MALAYSIA TO SET UP 4,000 WIFI VILLAGES BY 2012

osmanlee.com

By the end of 2012, about 4000 WiFi villages will be set up nationwide as part of the Government’s initiative to bring the benefits of broadband to the citizens.According to Information, Communications and Culture Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim, at present there are only about 1,400 WiFi villages in the country and are mostly found in Perlis, Sabah, and Sarawak. “We are in the process of building electronic towers in Sabah and Sarawak, therefore our big enrolment drive to create Malaysia as an internet community is there now,” he said. 

  

The average cost of the project for each village is about RM25,000 (USD 7,800) to RM 32,000 (USD 10,000). The villages would be provided with the normal computerising system with broadband facility which will be free of charge for the first three months, while a minimum of RM10 (USD 3) per month would be charged subsequently. 

The WiFi village project is an important component in helping the Government realise its objective of becoming a high-income and high skilled nation driven by innovation and a knowledgeable society. The Government hopes that recipients of the facility will regard broadband as a necessity in their daily lives, not only as an unlimited resource to obtain useful information and as a means to connect with other people, but also in the conduct of their business and work. 

The Minister added that in order to expand the use of the facility, an educational process in terms of sharing knowledge and experiences by relevant agencies are crucial to further increase the number and performance of online businesses in the country. “What is lacking is the systematic educational system to teach our young and older generation how to do business online in a manner that it is a culture with great returns besides garnering confidence,” he said. 

futuregov.asia

Creating a vision of Japan: Achieving e-government

More than 11 years have already passed since the news flash that sounded like a bad joke. “Prime Minister Mori refers to IT as ‘it.’” The following year, the Basic Act on the Formation of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society came into force in January 2001. Article 20 of this law states that necessary action shall be “taken to actively promote IT in administration, such as increased use of the Internet and other advanced information and telecommunications networks in the Government of Japan and in local public entities, in order to increase convenience for citizens and to help improve simplicity, efficiency and transparency of administrative operations.”

 

he whole idea to “increase convenience for citizens” was that online and one-stop access to various administrative services would reduce the burden on the people in terms of both time and cost. As for “improve simplicity of administrative operations,” the objective here was to increase the speed and to radically reduce the cost of administrative procedures. 

This was supposed to be accomplished through the development of a paperless environment, adoption of common formats for administrative documents, and the consolidation and centralization of the government’s information systems. 

However, as pointed out in the 2010 White Paper on Information and Communications, Japan continues to lag far behind other countries in the area of utilization of information technologies in the public sector. According to the 2010 UN e-Government Readiness Index, Japan ranks 17th in the world. (The top 10 countries in 2010 were: (1) Korea, (2) United States, (3) Canada, (4) United Kingdom, (5) Netherlands, (6) Norway, (7) Denmark, (8) Australia, (9) Spain, (10) France.) 

While the year 2000 was widely acclaimed in Japan to be the “first year in the IT era,” in the ensuing years, the government has been unable to make satisfactory progress toward the computerization of its administrative operations. 

The main reasons for slow progress are: (1) failure to introduce a national identification number system that would serve as the foundation of e-government, (2) undue emphasis on hardware and failure to take the users’ perspective into account, and (3) problems related to the government’s approach to promoting computerization. 

Starting with the first reason, a national identification number system constitutes a fundamental prerequisite for e-government and must be pursued as a top priority. However, action on this front has been postponed because politicians and government administrators feared public outcry and opposition. As a result, individual ministries and agencies have each developed their own systems and formats for processing and filing administrative data (such as the attributes of citizens). 

Consequently, almost no progress has been made in paperless and one-stop administrative services. Much worse, the public’s faith in the system has been seriously shaken by the scandalous situation surrounding the “missing pension records.” 

As for the second reason, which relates to undue emphasis on hardware (infrastructure) and the failure to take the users’ perspective into account, almost no effort has been made in business process re-engineering (BPR). 

Instead, all that has been done is to computerize existing administrative systems. As a result, the old problems that relate to rigid and compartmentalized government administration have remained intact and very little progress has been made in providing the public with access to paperless and one-stop administrative procedures.

The third reason is rooted in inadequacies related to the government’s approach to promoting computerization. Normally, one would expect the IT Strategic Headquarters to take the lead in this process. However, unfortunately, this organization has not been given centralized control over the budget and administrative authority for promoting e-government. 

Consequently, it has not been able to function effectively as a centralized command post that transcends the vertical divisions in government administration. Over the years, a number of programs have been formulated and approved by successive cabinets, starting with the “Basic IT Strategy” of 2000 and continuing on to the “e-Japan Strategy” of 2001, the “e-Japan Strategy II” of 2003, the “New IT Reform Strategy” of 2006, the “i-Japan Strategy 2015” of 2009, and the “New Strategy in Information and Communications Technology” of 2010. Notwithstanding these well-intentioned plans, it seems that all that has been done is the repeated postponement of the achievement of specific goals and formulation of new policies. 

What a tragic waste of time and effort. The outcome of all of this is that Japan now lags far behind other countries in the area of e-government. So, what should Japan do to catch up? I am proposing the following “actions.” 

1. Recruit Government CIO from the Private Sector

The first order of business should be to go to the private sector to recruit a CIO (chief information officer) for the government, and to place all the budget and authority for promoting e-government under the CIO. This authority should extend to all areas of government administration, including local governments. Consider what India has done in recruiting outstanding individuals from the private sector to benefit from their knowledge and experience. 

For instance, Nandan Nilekani, Co-Chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd, has been appointed the head of the government’s IT agency (the post is equivalent to cabinet minister). I have met Nandan Nilekani on several occasions, but the interesting thing is that he was at the helm of a global company as CEO of Infosys until immediately before his appointment and move to the government post. Japan should follow this example. 

The CIO posts at various government ministries and agencies as well as in local government bodies should be filled by individuals from the private sector with high levels of expertise. For these posts, “100 Actions” recommends individuals such as Masayuki Makino, CEO of Works Applications, who has valuable experience in starting an IT software company. 

It is generally understood that the IT industry is primarily engaged in the development of basic and product software. However, in the case of Japan, the majority of the companies in this industry are involved in providing IT-related services including systems operation and the dispatch of temporary staff. 

