with MatahariMall.com managers,
 from left, product and technology head Goh Yiping, online marketing head Timothius
Martin, marketing and partnership head Regan Dwinandadan and sales head Denis
 Raf. (B1 Photo/Ruht Semiono)

Jakarta. Lippo Group announced on Wednesday the launch of an Indonesian e-commerce venture, MatahariMall.com, solidifying its position as the largest multi-format Indonesian retail group.

Lippo has allocated $500 million in investment over the next two to three years to create an e-commerce company with an expected $1 billion in sales within one-and-a-half to two years that will become the “Alibaba of Indonesia.”

MatahariMall.com will bring Lippo’s consumer retail division to more than $25 billion in five years, 20 percent of which will come from online retail.

MatahariMall.com will offer the best deals, biggest giveaways and largest selection of goods covering fashion, beauty, electronics, home, groceries, books, entertainment and more, Lippo Group said in a statement.

In addition to offering the largest selection of goods, MatahariMall has been appointed as the exclusive online retailer for some of the most popular brands in Indonesia.

It is also the first and only online-to-offline, or O2O, e-commerce company in Southeast Asia, allowing customers to pay, collect and return their goods in all 131 Matahari Department Stores across Indonesia, when it begins operations in March.

“Online commerce is a $100 billion opportunity,” said John Riady, a representative of Lippo Group.

“MatahariMall will be the number one in e-commerce. There is nothing like it in Southeast Asia. Our vision is to build the most powerful ecosystem that brings together buyers and sellers to do business anytime and anywhere.”

The $500 million war chest will be used to assemble “a strong e-commerce management team, build a market place with the most number of items and build the best supporting infrastructure to support the online service.”

“Most importantly, this retail online service is created by a business group from Indonesia. … We understand what Indonesian consumers want,” John said.

Additional Lippo affiliates — including Hypermart, the country’s largest chain of hypermarkets operated by Matahari Putra Prima, and Books & Beyond — will also support the e-commerce site.

Long-time suppliers of Matahari Department Stores will be given their own digital space at MatahariMall.com to offer their range of products online, John said.

“Indonesian online retail will grow 10 times over the next five years,” said Matahari Department Stores chief executive Michael Remsen.

“Together with MatahariMall, we are committed to the future of e-commerce. All of our suppliers and partners are 100 percent behind this.”

Matahari Department Store, a Lippo company, is Indonesia’s largest operator of department stores.

“E-commerce is the future of retail,” said Communications and Information Technology Minister Rudiantara.

“We are thrilled and fully supportive to see Lippo take this bold step into e-commerce. May this venture be a great success and benefit the country.”

Lippo said in a statement that it had an unparalleled track record in executing and building winning and innovative companies: Matahari in department stores, Hypermart in food retailing, First Media in cable and multimedia, Siloam Hospitals in health care, Bolt in 4G telecommunications, BigTV in pay television, and 60 Lippo Malls throughout Indonesia.

Lippo has the scale, the reach, the know-how, and innovation DNA to dominate e-commerce, it said, and MatahariMall is led by a proven team of experienced e-commerce industry experts.

“The digital revolution will transform the world,” said Ihlam Habibie, chairman of the National Information Technology and Communications Council.

“Look at Amazon in the US and Alibaba in China. I am excited to see Lippo enter in such a big way. They are very committed to technology and innovation, which is the most exciting opportunity in Indonesia today.”

Jan Metzger, the managing director and head of technology, media and telecommunications at Credit Suisse, was equally optimistic about the future of Indonesia’s e-commerce industry and Lippo’s ability to position itself as the leading player.

Credit Suisse calls Matahari Department Store “the number one department store” and “our top pick in the retail space.”

As the largest retailer in Indonesia, the Lippo Group is well positioned to be number one in e-commerce. Its consumer businesses have a combined annualized revenue of more than Rp 60 trillion ($4.7 billion) and growing consistently at more than 20 percent.

Hypermart, meanwhile, is one of the fastest-growing hypermarket chains in Asia, with market share increasing to 40 percent in 2014 from 24 percent in 2007.

Lippo’s entry into e-commerce next month seems to be well timed. While online retail accounts for just 0.7 percent of total retail sales in Indonesia, it is projected to grow 10 times over the next five years. Online retail is growing fastest outside of Jakarta, where Lippo has substantial businesses.

“Indonesia is the last remaining, large, underpenetrated e-commerce market in Asia. MatahariMall is the single-largest e-commerce opportunity today,” John said.

