Wall Street Journal 20130204 Asia Ed.pdf

As of 4 p.m. ET

DJIA 14009.79 À 1.08% FTSE 100 6347.24 À 1.12%

Nikkei 225 11191.34 À 0.47% Shanghai Comp. 2419.02 À 1.41% Hang Seng 23721.84 g 0.03% Sensex 19781.19 g 0.57% S&P/ASX 200 4921.10 À 0.87%

OPINION:

No Class War

At Downton

Abbey

Page 10

Lingering Bad Debts

Stiﬂe Europe’s Recovery

In Depth Pages 12-13

ASIA EDITION

VOL. XXXVII NO. 108

(India facsimile Vol. 4 No. 169)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013

WSJ.com

Thai Tycoon

Pulls Off

Ping AnDeal

Blaze in Bangladesh Sweeps Through Slum, Gutting Homes

B Y A LISON T UDOR

company.

But Mr. Dhanin is a for-

eigner in passport only. In

1921, his father and uncle, Ek

Chor and Siew Whooy, emi-

grated from Guangdong, a

province in southern China, to

Thailand and founded a small

seed shop in Bangkok. The 73-

year-old tycoon—who has

been ranked by Forbes as

Thailand’s richest man, with a

fortune held by him and his

family estimated at $9 bil-

lion—once boasted of know-

ing “more than half” of the

Politburo Standing Committee

of the Communist Party.

In China, he goes by the

name Xie Guomin. At the

Bangkok event with Premier

Wen, Mr. Dhanin was among

1,000 attendees but is pic-

tured in photos a few feet

away from Premier Wen.

Mr. Dhanin was the first

foreign investor in China after

Deng Xiaoping began reopen-

ing the economy in 1978 and

holds Foreign Investor Certifi-

cate No. 001 in Shenzhen.

Charoen Pokphand now ac-

counts for more than a quar-

ter of China’s poultry exports.

Mr. Dhanin, who has

served as a Thai senator, also

sat on the Reunification Pre-

paratory Committee ahead of

Please turn to page 14

When China Premier Wen

Jiabao flew to Bangkok on

Nov. 20, he headed to meet a

large group of rich and pow-

erful Thai businessmen, in-

cluding billionaire Dhanin

Chearavanont, who made his

fortune selling frozen chick-

ens.

Just a few days later, Brit-

ish bank HSBC Holdings PLC

announced plans to sell a

15.57% stake in China’s sec-

ond-largest property and ca-

sualty insurer, Ping An Insur-

ance (Group) Co., to a

conglomerate controlled by

Mr. Dhanin, Charoen Pok-

phand Group , for US$9.39 bil-

lion. Chinese regulators

cleared the deal on Friday.

The approval had been in

doubt after the Chinese bank

that had agreed to finance the

deal then asked regulators to

reject it. But Mr. Dhanin was

able to fund the deal on his

own and satisfy regulators,

who signed off on what is the

biggest foreign investment

ever into a Chinese company.

Ping An is China’s second-big-

gest insurer by premiums af-

ter state-owned China Life In-

surance Co., and the deal

would also rank as the biggest

overseas purchase by a Thai

European Pressphoto Agency

A woman tries to salvage her belongings Sunday after a fire that swept through a slum and destroyed more than 100 shanties in the

Agargaon borough of Dhaka. No casualties were reported and the cause of the fire is yet to be known, the fire service said.

Panetta: Iranian Threat Spreads

B Y J ULIAN E . B ARNES

A ND A DAM E NTOUS

what Mr. Panetta called a dan-

gerous escalation.

“There is no question

when you start passing man-

pads around, that becomes a

threat—not just to military

aircraft but to civilian air-

craft,” Mr. Panetta told The

Wall Street Journal in an in-

terview describing shifting

threats to the U.S. as he pre-

pares to leave his post. “That

is an escalation.”

Western officials have long

worried about the spread of

such weapons and the risk

they pose to airline passen-

gers as well as to military he-

licopters and jets. Recent U.S.

intelligence pointed to new ef-

forts by Iran to smuggle man-

pads, but few shipments had

been intercepted before Jan.

23, when Yemen, aided by the

U.S., intercepted a boat carry-

ing the weapons.

“It is one of the first times

we have seen it,” Mr. Panetta

said.

U.S. investigators said evi-

dence indicated the missiles

were supplied by the Islamic

Revolutionary Guard Corps,

Tehran’s paramilitary force.

Iranian officials didn’t re-

spond to requests for comment

about distributing weapons to

regional allies.

Separately, Iran’s Foreign

Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said

Sunday that six world powers

would meet this month to dis-

cuss the Islamist republic’s nu-

clear program.

Please turn to page 14

WASHINGTON—U.S. De-

fense Secretary Leon Panetta

accused Iran’s paramilitary

force of an intensified cam-

paign to destabilize the Mid-

dle East by smuggling antiair-

craft weapons to its militant

allies.

Iran’s export of so-called

manpads—antiaircraft mis-

siles that can be carried by a

single

person—represents

Spain’s Leader Moves to Contain Scandal

Inside

B Y C HRISTOPHER B JORK

A ND R ICHARD B OUDREAUX

vised pledge of “maximum

transparency” to address alle-

gations shaking his conserva-

tive Popular Party and the

government.