With the proliferation of cloud computing, we are going to see a strong movement toward “software as a service.” This development is going to increase the demand for people with software know-how. What kind of staff should be working under the government CIO? 

I strongly recommend recruiting human resources from the private sector to organize teams of experts in such areas as optimizing operational efficiency. With this strong and effective mechanism in place, the government CIO should work to speed the process of e-government by steamrolling over any opposition.

2. Promptly Introduce National Identification Number System and Launch Online Administrative Procedures 

In Korea, six types of government documents (certificate of residence, etc) can be issued and printed out directly at home, and one-stop online access is available for almost all administrative procedures, including life events (such as change of address, marriage, school enrollment, and retirement). It is notable that Japan and Korea have very similar systems in such fundamental practices as family registry, seal registry, and national pension system. 

Why is then that Japan cannot do what Korea has accomplished? One of the most serious bottlenecks obstructing the advance of e-government in Japan is the absence of a national identification number system that can serve as a common foundation for verification of identity. Japan must adopt such a system as soon as possible.

The fact of the matter is that almost all of the top ranking countries in the 2010 U.N. e-Government Readiness Index have instituted some form of national identification number system or social security number system. An essential prerequisite for introducing such a system would be to take appropriate actions to ensure the protection of personal information.

Options would include the establishment of an independent organization and mechanisms enabling individuals to confirm the contents of information held by government agencies concerning themselves. To realize greater convenience for the public, a “Law Prohibiting Repeated Request for Personal Information” (provisional title) should be enacted so that any individual filing an application with the government, in principle, will not need to enter or attach any personal information that other administrative agencies already have in their possession. 

If such a system were established, imagine how convenient it would be and how less stressful it would be for the applicant. As a goal for the future, a system for electronic voting should be considered for both national and local elections. As the first step in this direction, I strongly recommend that the ban on Internet-based election campaigning be quickly lifted so as to allow this type of activity in the next national election. Why all this foot dragging? 

There is absolutely no reason to maintain the ban on Internet-based campaign activities. Therefore, act immediately to lift the ban! 

3. Connect the Public and Private Sectors at All Levels 

 

By connecting the public and private sectors at all levels, government information can be transformed into a public good (transformation into social information resource). With this in mind, the government should take the following actions as soon as possible. 

(1) Establish computerized and paperless processing of administrative procedures between all government ministries and agencies.

(2) Standardize all administrative documents, budget statements, and government accounting statements exchanged between central and local governments.

(3) Enable online exchange between government and all businesses and corporate bodies. The government should make the transition from conventional cabinet meetings and Diet deliberations to “e-cabinet” and “e-Diet” formats.

I earnestly hope that in so doing the legislative branch (Diet members) will show the people their strong determination to speed up the deliberative process and cut costs by moving to a paperless environment. The government has at its disposal a vast volume of statistical data and information obtained by surveys. 

This body of information should be treated as a public good (social information resource). After taking appropriate measures to ensure the protection of personal information, in principle, all such data and information should be made readily accessible through the Internet.

I have presented three specific proposals: 

(1) recruit government CIO from the private sector, 

(2) introduce a national identification number system and launch online administrative procedures, and 

(3) connect the public and private sectors at all levels. 

By implementing these measures, Japan will be able to “increase convenience for citizens” and “improve simplicity of administrative operations” in the spirit of the Basic Act on the Formation of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society that was enacted in 2000. 

Needless to say, it will be very important to continue to meet the needs of people with low IT skills. For this part of the population, government offices should maintain their current counter services. Japan must take positive action in promoting the computerization of government that will also contribute to raising the general level of productivity. 

By doing so, Japan can not only show its superiority in the area of communications but also in the area of IT. It goes without saying that at least 20% of the tax money spent should be allocated to orders placed with startup companies. 

Consider the myriad benefits to be reaped by the application of IT to government administration: increased convenience for citizens; simplification of administrative operations; raising the IT skills of the Japanese people and Japanese businesses; and, fostering the development of startup companies. I sincerely hope that the foot dragging will come to an end and that bold “actions” will be implemented without any further delay. 

JapanToday.com | Yoshito Hori The writer is president and dean of GLOBIS University and managing partner of GLOBIS Capital Partners.

Cyber security threats are evolving

Hackers group Lulzsec has intensified its action against cyber security and has even teamed up with group Anonymous to counter foreign government efforts to track them down. LulzSec announced its decision to team up with Anonymous via its Twitter and website: "To increase efforts, we are now teaming up with the Anonymous collective and all affiliated battleships."- KoreaITTimes

THREATS TO CYBER SECURITY are evolving and businesses need to learn from attacks by Lulzsec and Anonymous, speakers said at a cyber security panel discussion today. At a Westminister Eforum, Defence Select Committee member Julian Brazier told the audience that "very few people understand the sheer scale and spectrum of the threat we face". Andy Dancer, CTO at Trend Micro explained that the nature of cyber threats is changing, and cyber attacks are targeting individuals, rather than an entire company at once.
He said, "Previously threats went out to the targets [attackers] could see. Now its point of entry and then focus on machines on the inside, impersonate the user if I can't get access to their machine. It's not an outbreak that hits all machines one at a time, it's an individual that slowly takes over.


" He added, "From the point of entry to compromise, it happens very quickly. It's very difficult to keep up with patching because you can't apply patches quickly enough. It often takes weeks for patches to be applied but just hours to compromise a system." Mike Hawkes, chair of the Mobile Data Association said that companies need to learn from attacks by hacktivists such as Anonymous and Luzsec.

He said, "We are going to be invaded and we need to be prepared to be invaded across all devices." He added that the next big attack "comes through data", pointing to the fact that entire networks have been down because of issues. Hawkes said, "If your only solution is to take down your network them you aren't doing things in the right way."

theinquirer.net | RT

Delhi commuters may have to wait for ‘Oyster' cards

Commuters in Delhi may have to wait longer for the prepaid, multimodal travel card — a smart card that can be used across the metro trains and public transport buses. Even as the validity of bids invited to implement such a project ends this month, the Transport Department of Delhi Government is yet to take a call on the issue. In July, Cubic Transportation Systems, the company which helps manage London's Oyster card, had emerged as the lowest bidder to implement the project for Delhi, a Government official in the know told Business Line.