Indonesia’s Internet penetration last year stood at 80 million, or about 32 percent of the total population, and a significant leap from 2011’s figure of 47 million.

In a report released in September last year, global research company Nielsen confirmed the massive prospects of e-commerce in Indonesia.

A record number of consumers went online for their purchases last year, the report said. The most sought-after products include airfare and hotel bookings, e-books, clothing, accessories and shoes.

In a statement attached to the report, Nielsen Indonesia’s executive director of consumer insights, Anil Antony, said that “e-commerce retailers’ product and service offerings have evolved significantly [in Indonesia] in recent years as the popularity of online shopping has increased.”

“Consumers are [...] increasingly searching out online channels to research and purchase the products and services they need and want,” he said.

GlobeAsia is affiliated with Lippo.

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Telkom Supports Jokowi’s “E-Blusukan” with Migrant Workers in 8 Countries

Jakarta Globe, Press Release, Dec 01, 2014

President Joko Widodo leads the “E-Blusukan” with Indonesian Migrant
Workers (TKI) that are stationed in 8 differents parts of the world.

Last week, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and a number of his ministers held an “E-Blusukan” (teleconference) with Indonesian Migrant Workers (TKI) representatives in 8 different countries. This unique teleconference was held at Situation Room UKP4 Bina Graha on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta. The 8 countries that were inspected by Indonesia’s first in command were South Korea, Hong Kong, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

As a state-owned enterprise in the field of telecommunications, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia TBK (Telkom) provided the facilities needed for this first ever video conference. The representatives of the Indonesian Migrant Workers were connected with President Jokowi using an application called UMeetMe. Through this application the president was able to discuss many matters with the representatives, without any connection delay.

“Telkom is once again proud to be able to successfully contribute in the execution of Jokowi’s “E-Blusukan” through the UMeetMe application,” said Telkom’s Director of Enterprise & Business Services, Muhammad Awaluddin.

Awaluddin added, through the equally spread infrastructure, even to the most remote areas of the nation, Telkom is determined to always be a forerunner in supporting the governments programs in utilizing Information Technology and Communication in Indonesia.

By using 9 big screens which showed instantaneous live feeds, Jokowi and his team of Social Media Volunteers took turns interacting and communicating with each of the representatives from eight different parts of the world.

“I have heard about the many problems faced by the many Indonesian migrant workers abroad, but I would like to see for myself what exactly must migrant workers face,” said Jokowi.

The Indonesian Migrant Workers in turn expressed their problems to  the president, and one demanded revoke the use of Migrant Worker Cards (KTKLN), which according to him was just a method of discriminating Indonesian Migrant Workers.

The video conference was highly appreciated by Sonny Subrata, the coordinator for the Social Media Volunteer Team. “A big thanks to Telkom for providing the video conference facilities.”

Jokowi Meets with Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg

Jakarta Globe, Deti Mega Purnamasari, Oct 13, 2014

Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, right, accompanied by President-Elect
Joko Widodo talks to journalists after their meeting in Jakarta, on Monday. (EPA
Photo/Adi Weda)

Jakarta. President-Elect Joko Widodo on Monday received Facbeook founder Mark Zuckerberg at the Jakarta City Hall, where he is currently serving his final days as governor of the capital.

“We talked about how we can utilize Facebook for the benefit of the people and how it can be useful in supporting micro businesses,” Joko said during a press conference. “He [Zuckerberg] will be working with us in addressing the two issues.”

Joko added that he also discussed issues related to internet taxes and access, and talked about the utilization of the social network in the recent general elections.

“We also talked a lot about the use of Facebook during the [presidential election] campaign. Indonesia has a population of 240 million, while Facebook has approximately 70 million users. This is a potential market for him,” Joko said.

Zuckerberg, traveling to Indonesia for an Internet.org meeting, said he was glad to have had the opportunity to visit the country and meet with Joko.

“I’m glad I am able to talk to Joko. I’m also glad to see growing internet access among millions of Indonesians, as well as the growth of businesses,” he said, speaking in the same press conference.

Internet.org is a partnership between Facebook and five other technology companies aimed to improve internet access in parts of the world that remain largely unconnected.

“The program is aimed at eliminating barriers that hamper internet access, so that more Indonesians can be connected to the internet,” said Maria Tiurma, a commissioner of Owen Strategik Media, which organized Zuckerberg’s visit.

Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, right, and Indonesian President-elect

Joko Widodo, left, visiting Tanah Abang market after their meeting in Jakarta,

Indonesia, Oct. 13, 2014. (SP Photo/Joanito De Saojoao)

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