• Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa Officially Join Presidential Election

    After Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Jusuf Kalla announced earlier today (19/05) to form a pair in the upcoming Indonesian presidential election (scheduled for 9 July 2014), supported by a coalition consisting of the PDI-P, NasDem, PKB and Hanura, the other pair also presented itself. Prabowo Subianto officially announced that Hatta Rajasa will be his running mate in the election. This pair is backed by Gerindra, PAN, PPP, PKS and Golkar. At the last moment Golkar, second-largest party in the April legislative election, decided to join this coalition.

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  • Election News: Jusuf Kalla Officially Declared Vice-Presidential Candidate

    In front of the Joang '45 Museum, which illustrates Indonesia's battle for independence, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (Governor of Jakarta) officially declared that Jusuf Kalla is his running mate (or the vice-presidential candidate) in the upcoming presidential election (scheduled for 9 July 2014). It had been speculated for weeks that Jusuf Kalla (former Indonesian Vice-President, businessman and philanthropist), would be Jokowi's running mate but it was only officially declared just after noon (local Jakarta time) on Monday (19/05).

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  • Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Jusuf Kalla Preparing Official Announcement

    Although we are still waiting for the official announcement (which is expected to follow shortly), more and more signs are pointing towards the nomination of Jusuf Kalla as the running mate (or vice-presidential candidate) of Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the presidential election that is scheduled for 9 July 2014. The pair will have the full support of the PDI-P, NasDem, PKB and Hanura coalition. The chairmen of the NasDem (Surya Paloh) and PKB (Muhaimin Iskandar) have reportedly confirmed that Kalla will be the running mate.

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  • Indonesian Tobacco Giant Sampoerna Shuts down Two Cigarette Plants

    HM Sampoerna, Indonesia's largest tobacco company, decided to close two of its seven hand-rolled cigarette factories as the company needs restructuring due to its declining market share in the country's hand-rolled cigarettes industry. The market share fell from 30.4 percent in 2009 to 23.1 percent in 2013 as consumers are shifting to machine-rolled cigarettes. HM Sampoerna's hand-rolled cigarette plants in Jember and Lumajang (both in East Java) will be closed on 31 May 2014 and will lead to the termination of 4,900 employees.

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