  

Cubic Transportation is a business unit of NYSE-listed Cubic Corporation. 

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The terms of reference for this project included setting up and maintaining the back-end settlement systems between various agencies such as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Delhi Transport Corporation. The programming of the card is proposed to be done by Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System, a 50:50 joint venture between the Delhi Government and IDFC. 

metro.co.uk

The cost for implementing the project would be about Rs 80-100 crore annually, an official said. The Transport Department of Delhi, which is mandated to decide on the issue, did not reply to Business Line's e-mail.

Internationally, cities like Hong Kong, London, Singapore, and Sydney have such multi-modal cards for use across various modes of public transportation. 

Another official who had been involved in the process said that there first needs to be an agreement between various stakeholders – Delhi Metro, 

Delhi Transport Corporation and multiple private agencies that operate public transport buses here. 

FOOLPROOF

Additionally, there is the issue of ensuring that commuters do not try to short change on the bus trips. “The ticketing system for Delhi Metro is quite foolproof. But, how do you ensure that commuters in Delhi buses religiously swipe their card without being monitored,” asked the official.

thehindubusinessline.com

24 Juta KTP Elektronik Malaysia, MyKad Edisi Baru Jauh Lebih Canggih

akukamusemua.blogspot.com

Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein telah mengumumkan bahwa Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) akan mengeluarkan MyKad baru mulai Januari tahun depan. MyKad atau semacam KTP elektronik yang baru dimulai di Indonesia, diyakini memiliki fitur keamanan yang jauh lebih baik. MyKad baru ini juga dinyatakan mampu mereduksi permasalahan pemalsuan MyKad terdahulu serta masalah cip yang gampang rusak. "MyKad dengan struktur baru ini lebih berkualitas dan mengikuti ketentuan-ketentuan keamanan, sesuai dengan perkembangan waktu, keadaan dan tantangan masa mendatang. MyKad baru akan dibuat dari bahan "polycarbonate" yang lebih kuat serta dilengkapi dengan permukaan kartu yang dipolakan oleh laser." Penerbitan MyKad edisi baru ini dipastikan akan lebih mempermudah masyarakat dalam pemanfaatan Mykad untuk berbagai urusan," ujar Hishammuddin sebagaimana dikabarkan malaysiatoday.com.

 

Terkait penerbiatan MyKad baru, sebuah konsorsium yang terdiri berbagai perusahaan yang mewakili Pemerintah Malaysia telah menunjuk Unisys. Sementara itu Unisys telah mengumumkan bahwa cabangnya Unisys MSC telah menerima kontrak berjangkawaktu 2 tahun senilai USD35 juta sebagai bagian program nasional peluncuran project Smart Card MyKad. 

Proyek ini akan diimplementasikan dan dikembangkan oleh Unisys dan konsorsium. Terobosan kartu identitas yang multi aplikasi di Malaysia merupakan yang pertama dalam pemerintahan-pemerintahan di dunia yang menggunakan teknologi termaju dan saat ini Malaysia adalah negara yang memanfaatkan smart card dalam jumlah terbesar, 19 juta smart card telah diterbitkan hingga saat ini. 

Dibawah kontrak baru, Unisys akan menjamin semua aplikasi MyKad akan berjalan 24x7 pada pusat data Government Service Centre. Termasuk didalamnya dukugan perwatan dan perbaikan pada sistem-sistem hardware dan aplikasi-aplikasi sofware, juga mencakup server-server Unisys ES7000 dan ES2045 yang menjadi jangkar implementasi. 

Dukungan tenaga ahli Unysis juga termasuk dalam kontrak yang dilakukan oleh pemerintah Malaysia. MyKad baru memanfaatkan teknologi chip dan biometrik terbaru, untuk menjamin akurasi tingkat tinggi, memungkinkan lebih dari 24 juta warga Malaysia melakukan transaksi dengan nyaman dan tentu saja bagi sektor-sektor pemerintah dan swasta melalui penggunaan smartcard tunggal.  

Dibenamkan dengan teknologi digital terunggul,MyKad telah berpadu dengan strategi e-Government Malaysia dan menyediakan berbagi pengembangan masa mendatang dan berbagai tambahan untuk mendorong e-Government Malaysia dan berbagai inisiatif e-Commerce. MyKad yang berjalan sejak 1999, kini memasuki tahapan yang sangat maju. 

Penunjukan Unisys oleh konsorsium yang bekerja untuk kepentingan pemerintah Malaysia, akan berperan sebagai induk integrator berbagai sistem untuk implementasi MyKad. Sebagai satu-satunya titik kontrak dan refrensi antara pemerintah Malaysia dan 5 penyedia solusi yang ada dalam naungan Konsorsium Government Multipurpose Card (GMPC). 

 MalaysiaToday.com |lovelifesr.com|Martin Simamora

China Pledges to Crack down on Software Piracy at the Local Government Level

Chinese officials on Monday assured U.S. Commerce and Trade representatives that the Asian nation is taking the necessary steps to ensure that local government agencies use only licensed and legitimate software. Speaking at the 22nd Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan pledged that the provincial software legalization program for every provincial entity will be wrapped up by the middle of 2012, and that the same steps will be taken at the municipal and county level by the following year.

  

In addition, China has vowed to allocate additional resources toward audit and inspection programs for software used by government agencies, the results of which will be published and made available for public viewing. China has also asked its county and municipal governments to bring its software under the umbrella of a state asset management system, which should help further ensure that software licenses are current. 

The commitments represent another step forward in China's efforts to crack down on software piracy, which resulted in more than $7.5 billion in revenue losses for vendors in 2009. In fact, nearly 80 percent of all software downloaded on Chinese users' PCs in 2010 was pirated, according to PC world, citing the Business Software Alliance (BSA). 

While tackling software piracy outside of local government walls will be difficult, Qishan said that the state will undertake enterprise software management pilot projects and work to encourage the use of legitimate software among Chinese companies. 

Robert Holleyman II, president and CEO of the global advocacy group BSA, told the New York Times that the organization is happy to see China take its "software legalization to the next level" but will hold off on celebrating a victory until it sees results. Holleyman pointed to earlier software legalization pledges that China made on the central government level that have seemingly yet to bear fruit. 