By Sunday a petition de-

manding his resignation had

collected 769,000 signatures

on the activist website

Change.org, one of several on-

line campaigns calling for a

cleanup of Spain’s political in-

stitutions. The leader of the

main opposition Socialist

Party also urged Mr. Rajoy on

Sunday to step down, saying

his credibility had been dam-

aged.

In a country mired in the

second year of a deepening

recession, with 26% of the

nomic boom. Those allega-

tions are emerging in judicial

investigations that since 2008

have tainted at least 300 poli-

ticians of various parties, the

monarchy and the Supreme

Court, whose chief justice re-

signed last year over ques-

tionable

Kachin rebels are set

to hold peace talks

with the Myanmar

government in China

starting today, taking a

step toward stopping

weeks of fighting.

World News................... 3

MADRID—Prime Minister

Mariano Rajoy moved to con-

tain a scandal over alleged se-

cret cash payments to him

and other leaders of his party

by promising to disclose his

tax returns and financial as-

sets this week. But the move

seemed unlikely to quell a ris-

ing mood of popular outrage

over corruption across Spain’s

political spectrum.

Hundreds of people calling

the Spanish leader a delin-

quent took to the streets in

Madrid, Barcelona and other

cities Saturday evening after

Mr. Rajoy’s nationally tele-

business-expense

claims.

If unrest over the allega-

tions persists, it could limit

the government’s ability to

impose further austerity mea-

sures on the population and

close a big budget deficit, po-

litical analysts said. And that

could unnerve investors, un-

dermining the Spanish gov-

ernment’s effort to finance it-

Please turn to page 14

The French president, hailed on a visit to

Timbuktu, said his military is seeking to wind

down its campaign against militants in Mali.

World News............................................................6

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy

workforce unemployed, Span-

iards are especially sensitive

to allegations of graft during

the previous decade’s eco-

2 | Monday, February 4, 2013

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

PAGE TWO

What’s News—

Inside

Asia News: Jakarta

weighs an urban

railway project. 4

Business & Finance:

China’s Geely buys U.K.

cab maker. 16

Military personnel remove debris from the site of an explosion at the headquarters of state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, in Mexico City.

Pemex said Sunday that the number of people killed in Thursday’s blast had risen to 34. Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the explosion.

iii

Business & Finance

gain. Excluding the gain, profit

rose slightly. 22

cent quarter, following especially

dismal second quarters. 18

responsibility for an attack in

Syria last week, while Assad ac-

cused the Jewish state of aiding

the rebellion in Syria’s civil war. 3

A raft of positive economic

news drove the DJIA above 14000

for the first time in more than

five years Friday, with jobs num-

bers countering an earlier report

that the U.S. economy contracted

at the end of 2012. 6, 28

Boeing is expected in coming

weeks to reach an assembly mile-

stone for its stretch Dreamliner

without a fix for what has bedev-

iled the electrical system. 15

ING Groep is relaunching the

sale of its South Korean life-insur-

ance business after a $2.1 billion

deal collapsed last year. 23

Five men accused of raping a

woman in New Delhi in December

entered not guilty pleas, while In-

dia’s president cleared an ordi-

nance seeking to strengthen laws

in cases of sexual assault. 5

Kirin will sell its stake in Sin-

gapore conglomerate Fraser &

Neave to Thai billionaire Charoen

Sirivadhanabhakdi. 19

AirAsia wants to list its Indo-

nesian arm in Jakarta in the third

quarter as the budget carrier

seeks to expand in Southeast

Asia’s largest air-travel market. 17

Investors with big stakes in

Apple are taking a beating, even

as U.S. stocks gain. 15

Abu Sayyaf gunmen freed two

Filipino crewmen of a Jordanian

TV journalist who were kidnapped

last year, but they continued to

hold the reporter and four other

foreigners in the Philippines.

A court ruled that Samsung’s

chairman can keep shares that

help him maintain control of the

South Korean conglomerate. 18

iii

World-Wide

Corporate-bond investors face

a new threat: private-equity firms

launching debt-laden takeovers of

companies in their portfolios. 15

Barclays’s finance director ,

Chris Lucas, will retire later this

year. An announcement may come

as early as Monday. 23

Heard on the Street:

China’s growth trend is

clear. 28

Taliban militants raided an

army post in northwestern Paki-

stan, killing 23 people, including

10 civilians, officials said.

Mitsubushi UFJ Financial’s

earnings fell 35% from a year-ear-

lier result boosted by a one-time

Japanese electronics makers

Sharp and Panasonic improved

their performances in the most re-

Israel’s defense minister ap-

peared to credit his country with

ONLINE TODAY

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Dow Jones Publishing Company (Asia)

25/F, Central Plaza, 18 Harbour Road, Hong Kong

Tel 852-2573 7121 Fax 852-2834 5291

www.wsj-asia.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS and Address Changes, please

telephone our local customer service hotline, Hong

Kong/Taiwan: 852-2831 2555; Beijing: 86-10 6581 4090;

Shanghai: 86-21 5836 8228; Indonesia: 62-21 527 7592;

Japan: 0120 779 868; Korea: 82-2 3700 1925;

