Indonesia Spans 3 Different Time Zones
From Kompas:
Uniting the Time Zones in WITA
JAKARTA – Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta Rajasa, confirmed that the Indonesian government will implement a unification of the time zones. Indonesia will use Central Indonesian Time or WITA.
Related to this, the government will conduct the socialization [of the time zone changes to the masses] soon. “The positives outweigh the negatives,” said Hatta to reporters at the State Palace yard in Jakarta on Monday, May 28, 2012.
Hatta Rajasa, Coordinating Minister for the Economy
Detailed planning regarding the time zone unification will be discussed in the plenary cabinet meeting. Earlier, the Deputy for the Infrastructure and Regional Substructure Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Luky Eko Wuryanto, said that the unification to GMT+8 or eight hours ahead of the Greenwich international standard time will have some economic impact.
“This move will accelerate economic growth in Indonesia because economic activities can be done earlier every day,” said Luky. “One of the obvious benefits is trading on the Indonesian Stock Exchange and the Indonesian Commodity Futures Exchange will open faster than Singapore and Malaysia. It is hoped that the trade transactions will increase by 500 billion rupiahs a day or 20 trillion rupiahs a year,” said Edib Muslim, Head Division of Public Relations and Promotion for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development Committee.
Comments from Kompas:
god king:
What’s the point of having the stock exchanges open earlier? It will close earlier too.
titus nenobais:
Why does the government insist on uniting three time zones in Indonesia? Instead of making the development spread evenly between West and East Indonesia, [the government] will turn it into a project for corruption. Don’t believe me? We shall see.
hery suhardjo:
Rather than changing the time zone, wouldn’t it be better to change the health insurance for the poor?
kungfu panda:
Suppose it is positive for the macro economy and the stock and commodity exchanges, is it going to be positive for the micro economy for many people?
Wawan:
Before equalizing the time, do a thorough study first. Don’t just do as you please.
Manto Bagas:
Hopefully there will be more benefits for people’s economic lives than negatives.
Joyo Karneli:
“It is hoped that the trade transactions will increase by 500 billion rupiahs a day or 20 trillion rupiahs a year,” said Head of Public Relations. 500 B a day, 20 T a year? Was that the source or the reporter who could not count? If it’s 500 B a day then it takes 40 working days to get 20T? Am I right
dragon -:
If it’s only changed to GMT+8 then it wouldn’t affect anything because it will only be the same as Malaysia & Singapore. [If the government] said that they wanted to compete, why not change it to GMT+12 altogether? It’s guaranteed that we will win from Malaysia & Singapore.
eric chandra:
We will have to go to work even when it is still dark… won’t we be sleepy???
Oktavia Legoh:
Bravooooo Indonesia. [Trying to create a project] by citing economic benefits as an excuse, which as of right now [projects] often get corrupted at the expense of many people. Did our country’s leaders even learn geography???? sighhhhh
Ivan Yakobus:
Please ask Hatta Rajasa for the list of positive and negative points. I want to know what points are in the list.
Arthur Rosewood:
Agreed. It’s time for Jakarta to be in the same time zone as Singapore and Hong Kong.
Comments from Kaskus:
japek:
Even China could unite their time zone, Indonesia must be able to do so as well.
karnokuping:
Good for people in WITA. Nothing will change of course. For example when people in WIB [Western Indonesian Time] go to school, it’d be as if they’re going to school at 6 am WIB right now ha ha ha
karung..beras:
Honestly, it’s time for Jakarta and its surrounding to use WITA since even Malaysia and Singapore are in the same time zone as WITA.
Hence, when I went to Bangkok and I had a layover in Singapore, it was weird since Singapore, where is geographically located to the West of Jakarta, is in WITA. But when I got to Bangkok, it was back to WIB again
anak.lelebamb:
Mantab. No need to worry about the time difference again when having a teleconference with Singapore and Malaysia!
ciscaV21:
Ouch. It would mean that I will have to wake up earlier then hahah
ChronoPhilo:
What he was saying was already a bit bego. ‘500 billion a day or 20 trillion a year’ ….
Where did he come up with the calculation? Even my younger sibling can count
Is it possible that the remaining 162.5 trillion is pocketed [through corruption]?
ZenX_Master:
Aahh. Mr. Hata Rajasa has nothing else to do. Is he trying to wake people up earlier in the morning? Good good. I doubt our congressmen can wake up early in the morning. They often miss meetings, even those in the afternoon …
alfianostory:
Wow I agree, boss. Maybe this could reduce our “rubber watch” habit!
What do you think? Will unifying Indonesia under one time zone be a good idea or bad idea? Do you think there will be substantial economic benefits, or is the entire initiative just another opportunity for government corruption?
“Sleepy Indonesian Man” by Pison Jaujip