He told the Times that no sufficient technical evidence of reduced software privacy at that level has been produced and that no correlated spike in software sales has been observed. “We believe that’s a promise that is unfulfilled,” Holleyman told the paper.

“We don’t want to see that repeated at provincial and municipal levels too.” China and the U.S. also used the meeting to announce several cooperative initiatives, including increased efforts to crack down on online counterfeiting and bad faith trademark filings. 

tmcnet.com

China unveils £1 trillion green technology programme

To fulfill the spending target, the central Chinese government itself would most likely not deliver the bulk of the money, but would seek to spur spending by corporations, investment by local governments and lending by banks. Photo: AFP/Getty

China has confirmed that it plans to pour £1.1 trillion (10 trillion yuan) into the so-called "strategic sectors" over the coming five years, US Commerce Secretary John Bryson told said during a visit to Chengdu, China. The confirmation of the huge sum of money showed Beijing's ambition to shift the growth engine of the world's second largest economy to cleaner and hi-tech sectors while also boosting domestic growth as the global economy struggles.  

The package - equivalent to the entire GDP of Italy - is two and a half times the size of the four trillion yuan fiscal stimulus launched during the global financial crisis in 2008. There were also concerns that China would scale back some investment plans, notably the manufacturing of hi-speed railway equipment, after a deadly train crash.

But Mr Bryson said the Chinese officials in Chengdu have not scaled back their ambitions. "Much of the emphasis on the emerging industries and the $1.7 trillion investment was focused on clean energy and clean energy technology," Bryson said, following a US-China Joint Commission of Commerce and Trade meeting. Chinese officials have promised that overseas firms will have access to contracts during the growth in these sectors.

"We had a very good dialogue on China's strategic emerging industries and we welcome China's commitment that it will create a fair and level playing field for US companies in those industries," Bryson said. According to Beijing, the targeted sectors include alternative energy, biotechnology, new-generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, advanced materials, alternative-fuel cars and energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies.

To fulfill the spending target, the central Chinese government itself would most likely not deliver the bulk of the money, but would seek to spur spending by corporations, investment by local governments and lending by banks.

telegraph.co.uk

e-Government and the Cloud

Comparing Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud Computing Options

dummies.com

Why governments are looking at moving services to the Cloud, out of their own internal systems and networks to the Cloud, what the challenges are in that move and what also the drivers are for that move. So, just starting off, the reason that governments and also enterprises as well are looking at moving services to the Cloud is to lower costs. They see that moving services into a shared, onto a shared infrastructure will reduce the cost base, allow them to react more flexibly and elastically to demands from citizens and demand for those services, also improving the types of public service and the range of public services that are available to citizens.

So, for example, information that previously could not be accessed by citizens such as census data, economic data or land data can now be accessed via a Cloud-based service. And also looking across different government departments to aggregate that information and enable more detailed analysis around information. 

And again make that available to citizens for their use, and also internally to the government department for their use. And finally a bit Big Brother-esque is to look at gaining more insight into their citizens in what they are doing, how they are interacting with the government, how they are interacting with each other and any trends that may be emerging that they need to examine. 

So the drivers that governments are seeing for moving services and also infrastructure in the Cloud are very similar to the drivers that enterprises are seeing. And some of the challenges and decisions that they will have to face are also quite similar. So, looking at the decisions and the challenges, and the decisions and challenges labelled on this are the wrong way round. 

The decisions that need to be made are around the choice of services that are going to be migrated into the Cloud, the choice of model that’s going to be used to deploy those services, and the rate and extent of that migration. 

Do they go quickly to the Cloud, migrate from a CapEx model to an OpEx model as quickly as possible, and meet those benefits early, or do they delay the migration, get a little bit more comfort on some of the challenges that they will face and deploy in a more phased fashion? And on the challenges one of the things that’s been touched on quite in-depth in the previous two sessions has been around data ownership governance and security of that information when it is moved to the Cloud.

That raises a few particular challenges that we’ll just touch on here, not to the level of technical detail that we had earlier, but just to raise some of the challenges and hopefully get a bit of a discussion going. Another challenge, of course, is on the interoperability side across departments and with legacy applications that aren’t Cloud-based. If you’re moving some services into the Cloud and some infrastructure into the Cloud but not all of it, then you’ll face interoperability challenges. 

And finally, particularly in emerging markets such as some of the markets in Asia-Pac you do find that an availability of infrastructure as being an issue. So if you’re looking at moving government services and government infrastructure into the Cloud that has to cover national boundaries rather than regional or urban areas. And that often makes it difficult because of the lack of fixed line infrastructure, and the need to rely on wireless infrastructure in these markets. And again we’ll just touch on that later on. 

So just moving into some of the decisions that need to be made around the deployment model, I suspect most people in the room know this already but there are three broad types of Cloud service. There is infrastructure as a service, there is platform as a service and there is software as a service. They are some new variations of those three emerging now. 

There’s data as a service, communication as a service and also network as a service emerging, just slight variations on theme. So the type of model that a government is looking to deploy will depend on the types of services their looking to move into the Cloud. 

Typically, if its infrastructure based it’s around data storage, data aggregation and access to processing power on a flexible basis. If you look at more software as a service it’s delivering those services to citizens, and also perhaps moving their own internal email systems, internal CRM and HR systems and so on into the Cloud. 

In terms of the types of Cloud that can be deployed, again something that probably most people in the room are aware of. There are four broad types there is the private Cloud which is often seen as an extension of the existing on-premise solution. It’s a single tenant solution. It’s, in terms of security and privacy and so on, its viewed as being a little bit more secure and private than other variations of the Cloud, so perhaps a safe bet for organisations and government departments that are concerned about those aspects in particular. 

Public Cloud’s are more open, typically shared access to infrastructure, shared infrastructure [if you] get economies of scale coming in there, typically managed and owed by the provider rather than by the entity deploying services into the Cloud. And this is often used by SMEs and start-ups as a way to lower the entry costs for them coming into business. 

Typically not at the moment something that governments are particularly focusing on for some of the more secure and privacy focused data and information that have, but something that governments are actually quite interested in, in terms of economies and scale and the flexibility that, that gives them. 