Malaysia: 60-3 2026 4061; Philippines: 63-2 848 5873;

Singapore: 65-6415 4000; Thailand: 66-2 690 4222 to 7;

India: 91-11 6462 0215. Or email: service@wsj-asia.com

ADVERTISING SALES worldwide through Dow Jones

International. Hong Kong: 852-2831 2504; Singapore: 65-

6415 4300; Tokyo: 81-3 6269-2701; Frankfurt: 49 69

29725390; London: 44 207 842 9600; Paris: 33 1 40 17

17 01; New York: 1-212 659 2176. Or email:

wsja.publisher@dowjones.com

Trademarks appearing herein are used under license from

Dow Jones & Company. USPS 337-350ISSN 0377-9920

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

wsj-asia.com/fpf

or scan this code

Most Read in Asia

China Real Time

wsj.com/chinarealtime

Photo Journal

Driver’s Seat: Video

blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat

Are marketers in

China missing out

by lavishing

attention on the

young and ignoring

the elderly?

Why do advertisers

think we want to

watch women

washing cars?

1. Black-Eyed BlackBerry

2. America’s Baby Bust

3. Delhi Victim’s Friend Recalls

Love Story

4. Investors Cope With Pain of

Apple

5. It Takes Planning, Caution to

Avoid Being ‘It’

Most Emailed in Asia

1. Opinion: Julian Fellowes: The

Anti-Snobbery of ‘Downton Abbey’

2. Workouts in High Heels Really

Pump It Up

3. Bill Gates: How to Fix World’s

Biggest Problems

4. Refining Aids Exxon, Chevron

5. Delhi Victim’s Friend Recalls

Love Story

See the photos from the

stories making news

world-wide.

wsj.com/photojournal

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Monday, February 4, 2013 | 3

WORLD NEWS

Israel Acknowledges Airstrike in Syria

B Y J OSHUA M ITNICK

A ND S AM D AGHER

Minister Ehud Barak said the Jan.

30 attack is “another proof that

when we say something we mean it.

We say that we don’t think it should

be allowable to bring advanced

weapons systems into Lebanon to

Hezbollah from Syria when Assad

falls.” Mr. Barak gave no further de-

tails about the attack.

Mr. Assad said the attack “ex-

poses the true role that Israel is

playing in cooperation with hostile

foreign forces and their proxies in

Syria.”

The attack was Israel’s first ma-

jor foray into the Syrian civil war

and has raised concern the country

will become increasingly embroiled

in the fighting to protect itself from

instability stemming from the disin-

tegration of the Syrian regime.

Mr. Barak’s comments marked a

departure from its normal policy of

not commenting on attacks abroad

attributed to Israel, a silence that

analysts say maintains a veneer of

deniability and eases pressure on

enemies to retaliate.

A U.S. official said last week that

Israel targeted a weapons convoy

transporting antiaircraft missiles

destined for the Iranian-backed

group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syria said the target was a re-

search facility.

On Saturday, Syrian state TV

broadcast what it said was footage

of the military-research facility in

Jamraya on the outskirts of Damas-

cus that it said was hit by the Israeli

airstrike.

Contrary to a statement issued

by Syria’s armed forces Wednesday,

which said that the facility’s main

building was destroyed by the raid,

the most extensive damage shown

in the footage appeared to be in

what the broadcast described as the

parking lot.

Several sedans, pickup trucks,

two trailer trucks and two passen-

ger buses, which appeared to be in

a column formation, suggesting they

were part of a convoy, were shown

incinerated or severely damaged.

The end of the five-minute foot-

age showed what looked like dam-

aged military vehicles and trucks

next to a crater in the ground.

A man identified as a worker at

the facility and witness to the strike

said that the vehicles belonged to

staff and that the buses were used

to transport workers but made no

mention of the military vehicles.

Echoing the regime’s official

statement, the man said only two

people were killed in the strike.

TEL AVIV—Israel’s defense min-

ister appeared to credit his country

with responsibility for an attack in

Syria last week, while Syrian Presi-

dent Bashar al-Assad accused the

Jewish state of aiding the rebellion

in the country’s civil war.

The top leadership of both sides

were breaking days of silence after

reports surfaced that the Israeli air

force targeted a transport of antiair-

craft missiles en route to Lebanon.

Speaking at a security confer-

ence in Germany, Israel Defense

China’s Surpluses

StarttoEvenOut

B Y A ARON B ACK

Fading Intervention

China has considerably slowed the

buildup of its foreign-exchange

reserves.

BEIJING—China’s economic rela-

tionship with the rest of the world

is becoming more balanced, recent

data show, as China soaks up less

money from the outside world and

as its central bank is intervening

less in markets to keep down the

value of the yuan.

The ratio of China’s current-ac-

count surplus—the broadest mea-

sure of its trade balance with the

outside world—to gross domestic

product fell to 2.6% in 2012 from

2.8% a year earlier and more than

10% in 2007, the country’s foreign-

exchange regulator said Friday.

At the same time, China swung

to a capital- and financial-account

deficit, meaning there were net out-

flows of investment capital.

In previous years, China consis-

tently ran large surpluses on both

accounts, representing an influx of

foreign funds that put pressure on

the yuan to appreciate. To fight this

appreciation pressure, the central

bank, called the People’s Bank of

China, bought up the majority of the

foreign currency that entered the

country, leading to a swelling of the

country’s foreign-exchange reserves.

