Muslim social networking site becomes increasingly popular

Padang, W Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian-based social networking site specially made for the Muslim community, CMnet, had become increasingly popular among Internet users since it was released on August 6.

CMnet that can be accessed at www.cybermoslem.net is the first social networking site for Muslims in Indonesia with the facebook and twitter system combined with edited-opensource system.

"CMnet has now 3,700 members not only from Indonesia but from other countries as well, including the US, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Egypt, Kuwait, and some European countries," founder of CMnet, Dolla Indra (25), said here on Sunday, adding that his site had been visited 5,894,954 times.

Apart from the positive interest, Dolla said, the site was also target of 5,000 hackers. In fact, CMnet had once been attacked by a hacker that made the site inaccessible for several hours. Therefore, Dolla admitted he recently had upgraded the CMnet system to avoid hackers and made it stronger and more stable.

Dolla hoped the government would support his effort to develop CMnet as a web-based application in Indonesia.

Trade minister: Indonesia`s exports may grow 14 percent

Indonesia`s exports keep increasing with Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu saying she was optimistic they could grow by 14 percent this year.

"Right now, namely in the first semester of this year, they have already grown 18 percent year-on-year. So I predict they may grow by up to 14 percent. Imports are more difficult to predict but they may grow 12 to 14 percent," she said after attending a coordination meting with Bank Indonesia here on Monday.

She said although the trade surplus would drop due to increasing imports it would be compensated for in the next six months.

"It usually happens when imports are rising and exports will then also rise in an around six month period," she said.

She said the growth of exports of several prime commodities was quite high including textile and textile products, electronic and automotive products.

"We are optimistic if no sharp downturn happens everything will be okey. It is because exports of products have all recorded high growth including not only commodities but also exlectronic, automotive and textile and textile products. The growth of textile and textile product exports was 26 percent in the first semester. It was the highest in the past five years. Footwear exports are also high," she said.

She said the growth of exports of plantation commodities such as rubber was also high reaching almost 60 percent driven by a good price.

RI, M`sia guarantee each other`s students` safety

National Education Minister Mohammad Nuh here has given the assurance that Malaysian students in Indonesia would remain safe amid the dynamics now occurring in Indonesia-Malaysia relations.

The assurance was given by Minister Nuh in a communication with Malaysian Vice Prime Minister concurrently Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, a special aide to the Indonesian minister, Sukemi, said.

On the other hand, the Malaysian government would do the same thing for Indonesian students in that country, Sukemi said in a press statement on Monday.

"We agreed that the existing cooperation in the education field should be saved because this field should not be affected by the dynamics in the bilateral ties," Nuh was quated as saying.

Minister Nuh had also communicated with the secretary general of Malaysia`s education ministry , Tan Sri Dr. Sulkurnain, on the need to guarantee the safety of Indonesian students in Malaysia and the other way round.

" We agreed that the education field, including students` attendance at their institutions is not related with the dynamics in Indonesia-Malaysia relations at present," he said.

Nuh said the education field or the world of science should not be disturbed one bit by anything because the nature of science is basically open to anybody and across borders.

"This means there are no obstacles for any person to seek knowledge or to study. So there should be no obstacles for students or pupils to further their studies when diplomatic relations between their countries experience some dynamics," he said.

Nuh hoped Indonesian students in Malaysia and Malaysian students in Indonesia would not be affected by the prevailing situation in the diplmatic field.

" I have communicated and made an agreement with the Malaysian vice prime minister who also the education minister that the education field shoud not be disturbed by the current situation and that it is necessary to give a security guarantees to students from both countries," he said.

U.S. embassy kicks off "Pesta Blogger 2010"

The U.S. Embassy is sponsoring "Pesta Blogger 2010" dubbed "Celebrating Diversity", an Indonesia`s premiere blogging event, for the third year in a row, the US embassy said on its official website.

Ambassador Designate Scot Marciel and Deputy Chief of Mission Ted Osius attended the press conference. Also in attendance were Pesta Blogger 2010`s Chairperson, the Director General for ASEAN - Indonesia, and more than sixty reporters and bloggers.

Pesta Blogger includes ten regional blogging workshops, or "blogshops" held in different cities across the country, and the main Pesta Blogger festival in Jakarta. In 2009, more than 1,400 participants attended the Pesta Blogger festival.

On August 21, U.S. Embassy representatives hosted the first blogshop of 2010 in Makassar. Almost forty participants attended the blogshop to learn about blogging and other social media tools, including Facebook and Twitter.

After the blogshop, approximately 100 Makassar bloggers, who blog about topics as varied as events in Makassar, open source software and their favorite personal computers and mobile devices, gathered to meet the blogshop participants and discuss issues facing Makassar`s blogging community.

In addition to Makassar, Pestat Blogger 2010 blogshops will take place in Padang, Manado, Yogyakarta, Pontianak, Banjarmasin, Surabaya, Madura, Aceh, and Medan.