The next one is community Cloud’s which is a sort of extended private Cloud where it serves multiple users with very similar requirements and needs. And often you actually find that governments and government agencies fall into this category and often find community Cloud’s quite interesting, because it gives them an extension of a private Cloud, greater economies of scale without perhaps some of the security concerns that crop up in a public Cloud. 

And then finally hybrid Cloud’s where you have a mix of private and the public Clouds, save for the private cloud used for a lot of internal systems and public Cloud perhaps used for [off-site] back up and so on. So drilling into some actual specific examples of what governments have been doing around moving services to the Cloud, and also their own infrastructure into the Cloud. 

The US has been very forceful in their stated intent to move services into the Cloud, government services into the Cloud. And the CIO recent Federal Cloud Computing Strategy it was published around January or February of this year, specifically stated that there would be a Cloud burst approach for government departments from that point on, so they would look to deploy applications and services into the Cloud rather than on dedicated infrastructure. 

And they’ve also provided a range of case studies of existing departments and agencies that have deployed services into the Cloud that other agencies can look at to learn from the challenges that they faced and the approaches that they’ve adopted to overcome those challenges. And within that Cloud computing strategy they set out a decision framework for how to migrate services into the Cloud, to make sure that those services are migrated smoothly and efficiently and for the best benefit in terms of cost and service level for the citizens and also for the government departments. 

It’s a three stage process, the first stage is to select which services are to be migrated, looking at Cloud readiness and Cloud that takes into account whether those services are ready to be migrated to the Cloud in terms of interoperability, availability of suitable Cloud-based applications and so on, and the value that will be gained in migrating those services to the Cloud in terms of cost savings or additional services for citizens and so on. 

And then it goes through the different stages of then provisioning those services and then managing those services. And as well as the US there are a number of other markets that are looking at similarly migrating a lot of government infrastructure and government services into the Cloud, and offering e-Government services that way. 

There are some examples up here, it’s certainly not an exhaustive list, a quick search on Google and around a few government websites will yield a few more hits. The UK has got a very clear statement again around using the public Cloud first with a private government Cloud in place for government services that aren’t suited to the public Cloud. And their also undergoing a consolidation of government-owned data centres to bring that all into one common data centre rather than having fragmentation there to reduce costs and to save costs there. 

That’s quite similar to the approach the Singapore Government is using. Again, they’ve stated their going to use public Cloud if appropriate with a whole of government private [G] Cloud available where security and governance needs imply that public Cloud is not the place to put those services. And they also actually allow the individual agencies to deploy and operate their own private Clouds, but can interoperate with this whole of government G Cloud. 

Again, if there are security and governance concerns that mean that, that particular agency would like their own private Cloud rather than using a shared Cloud. So the private G Cloud in Singapore is very similar to the community Cloud that I mentioned earlier, it’s a shared Cloud across government departments to use.

We also have examples in Japan of across-department collaboration in a nation-wide cross-department collaboration, and interoperability among local governments collaboration for the Cloud as well, so their very keen on Cloud deployment, deployment of e-Gov services. 

India’s unique identification initiative is going to be deployed in the Cloud to address some of the computing and processing challenges that they see emerging from that. And similarly the European Commission in Thailand have looked at moving quite a few services into the Cloud to save costs and improve interaction with citizens. 

Just pulling down into some of the challenges that the different governments and different agencies see, there was a survey carried out, again started this year by InformationWeek India. I don’t know if we’ve got anybody in the room from that magazine, but if we do then thank you very much for this information. 

The main concern raised by the public sector in terms of Cloud computing challenges is very much around security of systems and data, so something that fits very well with the discussion this morning around there are loss of — the perceived loss of control of that data if it moves into a Cloud-based infrastructure, how they ensure that, that information is secure, how they ensure that people can’t get access that shouldn’t have access to it and so on. 

And you see a very rapid drop down the different challenges that are seen there by the public sector. Again the compatibility with legacy applications and processes is raised as an issue. And then you’re into more cultural resistance within the IT department, perhaps looking to protect some of the jobs there as well, going into lack of expertise and experience all the way down to the difficulty that is seen, again within enterprises and government, around actually establishing a business case for the Cloud migration. 

So in terms of overcoming some of those challenges, not looking into great detail on the technical side of things, in some ways that is an issue for the vendors to address,we’ve had some good presentations this morning on that, and I’m sure there will be more discussion on that in the rest of the sessions. 

In terms of the security and governance and privacy of the data one option is to use private Clouds in the short term or where there are concerns over putting information into the public Cloud. That is something that as I said earlier that Singapore and the UK are very happy to have happen. 

Obviously that doesn’t generate the same cost savings and benefits to the government that using the public Cloud [across] all services would generate. But there is the challenge about security and privacy that they having to address there. Vendors will have to be very closely involved. 

This is much more of a partnership approach than a hands off approach that governments often used to take. Appropriate SLAs need to be put into place. And very importantly it’s essential that governments work with development legal authorities and regulators to identify any potential any legal loopholes about storing data outside of the country, outside of government premises and so on, and to close those loopholes, perhaps taking reference from some more mature markets such as the financial markets and so on. And then on the interoperability side helping to overcome the challenges of interoperability, this was addressed in the Cloud Computing Strategy from the US Government. 

Looking at identifying services that are ready to be moved to the Cloud with little additional work, and taking a stepped and phased approach there rather than going too fast, too soon. And also working again closely with vendors to make sure legacy support with the applications are already deployed within the Government. And finally it’s about sharing best practice and information on what’s been done elsewhere. What’s been successful, what hasn’t been successful? 

What challenges have been faced, and how those challenges have been overcome? And then finally just moving onto the issue that is quite pressing in a lot of the emerging markets across the globe in Asia-Pacific, in South America, in Africa and so on, is around about the availability of suitable infrastructure to enable services to be moved into the Cloud and still be accessed on a consistent and reactive basis by the departments that are looking to use those services. 

A lot of governments are looking at deploying new networks or addressing issues with fixed line infrastructure and broadband infrastructure in markets through national broadband plans. One of the tenants that goes into that is actually around the government being a leading user of broadband services and of infrastructure. And the Cloud can actually enable that by the government taking a leading role and putting a guaranteed spend or revenue in with providers of a new network. 