International critics pointed to

the large “twin surpluses” and the

accumulation of reserves by the

PBOC as evidence that China was

keeping its currency artificially

cheap to give its companies a com-

petitive advantage.

The 2012 data indicate China is

moving toward a more normal mac-

roeconomic state, typical of many

economies around the world, where

a surplus in one of the two balance-

of-payments accounts is usually off-

set by a deficit in the other.

“Some people are worried about

the capital-account deficit, saying

that it shows outflows. But to me it

only means one thing: that there is

less central-bank intervention,” said

Barclays economist Huang Yiping.

“By definition, if you don’t inter-

vene significantly, a current-account

surplus means you will have a capi-

tal-account deficit,” he added.

China’s foreign-exchange regula-

tor, the State Administration of For-

eign Exchange, had a similar inter-

pretation of the data.

“Under a further reformed ex-

change-rate system where foreign

reserves are stable, if there is a cur-

rent-account surplus, there must

necessarily be a capital- and finan-

cial-account deficit,” it said in a

statement accompanying the data.

In absolute terms, China’s cur-

rent-account surplus actually rose

$500billion

400

300

200

100

$98.7B

2006

’08

’10

’12

Note: Excludes impact of exchange rate and

valuation changes

Source: China State Administration

of Foreign Exchange

The Wall Street Journal

Associated Press

Kachin rebels guarding one of the last hilltop outposts defending the town of Laiza in northern Myanmar last week.

slightly to $213.8 billion in 2012

from $201.7 billion a year earlier,

but economists say it is the ratio of

the surplus to total GDP that is most

meaningful.

Meanwhile, China swung to a

$117.3 billion capital- and financial-

account deficit, from a $221.1 billion

surplus in 2011.

China’s buildup of foreign-ex-

change reserves slowed consider-

ably over the period. The country

acquired $98.7 billion of foreign

currency in 2012, down from $384.8

billion in 2011.

The data are preliminary and

subject to revision, SAFE said.

Economists continue to debate

whether the rebalancing of the Chi-

nese economy will prove to be a du-

rable trend, or whether it is merely

a function of the downturn of the

global economy since 2008.

In its statement Friday, SAFE

said it can’t rule out the possibility

that foreign capital will begin flow-

ing back into the country this year.

In addition, if economic growth re-

covers in major foreign markets like

Europe and the U.S., China’s trade

surplus could widen again, econo-

mists say.

But Mr. Huang from Barclays

said that while certain cyclical fac-

tors are at play in the rebalancing,

there are also long-term trends

within China driving the economy

toward greater reliance on domestic

demand, including higher wages and

capital costs.

“Even if we assume a dramatic

recovery in the rest of the world, we

are not going to see a return to the

very high surpluses that we had five

or six years ago,” he said.

Myanmar Set for Peace Talks

B Y S HIBANI M AHTANI

A ND C ELINE F ERNANDEZ

the fighting had continued.

The talks were scheduled for

Monday at the town of Ruili, inside

the Chinese border about four hours

traveling from Laiza. The Myanmar

Peace Center, a government body

that coordinates peace talks be-

tween the government and the

country’s myriad ethnic rebel

groups, said that the negotiators for

both sides were already in the town

on Sunday.

to the fighting after stray bombs

struck its territory.

Both sides have said in recent

days they won’t attack each other

unless attacked. The Kachin Inde-

pendence Organization’s statement

Friday said its forces would “not un-

dertake military activities that may

cause problems” if government

forces stop their offensives.

In a speech broadcast on na-

tional radio on Friday, Mr. Thein

Sein said Myanmar needs “to place

a special focus on political stability,

internal stability and national unity”

for reform efforts to succeed. He

said the peace process has reached

a “delicate and sensitive stage.”

The U.S., which showed its sup-

port for Mr. Thein Sein’s reforms

when President Barack Obama vis-

ited in November, has said that it

was “deeply troubled” by the con-

flict.

Conflict resumed between the

Kachin rebels, who desire greater

autonomy, and the military in late

2011 after a 17-year cease-fire.

Myanmar has been beset by rebel-

lion among its ethnic minorities for

decades and central authorities have

long viewed them as a threat to sta-

bility.

The previous military govern-

ment had eventually reached peace

agreements with most of the rebel

groups. The Kachins are the last ma-

jor group still fighting.

YANGON, Myanmar—Embattled

Kachin rebels and Myanmar’s gov-

ernment are set to hold peace talks

in China starting Monday, coordina-

tors said, taking a step toward stop-

ping weeks of intense fighting in

one of the last and bloodiest ethnic

conflicts in the country.

International pressure has been

building on President Thein Sein to

find a peaceful solution to the fight-

ing, which had sharpened criticism

that his quasi-civilian government

was unable to rein in the long-pow-

erful military, despite increasing in-

ternational support for his liberaliz-

ing political and economic reforms

aimed at rebuilding the country af-

ter decades of military dictatorship.

The Kachin Independence Orga-

nization acceded to the talks a week

after its forces, the Kachin Indepen-

dence Army, lost several strategic

posts that opened the way to their

headquarters town of Laiza to gov-

ernment forces.

The military pulled up short of

launching an all-out assault on the

town and the fighting has tapered

off over the past week.

The Myanmar military, which

had used jets and helicopters gun-

ships in its weekslong assault on the

rebels, had previously declared a

unilateral cease-fire last month but

International pressure

has been building on

Myanmar President

Thein Sein.

Peace Center officials said that

China had helped bring the parties

together in Ruili and said that Chi-

nese officials would witness but not

actually mediate the talks. Chinese

officials weren’t available late Sun-

day for comment.

Ye Htut, spokesman for Mr.

Thein Sein, said Sunday that he

wouldn’t comment on China’s role

or other aspects of the talks since

the process was continuing. But Bei-

jing, which has strategic economic

interests in Myanmar including oil

and gas pipelines under construc-

tion, had repeatedly called for a halt

4 | Monday, February 4, 2013

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

WORLD NEWS: ASIA

Jakarta Weighs Urban Railway Project

B Y B EN O TTO

She said her commute by taxi or

car takes about two hours each way

during average traffic—but only 30

minutes outside of peak hours—and

that she’d switch to taking the MRT

if it were built.

Jakarta’s first MRT line, a mix of

above- and below-ground stations,

would run from the capital’s land-

mark Hotel Indonesia traffic circle

to residential areas of South

Jakarta. MRT Jakarta, the city-

owned company overseeing the pro-

posal, says it would serve more than

400,000 passenger trips a day—

about half the number currently

served by Jakarta’s buses—upon its

completion several years from now.

Later stages could push total rail

length to more than 100 kilometers

over the next 15-to-20 years.

In addition to Mr. Widodo signal-

ing that a financing deal has been

reached, experts point to another

important achievement: outreach to

encourage residents to accept con-

struction in several communities

along the proposed line appears to

be working.

But not everyone is a fan of the

MRT project.

Yoga Adiwinarto, country direc-

tor for the independent Institute for

Transportation and Development

Policy, says the MRT plans are out-

dated, duplicating routes already

served by other public transports

and servicing areas that, years after

the plans were first made, are no

longer Jakarta’s most crowded.

Instead his organization, funded

largely by the United Nations Envi-

ronment Program, promotes the ex-

pansion of Jakarta’s Bus Rapid

Transit system, or BRT, a network of

lanes along Jakarta’s major thor-

oughfares that is open only to

buses.

At more than 200 kilometers, he

says the busway is the longest in

the world, although it falls far short

of world leaders Bogotá and Guang-

zhou in terms of comfort, conve-

nience and number of riders served.

“BRT is 21st-century technology.

MRT is the century before,” he said.

“We can achieve everything the

MRT could have faster and cheaper

with buses and railways.”

Others say the MRT is best con-

ceived not as a transportation proj-

ect, but as a means to revitalize

downtown areas by offering oppor-

tunities for commercial develop-

ment, as in Hong Kong and Singa-

pore.

“As a transport project, it is an

expensive project,” said Danang

Parikset, chairman of the Indonesian

Transportation Society, an indepen-

dent organization of transportation

professionals. “But this is a project

that will transform Jakarta as an ur-

ban area.”

—I Made Sentana and Linda

Silaen contributed to this article.

Gridlock Relief

JAKARTA, Indonesia—Businesses

are waiting for word on whether

Jakarta will build a state-of-the-art

urban railway, a move analysts say

would be a signal the Indonesian

capital may finally be getting seri-

ous about tackling costly infrastruc-

ture problems.

The railway plan, which calls for

a $1.6 billion, 15.7-kilometer line in

the hub of Southeast Asia’s largest

economy, has been decades in the

making, and would come years after

neighboring Singapore and Bangkok

built similar systems to deal with

urban congestion.

Few believe the rail system by it-

self would solve Jakarta’s traffic

woes. Some urban-planning experts

argue that Jakarta’s Busway system

of buses in special lanes is cheaper

and faster. However, proponents of

the rail system—or MRT, for mass

rapid transit, as it’s known— say it

isn’t just about easing traffic, but

about transforming the city.

Andrew White, managing direc-

tor of the American Chamber of

Commerce in Jakarta, pointed to

Bangkok’s rail system as an example

of the benefits that can come from

a government’s commitment to in-

frastructure upgrades.

“Congestion there changed, and

things changed quickly,” Mr. White

said. “It all came together, with air-

ports and other developments.

That’s the great hope in Jakarta.”

Sofyan Basyir, chief executive of

Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Indonesia’s

second-largest bank by assets, said

Thursday he would welcome the

railway despite the expense.

“The MRT and other modes of

public transportation raise effi-

ciency and reduce a burden on the

people,” he said. “And, ultimately, it

can reduce a burden on the state by

cutting the number of vehicles using

subsidized fuels.”

Jakarta’s new governor, Joko

Widodo, has said central and city

governments have reached a new

deal in co-financing the project,

which he had earlier put on hold,

citing costs. On Wednesday, he told

reporters he would announce a deci-

sion on whether to go ahead with

the railway project “next week at

the latest.”

If Mr. Widodo says the rail proj-

ect will begin this year, it could sig-

nal a turning point for Jakarta.