It doesn’t address the issue completely because you have the challenge being faced between using fixed line networks, some access to the Cloud and wireless networks for other access to the Cloud. And that’s one challenge that I think a lot of application providers and vendors will have to address about the different latency issues and the different throughput issues. And that’s something that the government can certainly take a leading role in, by deploying their services into the Cloud and demonstrating to enterprise in the private sector that there is an opportunity there for migration of services and infrastructure. 

So, just to wrap up, governments as is the case of enterprises see Cloud Computing as a way to lower costs, as a way to improve services and as a way to in a Big Brother style, gain greater insight into citizens. However, there are a range of decisions and challenges to be faced in making that migration around the choice of deployment model. 

Whether to use private Cloud, public Cloud, hybrid Cloud or community Cloud, which services to migrate and when, and the challenges that are going to be faced around, again, the security side of things, data ownership, governance and so on. Interoperability with existing applications and across departments and around the availability of infrastructure to deliver those services and to move that information into data centres and so on. 

Collaboration amongst government departments, perhaps even across nations, to share best practice and to share challenges and approaches to overcome those challenges, and collaboration with vendors is key to achieving the end game, the end results that governments are looking for. And Cloud Computing itself can be seen to spur advances in infrastructure to encourage both the adoption and take-up of these services and of broadband infrastructure across emerging markets, perhaps creating a more virtuous circle for the rollout of high-speed services, lower latency services and so on. 

http://cloudcomputingnews.in

Asean Wraps Up Big Year with Bang in Bali, Now What?

U.S. President Barack Obama, flanked by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, poses with other East Asia Summit leaders before a gala dinner.- REUTERS

Under Indonesia’s chairmanship this year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations shot from side show to center stage of East Asian diplomacy. But what happens next year when the 10-nation talk show is hosted by one of its less mighty members: Cambodia? 

  

Indonesia asked to host this year as sort of a victory lap to show it is healthy, happy and ready to start pulling the weight and respect it thinks it deserves in the world. Its economy is booming, its democracy is working and it wants its geopolitical profile to reflect that it has the world’s fourth largest population and the biggest economy in Southeast Asia. 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa want to use Asean to help put a spotlight Indonesia, bringing it out of the shadows of China and India. Under their leadership Asean – previously usually only known for its grand dinners and bland declarations — has been involved in easing tensions in the deadly border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and it has helped push the military-backed government of Myanmar to reform. 

It hosted a superpower summit on the resort Island of Bali with US President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders from Japan, Australia, Russia and elsewhere discussing their views on security and commerce in the region. 

The East Asia Summit also attracted some of the tightest security and one biggest media mobs the island has ever seen. As the annual Asean summit wound down this weekend some diplomats wondered whether the momentum can continue under Cambodia which has neither the economic punch nor political pull of Indonesia. 

“The framework, the instruments, processes and systems are in place so the momentum from this year is going to last for a few years,” said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of Asean in an Interview with the Wall Street Journal. However Cambodia will “probably not (lead) with the same weight and not with the same connectivity around the world,” as Indonesia, he said. 

After Cambodia, the group will continue to be headed by Asian Tiger cubs as Brunei is scheduled to chair Asean in 2013 and then Myanmar the following year. It won’t be until 2015 that another big member country, Malaysia, is in charge. 

“The potential of Asean is very significant and cannot be underestimated,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said. “We are hoping to continue this momentum because it is so important for us.” It may, however, be non-Asean members, the US and China, who decide how much attention the bloc will get in the coming years. 

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broadcast America’s new commitment to the region during their visit to Indonesia last week. The US plans to use Southeast Asia as a testing ground to find ways to interact with China on issues the two countries don’t agree upon, analysts said, specifically on China’s claims on much of the South China Sea. 

So as long as the U.S. and China continue to show up at the meetings, Asean should continue to grab headlines and hopefully some perks for its members as the world’s biggest powers compete to charm them. 

  http://blogs.wsj.com

Connectivity with ASEAN is India's strategic objective: PM

news.in.msn.com

Citing global economic downturn to push for greater India-ASEAN cooperation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today pitched for conclusion of a "commercially-meaningful" Services and Investment pact by March 2012 to create a positive atmosphere for implementation of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. Addressing the India-ASEAN Summit here, Singh also highlighted the need for greater connectivity and cooperation on security issues, including maritime security, counter-terrorism, training, exercises and disaster management. 

 

"Our partnership with ASEAN is one of the cornerstones of our foreign policy, and the foundation of our 'Look East' Policy," he said at the annual Summit. Talking about various elements of engagement between India and the 10-nation grouping of Association of South East Asian Nations, Singh said, "I believe that our cooperation is on the right path. Given the global economic downturn, there is today an even greater urgency to our cooperation."

He referred to trade and economic front and noted that the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement for Trade in Goods has come into effect in all ASEAN member states and India following its ratification by Cambodia in August this year. 

"I seek your support for the early conclusion of a commercially-meaningful Services and Investment Agreement. This would create a positive atmosphere for the implementation of the India-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement as envisaged in our Framework Agreement of 2003," the Prime Minister told the Summit leaders.

"We should endorse the decision taken at the last round of negotiations in October 2011 to conclude the Agreement by March 2012," he added. India's trade with ASEAN has increased by 30 per cent in 2010-2011 and has crossed the USD 50 billion mark. 

"With such a rate of growth we should be able to achieve our trade target of 70 billion US dollar by 2012," the Prime Minister said. Pushing for greater physical connectivity between India and ASEAN, Singh said it "remains our strategic objective". 

There are several proposals under consideration with regard to land and sea connectivity, which include the India-Myanmar-Thailand Highway, its extension to Laos and Cambodia and the development of a new highway also linking Vietnam. 

A study has also been conducted on a Mekong-India Economic Corridor by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia which proposes linking of corridors in the peninsular, and possibly the north east areas of India with the East Asian region. 

"I would suggest that all these different proposals should be studied in an integrated manner by our officials so that we take considered decisions to optimise our resources and efforts," Singh said. Referring to the other elements of engagement, he said India welcomes the growing cooperation with ASEAN on security issues, and "our association with ASEAN-led forums. These have focused on maritime security, counter-terrorism, training, exercises and disaster management."