In the wake of the Asian finan-

cial crisis in the late 1990s, Jakarta

largely ceased building new infra-

structure. Today, its seaports, air-

ports and roadways are notoriously

jammed, costing the city hundreds

of millions of dollars each year in

wasted time and fuel.

Last month, massive flooding in

the city, partly a result of limited in-

vestment in reservoirs, sewage sys-

Jakarta is looking at building its ﬁrst extensive urban railway system. While a larger system is hoped for, with two

lines running more than 100 kilometers, the ﬁrst stretch, costing an estimated $1.6 billion and offering riders 13

stops, would run about 16 kilometers from the Hotel Indonesia trafﬁc circle to residential areas in the city’s south.

PHILIPPINES

PHASE II

Under consideration

Total length: 8.1 km

Stations: 8

Travel time:

22.5

minutes

MALAYSIA

INDONESIA

SUMATRA

Jakarta

JAVA

PHASE I

Currently proposed

15.7 km

Stations: 13

Travel time:

minutes

East-west line

Under consideration

87 km

Sources: MRT Jakarta; Google (satellite map)

The Wall Street Journal

Vehicles queue during rush hour in Jakarta in September. At least 1,000 new vehicles are added to the city’s streets daily.

tems and canal ways, disrupted

businesses for days across much of

the metro area. Suryo Sulisto, chair-

man of the Indonesian Chamber of

Commerce, said Friday that flooding

cost businesses at least $3 billion.

The capital contributes more than

10% of Indonesia’s $900 billion

economy.

Traffic is a daily topic of conver-

sation in Jakarta, one of the biggest

cities in the world, with more than

10 million people. One thousand

new vehicles hit the streets of the

capital every day, largely the result

of the rise of an increasingly afflu-

ent middle class after years of

steady economic growth, while bus

use has steadily declined.

Transportation experts say that

barring a change to transportation

infrastructure, the city will face to-

tal gridlock by 2020. The state of

near paralysis regularly brings up

discussions about whether Jakarta

should relocate its capital to a less

congested region, such as Kaliman-

tan, in the Indonesian part of Bor-

neo.

“It’s gotten to the point where

you can’t even walk in Jakarta any-

more—the sidewalks are full of mo-

torcycles downtown,” said Amalia

Haryanto, an investment adviser

who lives on Jakarta’s outskirts and

works in the main business district.

Indonesia Graft Watchdog Detains Party Official

B Y A NDREAS I SMAR

A ND J OKO H ARIYANTO

Hasan Ishaaq, president of the Pros-

perous Justice Party, as a suspect in

a corruption case linked to imports

late Wednesday. Mr. Ishaaq, a law-

maker in Indonesia’s House of Rep-

resentatives, hasn’t been charged

and has denied wrongdoing.

When the antigraft commission

names someone a suspect, it means

it is accusing that person of wrong-

doing and intends to file formal

charges at a later date. The commis-

sion has the power to detain a sus-

pect during an investigation without

filing formal charges. Commission

spokesman Johan Budi told report-

ers that the body had found signifi-

cant evidence linking Mr. Ishaaq in

the case, saying he was suspected of

accepting bribes from a local im-

porter to help the company secure a

government contract. It was unclear

what role Mr. Ishaaq’s allegedly

played with regard to the contract.

Mr. Ishaaq was questioned by

commission officials in a 17-hour

session that began around midnight

on Thursday morning. On Thursday

evening, he was officially detained,

Mr. Budi said.

“I’m tendering my resignation as

the president of PKS so I can focus

on the legal proceedings,” Mr. Ishaaq

told reporters as he emerged briefly

at the end of questioning on Thurs-

day. He said he would cooperate

with the legal process. His lawyer,

Mohamad Assegaf, criticized the

commission for placing Mr. Ishaaq in

custody.

Until now, the PKS has enjoyed a

reputation as a relatively clean party

in Indonesia, where corruption is

rife in both politics and business. At-

tempts to reach the PKS for com-

ment weren’t successful. Founded

after the fall of Indonesia’s authori-

tarian ruler Suharto in late 1990s,

the party grew into one of the na-

tion’s biggest, largely on promises to

fight corruption in the world’s most

Muslim-populous nation.

The party ranks fourth in seats in

the legislature, with 57 of the 560

total, and is a member of the gov-

erning coalition. Party members

oversee the ministries of informa-

tion, social affairs and agriculture

under the administration of Presi-

dent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

JAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesia’s

antigraft watchdog has detained a

senior official of the country’s big-

gest Islamic party, prompting his

resignation and casting a cloud over

the party known for its anticorrup-

tion stance a year ahead of national

elections.

The Corruption Eradication

Commission , a government-created,

independent organization that has

powers of prosecution, named Luthfi

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Monday, February 4, 2013 | 5

WORLD NEWS: ASIA

Five Accused in Delhi

Rape Plead Not Guilty

Taiwanese Premier

Quits, Cites Health

B Y A RIES P OON

A ND F ANNY L IU

strong background in handling

cross-Strait relations, he is very

likely to follow his predecessor’s

track in maintaining a stable rela-

tionship with the U.S. and enhancing

interaction with China,” Mr. Yang

said.