He recalled that at the last Summit, India and ASEAN had agreed on developing a long-term vision for the strategic partnership between the two sides. "We have taken the first step in this direction by constituting the ASEAN-India Eminent Persons Group," Singh said, noting that it had been tasked to draft an ASEAN-India Vision 2020 document.

The successful implementation of the ASEAN-India Plan of Action for 2004-2010 listing specific items of cooperation was followed by an 82-point Plan of Action for the period 2010-2015, Singh said about the ambitious document adopted at the Hanoi Summit last year. India has forwarded a number of cooperative projects as part of this plan as well as part of the USD 50 million ASEAN-India Cooperation Fund to the ASEAN Secretariat.

"We look forward to an early response from the ASEAN side," Singh said. Referring to the expansion of India-ASEAN cooperation in the fields of science and technology, space and information technology, he said several projects were under implementation under the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Fund. Based on the feedback from the ASEAN, India's Department of Space has revised its proposal for a five-year project for establishing a tracking and reception station and data processing facility for the ASEAN countries and training of ASEAN personnel.

India will convene a meeting of heads of space agencies of India and ASEAN in early 2012, the Prime Minister informed. He also talked about India's offer to assist in the Master Plan on ASEAN ICT Connectivity and in particular on the establishment of an e-network in the CLMV countries – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – for tele-medicine and tele-education. With regard to initiatives for people-to-people exchanges, Singh invited ASEAN countries to participate actively in the Nalanda University project on which work has begun. 

On visa front, Singh said visa-on-arrival facility for six ASEAN countries was now in place. "We should ensure that the Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening tourism cooperation between ASEAN and India is signed at the earliest, preferably at the meeting of the ASEAN-India Tourism Ministers planned to be held in Indonesia in early 2012," he said. India hosted a group of 100 students from ASEAN countries in September 2011, he said, adding based on the positive feedback, India will increase this number to 250 students per year.

He also said that India wished to institutionalise the ASEAN-India Media Exchange Programme for a period of three years. Under this, India will be ready to host two groups of 20 ASEAN journalists each year and ASEAN countries could in turn consider hosting Indian journalists to ASEAN Member States. Announcing that India proposes to hold ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit on December 20-21 next year, the Prime Minister extended personal invitation to the leaders of all ASEAN member countries to attend it. 

"This will be a historic occasion for us." He said that in the run-up to the Summit, India proposes to hold the fourth round of the Delhi Dialogue in February 2012 and meetings of the ASEAN-India Ministers for New and Renewable Energy and Agriculture as well as an India-ASEAN Business Fair besides a year-long calendar of cultural activities. 

India also proposes to organise the India-ASEAN Car Rally to mark the Summit. The rally will serve to highlight the strong bonds between ASEAN and India, and spread the message of solidarity, enterprise and creativity "which are the hallmarks of our region," Singh said. India also proposes to send a Sail Training Ship "Sudarshini" on an expedition to ASEAN countries along the route of the monsoon trade winds. 

expressindia.com

Korea takes a step closer to smart grid development

koreaittimes.com

Legal system ready for power grid that allows two-way communication between suppliers, consumers

Korea became the first country to complete a legal framework to develop a national smart grid digitally enabled to collect and act on information about the behavior of suppliers and consumers, making electricity provision more efficient and reliable. The Cabinet on Tuesday passed the ordinances of legislation on smart grids as part of the government’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions, two months after nationwide power outages that led to the knowledge economy minister’s resignation.  

The use of IT for two-way communication between power suppliers and consumers to optimize energy efficiency will be possible nationwide by 2030, according to the government’s plan. Under the smart grid system, electricity will be charged at different rates depending on the demand and the power generation costs.

For example, when consumption soars in the summer due to the use of air conditioners, costly thermal power plants will be run in addition to cost-efficient nuclear power stations. Suppliers will charge higher rates at times of high demand to discourage power use. Consumers will be able to set washing machines to run at hours when electricity rates are cheapest and charge electric cars at low, late-night rates even when they are parked during the day.

Based on the new ordinances that go into effect next Friday, the government will complete its five-year blueprint for smart grid development including investment plans by early next year. It will also designate smart grid base areas.

Businesses that wish to take part in the smart grid program such as electric car charging service providers and smart grid infrastructure builders are to sign up with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy starting next Friday. Also participating will be companies that reduce power consumption within a building or a specific area by using smart grid equipment, resell the saved electricity and share the profits with consumers.

The government will pick companies to invest in or offer financial support for research and development to under the criteria stated in the ordinances. According to data released by the International Energy Agency, smart-grid-related demand across the world will surpass $2.99 trillion by 2030.

Visitors take a look at an electric car at the second Korea Smart Grid Week fair at COEX in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap News)

A smart-grid consulting firm named Pike Research forecast that some 3.5 billion smart meters, or electrical meters that record electricity in intervals of an hour or less and send that information back to the utility for monitoring and billing purposes, will be installed by 2016 in the Asia Pacific region. The electric car business is expected to grow quickly too, becoming a key driving force for smart grid development.

Like Japan, Germany and China, Korea projects there to be 1 million plug-in electric vehicles in the country by 2020. The U.S. anticipates more than 1 million electric cars by 2015. Korean companies such as LG Chem, SK Energy and Samsung SDI are prominent in battery technologies. Hyundai Motor, after a test run of several dozen electric cars, plans to unveil an electric compact vehicle for mass production in 2015.

Hyundai’s sister company Kia Motors plans to debut its own a year earlier. “Smart” home appliances are another major wheel of the smart grid technology. Based on the estimated electricity costs transmitted from power suppliers, users will be able control the ice-making and defrosting time on their refrigerators and check the amount of power they have consumed and the costs on a weekly or monthly basis.

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics have already developed smart refrigerators, washing machines, ovens and vacuum cleaning robots and televisions that can be connected to smartphones and smart meters through smart servers. Germany’s Miele was first to unveil smart-grid-ready washing machines and dryers last year.

Siemens has tested energy-saving “smart watt” programs that can be installed in domestic appliances in European homes. Korea Electronic Power Corp. has been working with IBM to prepare for its smart grid business and became the 12th member of IBM’s Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition, a group of global electric power suppliers dedicated to further the adoption of smart energy grids.