Mr. Jiang, 52, joined the govern-

ment in 2004 as an adviser to the

Ministry of Education. The scholar-

turned-politician was named vice

premier last year.

The cabinet, also called the Exec-

utive Yuan, is the island’s highest

decision-making body and is jointly

appointed by the president and the

premier.

The last shuffle took place when

Mr. Ma was re-elected and Mr. Wu

Den-yih resigned as premier to be-

come vice president.

The president’s sliding popular-

ity can be seen in the streets of Tai-

pei, where anti-administration dem-

onstrations have become frequent,

expressing public discontent over a

deteriorating economy and such is-

sues as last year’s power-price in-

crease and imposition of a tax on

capital gains from stock trading.

The island’s export-reliant mar-

ket has been in the doldrums since

the onset of the euro-zone crisis in

2010. The slower-than-expected re-

covery in the U.S., along with weak-

ening China demand and stiff com-

petition from South Korea’s

booming tech industry, have stunted

Taiwan’s exports, which were down

2.3% in 2012 from the previous year.

B Y V IBHUTI A GARWAL

TAIPEI—Taiwan’s cabinet is ex-

pected to step down by Thursday, a

government spokesman said, follow-

ing the resignation Friday of Pre-

mier Sean Chen for health and fam-

ily reasons.

A shuffle of the 48-member cabi-

net is the practice following a

change in president or premier, and

President Ma Ying-jeou could take

the opportunity to try to improve

his popularity. Re-elected in January

2012 with 51% of the vote, he now

has an approval rating of 13%.

The Presidential Office said in a

statement that Mr. Chen, 63 years

old, will become a senior adviser to

the president. He will be succeeded

as premier by Jiang Yi-huah, cur-

rently vice premier, while Mao Chi-

kuo, the minister of transport and

communications, will become vice

premier, the statement said. It also

said central bank Gov. Perng Fai-

nan, a member of the cabinet, had

been reappointed for another five-

year term, while Economic Minister

Shih Yen-hsiang will be succeeded

by China Airlines Ltd. Chairman

Chang Chia-juch, and that there

would be further changes to the

cabinet.

At a news conference Friday, Mr.

Chen said, “I need to completely

change my work and lifestyle”—a

medical checkup last month having

“indicated that my health has

changed.” He added: “My wife said

I should devote my talent to the

economy, rather than devoting my

health.” He said he was discussing

details of the handover with the

president.

Political analysts said any cabi-

net changes are unlikely to affect

the continuing economic coopera-

tion and warming ties between Bei-

jing and Taipei, as long as President

Ma, who is considered China-

friendly, remains at the helm. A

shuffle would let Mr. Ma respond to

his declining popularity and doesn’t

suggest there will be drastic

changes in domestic or diplomatic

policies, said Yang Tai-shuenn, a po-

litical science professor at Taiwan’s

Chinese Culture University.

“Given Mr. Jiang doesn’t have a

NEW DELHI—Five men accused

of raping a young woman who later

died from her injuries entered not

guilty pleas at a special court in

New Delhi on Saturday, lawyers in-

volved in the case said.

The pleas come after a special

fast-track court Saturday framed

charges against the five men, who

are accused of assaulting and gang

raping the 23-year-old physiother-

apy student on a bus in India’s capi-

tal on Dec. 16. She died in a Singa-

pore hospital, where she had been

flown for treatment, on Dec. 29.

Public prosecutors have de-

manded that the five suspects be

charged under the Indian Penal

Code with crimes including murder,

gang rape, robbery and kidnapping.

Under current Indian law, the death

penalty can apply to those found

guilty of murder when the crime is

considered the “rarest of rare.”

Following public anger over the

episode, India’s president on Sunday

cleared an ordinance seeking to

strengthen criminal laws in cases of

sexual assault, making into law a

proposal that includes death as the

maximum punishment for severe

rape cases. “This [ordinance] will

come into effect immediately,” a

spokesman at India’s home ministry

told The Wall Street Journal.

The law now will need to be rati-

fied by Parliament within six weeks

of the start of the next session,

which opens Feb. 21.

The government late Friday had

proposed the ordinance, a legal or-

der made by the government when

Parliament isn’t in session, to curb

cases of sexual assault in the wake

of public demands for stern action

after the brutal gang rape. The inci-

dent spurred a public outcry and a

chorus of calls to strengthen laws

dealing with violence against

women, including the death penalty

for rape, prompting the swift action

from a government that typically

takes years to pass a bill in parlia-

ment.

The ordinance by the govern-

ment incorporated most of the sug-

gestions of a three-member panel

Women traveling inside a metro train compartment in New Delhi on Saturday.

led by former Chief Justice of India

J.S. Verma, set up a week after the

rape to propose ways of strengthen-

ing criminal laws in cases of sexual

assault. The government added the

death penalty in the ordinance de-

spite the Verma panel not recom-

mending it.

The government accepted the

panel’s suggestion that rape should

be made gender neutral, a senior

minister said Saturday, but didn’t

accept the proposal to remove an

exception for marital rape. In India,

husbands can’t be punished for rap-

ing their wives. The minister didn’t

say why the suggestion was re-

jected.

On Saturday afternoon, Judge

Yogesh Khanna passed an order

framing “12 charges against all five

men” in the rape trial, A.P. Singh,

defense lawyer for two of the five

accused, told the Journal.