As part of efforts to promote smart grids, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy hosted a three-day smart grid industrial fair that closes Friday. Representatives of governments and businesses discussed ways to standardize smart grids and share development cases at international conferences during the second annual Korea Smart Grid Week in COEX, southern Seoul.

“This year’s event will go beyond allowing consumers to experience new smart grid technologies to focus on communication for actual use and adaptation,” Koo Ja-kyun, chairman of the Korean Smart Grid Association, a group of smart grid technology developers, said in his opening speech. “Universities must foster relevant manpower and develop contents for cooperation with industries.”

.koreaherald.com

ASEAN Leaders React to Planned US Marine Base in Australia

The leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations attend the regional bloc's summit in Bali, November 17, 2011.

The announcement by President Barack Obama that he plans to station U.S. troops in Australia is drawing mixed reactions at the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia, where ongoing territorial conflicts in the South China Sea are a major issue. Philippine Secretary of Communications Ricky Carandang welcomed the news that the United States will station 2,500 military personnel in its Australia's Northern Territory over the next few years.

“If you are asking me in general how I view the increased engagement of the U.S. in Australia and the region, we view the presence of the Americans here, the renewed engagement of the U.S. here as ultimately a stabilizing force,” Carandang said. 

The Philippines has long supported an increased U.S. military presence to counterbalance China's growing military strength and increasing confrontations in disputed territory of the South China Sea. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei hold conflicting territorial claims on the region, which is strategic to world shipping and believed to hold huge oil and gas reserves. 

ASEAN Chairman and Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia does not want to see Southeast Asia be subject to a damaging competition between the big countries, adding that idealism will only get them so far. Natalegawa also said he would like to develop a military code of conduct, in line with ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, or TAC, which calls for mutual respect and the non-interference in the internal affairs of other members. 

“For example it will involve the renunciation of the use of force the primacy of peaceful settlements of disputes, precisely the kind of TAC-like kind of norms that have been governing relations among ASEAN.” Hariyadi Wirawan, a professor of international relations at the University of Indonesia, says the news could lead to increased tension between the United States and China at the East Asia Summit and could hamper efforts by ASEAN leaders to craft a code of conduct with China to peacefully resolve disputes. 

“The whole idea of creating this new arrangement of security is in itself, can be seen also as a provocation to China and will expect a kind of harsh response from China, from Beijing,” Wirawan said. Chinese officials Wednesday questioned whether the troop deployments are in the best interests of the countries in the region. 

In Beijing Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin gave a more measured response when asked about the U.S.-Australia military ties. In regards to the relationships developed between other nations, China does not interfere, he said. But he added China hopes that other countries in developing relations between each other take into consideration other countries, regional interests and the region's peace and stability.

voanews.com | ABC News |

ASEAN economic ministers adopt new regional cooperation framework

Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations adopted Wednesday fresh regional economic cooperation framework that would bring together the 10 ASEAN members, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Indonesian Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa told a press conference after the meeting in Bali that the ministers will recommend that ASEAN leaders endorse the so-called ASEAN Framework on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership when they meet on Thursday for a summit.  

In their recommendation report, obtained by Kyodo News, the ministers say the framework involving ASEAN and its six "free trade area partners" should be created "with the view to ensuring that ASEAN maintains its distinct advantage that would enable it to play a central role in the rapidly changing regional economic landscape."

The report asks that the leaders of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam to mandate the establishment of three working groups on trade in goods and services as well as investment.

According to Rajasa, the framework consists of general principles of free trade areas that had been previously signed by ASEAN and its six FTA partners, including differential treatment for ASEAN's less-developed members such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. He said other non-ASEAN countries could also become parties to the framework.

The ASEAN move reflects a deep concern among some member countries that the regional grouping could be sidelined by the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative, according to Rahmat Pramono, director for economic cooperation at Indonesia's Foreign Ministry.

The proposal also came up amid worries that the steps taken by four ASEAN members -- Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand -- to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership could damage ASEAN's unity.

"Dynamic developments are taking place in the regional architecture, including the ongoing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific and the expansion of the East Asia Summit to include the United States of America and Russia," the economic ministers' report says.

"ASEAN would need to respond in a timely manner to ensure its central role in the shaping of the architecture for East Asian integration," it adds. The Wednesday meeting also adopted the ASEAN Framework for Equitable Economic Development, which includes a set of guiding principles for inclusive and sustainable growth in ASEAN.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp

Military Plan Causes Tension at ASEAN

optuszoo.com.au

US President Barack Obama's plan to deepen the US military presence in the Asia-Pacific region is already creating tension among ASEAN nations.Mr Obama will arrive in Bali on Thursday evening where the East Asia Summit and ASEAN meetings are being held, while Prime Minister Julia Gillard will arrive on Friday.But both leaders will fly into Bali amid already rising tensions following the announcement on Wednesday of an expanded US-Australian military partnership.

The announcement caused an immediate reaction on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, already underway in Bali, with China and Indonesia criticising the plan. The head of International Relations at the University of Indonesia, Professor Hariyadi Wirawan, said the move would be counterproductive in terms of efforts to foster peace in the Asia-Pacific region. 

He said it would create further tension among ASEAN nations. A number of ASEAN members are already engaged in disputes over the South China Sea. "ASEAN countries that have problems with China, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, will welcome the move, possibly tearing ASEAN apart," Prof Wirawan said. 

Outspoken Indonesian politician T.B Hasanuddin criticised the announcement and called on the US president to explain the decision to ASEAN countries. He also said it would create new tensions among the 10-member bloc. The plan allows for increased US air presence in the region and will eventually see up to 2500 US marines stationed in the Northern Territory. 

antarajateng.com

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters at ASEAN on Wednesday night that the build-up of US forces in Australia could "provoke a reaction and counter-reaction that would create a vicious cycle of tensions and mistrust". Darwin is about 800km from Indonesia. 

The announcement was a prominent feature in Indonesian newspapers on Thursday. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Liu Weimin, said China was actively promoting peaceful international development and called on other nations to adopt the same attitude. "Whether it suits the common interests of countries around the region and the whole international community remains under question," he said. 

smh.com.au|PBS