Mr. Singh said the five men, who

were present in the court Saturday

afternoon, have pleaded not guilty

to all the charges.

Public prosecutors and defense

lawyers in the special fast-track

court finished presenting their case

in the court last week.

The trial will formally begin

Tuesday when the main complain-

ant—the victim’s male friend—and

three others will be present in the

court “to give their statements,” Mr.

Singh said.

A sixth person arrested in the

case was declared a minor by the

Juvenile Justice Board last week. He

will be tried separately and if con-

victed faces a maximum punishment

of three years in a reform facility.

The young woman and her male

friend were severely beaten with

iron rods after boarding a bus on

the night of Dec. 16. She was raped

and the two were stripped of their

clothes and thrown out of the mov-

ing vehicle.

The attack sparked public out-

rage and demands for the govern-

ment to implement laws to better

protect women.

The rape law includes the panel’s

suggestion that acid attacks also be

treated as a specific offense.

Acid attacks are currently prose-

cuted under a more general law of

“voluntarily causing grievous hurt

by dangerous weapons or means,”

which includes “any corrosive sub-

stance.”

Voyeurism and stalking will also

be punishable, while disrobing of a

woman in public could lead to pun-

ishment of three to seven years in

jail, a senior minister had said.

The government rejected a sug-

gestion for 10-year prison sentences

for military or police supervisors

who fail to control subordinates

who commit rape.

Taiwan’s departing Premier Sean Chen

Factory Data Suggest Asian Recovery Continues

B Y M ICHAEL S . A RNOLD

PMI from China is that it suggested

we were sort of plateauing at what

would be an anemic level of indus-

trial production for China, but the

HSBC number dispelled those fears.”

HSBC’s China PMI hit a two-year

high of 52.3 from December’s 51.5,

while the official PFLP number slid

to 50.4 from December’s 50.6. A fig-

ure above 50 indicates manufactur-

ing activity grew from the month

before.

Analysts said an expansion of the

official survey in January could help

explain the difference between the

two measurements. In addition, the

Lunar New Year holiday tends to

skew the figures for January and

February, making them less reliable

guides than in most months, ana-

lysts said.

China’s economic growth has re-

bounded since bottoming in the

third quarter of last year, with full-

year growth of 7.8% beating govern-

ment estimates. The new orders

subindex on both China PMIs rose in

gested the region’s recovery from

the global slowdown remains on

track, particularly in countries

where strong domestic markets can

drive growth when demand from

the West lags.

HSBC’s PMI for India showed

manufacturing activity growing at

its slowest pace in three months,

but it remained well within expan-

sionary territory at 53.2.

The government’s recent reform

push, steadily gaining momentum,

should add to growth going forward,

said Leif Eskesen, an economist at

HSBC.

The HSBC PMI for Vietnam also

showed expansion, while a slow-

down in Indonesia—where the HSBC

PMI came in a hair below the boom-

bust line of 50—was seen as reflect-

ing January floods in Jakarta, which

also contributed to Friday’s high in-

flation print.

“The export order numbers are

strong in Indonesia and the backlog

of work continues to rise, so we’re

still quite confident” about its pros-

pects, Mr. Eskesen said.

The picture was mixed for Asia’s

more export-oriented economies.

HSBC’s PMI for Taiwan showed

activity growing at its fastest pace

since last March, while in South Ko-

rea the headline PMI figure slipped

barely into contraction at 49.9, from

50.1. Still, new orders rose in South

Korea, suggesting activity is poised

to pick up.

Separate data from Seoul on Fri-

day showed exports grew 11.8% in

January.

Australia bucked the regional

trend, with manufacturing contract-

ing for the eleventh-straight month

as a slowing economy and a strong

local dollar squeezed producers.

The Australian Industry Group

Performance of Manufacturing In-

dex fell sharply to 40.2, from 44.3 in

December.

Beijing Bounce

Minute-to-minute U.S. dollar to

Australian dollar movement on

Friday morning

HONG KONG—Manufacturing

data out of Asia on Friday suggested

the region’s economic recovery is

continuing and should pick up

steam as the year goes on.

An official purchasing managers'

index from the China Federation of

Logistics and Purchasing fell slightly

in January from December and

missed expectations, but remained

in expansionary territory.

The data briefly sent risk curren-

cies such as the Australian and New

Zealand dollars down sharply, but

they recovered when an alternative

gauge from HSBC and Markit Eco-

nomics that places more emphasis

on smaller, private companies

showed China’s manufacturing ex-

pansion accelerated in January.

“I’m pretty confident that the

worst [of Asia’s slowdown] is be-

hind us,” said Tim Condon, ING’s

head of research for Asia. “The dis-

concerting thing about the official

US$1.044

1.042

Ofﬁcial

PMI

released

1.040

HSBC China

PMI released

1.038

9:00

a.m.

10:00

a.m.

Source: FactSet

The Wall Street Journal

January, and this “continuing

strengthening of demand will ensure

steady production in the months

ahead,” Citigroup economist Ding

Shuang said.

Around Asia, data Friday sug-

—Liyan Qi in Beijing

and Enda Curran in Sydney

and contributed to this article.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: