The development will help boost the local economy, BKPM chairman Franky Sibarani said, adding that the factory was likely to employ as many as 15,000 local laborers. He declined to name the investor.

“Production is 100 percent export,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

The investor reportedly targeted Central Java as the location of their plant due to sufficient infrastructure and the competitive cost of local labor for labor-intensive industry. The South Korean company have acquired a principle permit from BKPM and are expected to start factory construction and machine installation soon, Franky said.

BKPM have welcomed the investment plan. The agency is pushing to boost investment in Indonesia amid a challenging global economic situation, he added. As added value for the local administration, BKPM have encouraged the firm to use local raw materials, he said.

With a total investment of US$188 million with 435 projects in the first quarter of 2016, South Korea is the sixth biggest source of foreign investment in Indonesia, according to BKPM data. The investment provides employment for more than 28,000 workers. In 2015, South Korea reported a total investment of US$ 1.2 billion in Indonesia, a 7.6 percent from the same period the previous year.

“If you go down to the ground there, the people always speak about Asean and what Asean can do for them. I don’t know why in Malaysia and perhaps also in Singapore, we don’t feel that closeness with Asean.

“That has to improve since we’ve adopted the Asean region 2025 charter to become the AseanEconomic Community,” he said in an exclusive interview with Sunday Star.

He said a new feature of AICHR was to provide institutionalised facetime with NGOs and CSOs (civil society organisations) with accredited status from AICHR.

“We never imagined this six years ago. We have accredited 11 CSOs across the region,” he said, adding that among the latest to be granted consultative relationship status was Pusat Komas from Malaysia.

At the last AICHR meeting, he said Malaysia had proposed two regional consultations for 2017.

“Malaysia has chosen right to water, with particular focus on the rural and indigenous communities.

“My personal goal, depending on what other participants want, is to have a general comment of AICHR to be adopted and disseminated as a document interpreting what the right to water and clean sanitation means.

“That will start the ball rolling towards other standards-setting,” he said.

Besides the previous Malaysian representative’s projects for 2016, Re­­­gional Forum on Media and Hu­­man Rights – concluded in May – and the Youth Debate in September, Bon hopes to insert a third one – a symposium on sharing good practices among Asean judges.

“We are trying to push for approval for this project at the Chiang Mai meeting in July. Thai­land, Laos and Philippines have expressed keen interest,” he added.

A quick Google search revealed a long list of complaints and allegations that the company is running a pyramid scheme that has left many poorer and worse off than before they joined.

In 2014, the Direct Selling Association of Malaysia (DSAM) received at least five complaints and enquiries about the company’s legitimacy.

The e-mails and calls were about the company’s modus operandi in recruiting members.

DSAM executive director Lawrence Cheah said these were forwarded to the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism for further action.

“Unfortunately, the lack of black and white proof makes it difficult for the authorities to act. Most aren’t willing to lodge a formal complaint and testify if it ends up in court,” he said.

“Those who have contacted us say they were asked to invest multiple sums of money which can amount to 20,000 ringgit (US$5,000) or more, were guaranteed returns and told that they would be paid for recruiting others.

“DSAM is a member of the World Federation of Direct Selling Asso­ciations. Among our members, we practise self-regulation based on our globally recognised and Minis­try of Domestic Trade-endorsed Code of Conduct.

“As the company is not our member, we can only assist the ministry by forwarding the complaints,” he said.

Cheah said “starter kits” for legit companies were usually below 200 ringgit and forcing a new member to buy stock or invest was illegal.

Getting paid to recruit is also strictly against the law.

“Members can only earn from sales profits and commissions from the sale of products,” he added.

Malaysian Direct Distribution Association (MDDA) president Rosedy Issa confirmed that the company was licensed by the ministry and is a member of the association.

“We’ve received enquiries about whether this company is legal,” he said, adding that the company’s licence – issued in 2013, expires in August this year.

After being alerted by Sunday Star, a sub-committee was set up to investigate the allegations, he said.

He advised the public to check with the ministry, the MDDA and DSM on whether a company is genuine before joining.

“We take public complaints very seriously because the bad hats give the industry a bad name,” Rosedy said.

The ministry is said to be still monitoring the company although recent investigations showed its business was legitimate.

On April 20 this year, the authorities found that the company’s marketing plan was in line with licensing terms and all its marketed products had been approved, the ministry said in an e-mail response.

“However, the company is still being monitored. An inspection will be carried out when it applies to renew its licence which expires in August,” it said.

To date, no renewal application has been submitted.

US$1 = 4 ringgit as of 7/10/2016 via oanda.com

The L’Amour room is one of six screening rooms in the newly inaugurated US$4- $5 million CGV Liberty Hoàng Van Thu cinema in HCM City’s Tân Bình District.

Entry is VND600,000 (US$27) for two adults for one 1.6-metre-wide bed and a drink and snack each.

Dong Won Kwak, CEO of CGV Vietnam, said the L’Amour room was designed for couples and young families.

Vietnamese movies as well as foreign films will be screened there.

CGV has opened 34 cinemas with a total of 223 screening rooms and 31,703 seats in Vietnam.

Of the cinemas, there are two IMAX screening rooms, two Dolby Atmos screening rooms, four 4DX rooms, six GOLD CLASS, one STARIUM LASER and one L’Amour room with world-class standards.

Tell us little more about your company.

The company was founded in 1977 by my father and few partners. Back then, it focused on traditional wood crafting and labour-intensive carpentry works.

During the 1980s, the economic boom and rapid industrialisation resulted in strong demand for furniture. Hence, we started manufacturing open-plan office furniture.

Now we design our furniture according to customers’ needs, and produce it in our factories in Singapore and Malaysia.

Is this family-run business?

I have two siblings but I am the only one in the business. I developed an interest in the furniture industry only in 2009, after working for another firm in the same industry.

I felt that I could help this industry and my company to grow.

My siblings have their own businesses.

How do you stand out from others in the industry?

In other people’s minds, the furniture industry is dying trade. For us, we would like to serve tomor- row’s needs. Our products are not the grab-and-go kind.

We have our full range of products, concepts and experts (designers and sales consultants) to design and produce them for our customers. Also, our company produces different products compared to the system furniture produced by other firms. System furniture is usually modular machine-made components, assembled like Lego blocks.

For us, we integrate carpentry skills and ideas into our furniture. For example, we use vinyl, mate- rial usually used in carpentry, to build our workstations and cabinets. We have the skills, the people and the machinery to do so. The majority of my production team is trained in carpentry.

What is the demand for your products like?

There will always be demand for carpentry furniture. However, manufacturing carpentry furniture is quite labour-intensive and incurs high costs so it may be less popular than system furniture.

On the other hand, carpentry furniture may be more classy and complicated than system furniture. Hence, firms may prefer to integrate the two for important rooms such as meeting rooms and boardrooms.

This is where we come into the picture. We integrate carpentry and system furniture to provide cost savings, and greater range of products.

How is the company doing and what are some challenges you face?

Revenue grew by more than 12 per cent each year between 2011 and last year. We recorded sales of $19 million last year, about 80 per cent of which came from local sales and 20 per cent from exports.

One challenge is that carpentry work is labour-intensive, and the Government is less encouraging about labour-intensive industries.

However, we are still able to cope with labour needs because only around 25 per cent of our products require carpentry work. For the long term, we may move our carpentry department to Malaysibecause costs are lower there.

There are also limitations to expansion in terms of volume and revenue if we just function in Singapore. Hence, we’re expanding our businesses overseas. In the past year, we have opened several sales offices and manufacturing plants in Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia. We have around 150 staff in total.

The greatest challenge, however, lies in attracting talent to join my team. Many people consider the industry sunset industry and are unwilling to join us.

But recently, we see change in the mentality of fresh graduates. I think the most important thing is to explain to them what we intend to do and how the company can grow.

What does business continuity management (BCM) mean to you?

BCM serves as guideline for all employees to work towards. Ultimately, we wouldn’t know when there is risk, and if our procedures are adequate to meet it.

By giving our customers sense of assurance that we know what to do when things happen, we are not only giving them the physical furniture, but are also assuring them on what to expect when challenges surface.

The requirements and expectations involved in BCM require lot of different departments to work together. It is about teamwork.

Most SMEs are usually too preoccupied with the day-to-day running of the company to worry about BCM.

Yes, the day-to-day operations are hectic enough. Yet, as the saying goes, “no man is an island”. It is important that everyone shares common understanding of what to do when there is risk.

In fact, the staff are more responsible when they interact with customers after the BCM. They are well aware that they cannot face challenges alone, and focus on teamwork to get the job done.

What has the company implemented since joining the programme?

We have improved our sharing network with our sales offices in various countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines). We have set up cloud to share company updates. This protects us from cyber attacks and unforeseen personal emergency leave because every document on the cloud is tracked.

This also serves as an update of our offices’ work.

What are some of your company’s future plans?

We have budgeted about $2 million for the expansion of our plant. We plan to double the size of our factory in Malaysito manufacture more goods for export. We are working closely with International Enterprise Singapore on this.

We are also developing furniture for collaborative areas in the office – soft furnishing. We want to create work-and-play environment, and bring to our customers the “happy office people” concept.

For now, we are piloting this in our own offices.

Our new direction is to create furniture that is open- concept, boosts interaction, and is eco-friendly. To be visionary, it is workplace of the future.

From candidates applying nation-wide, the programme will select 45 trainees by August to take part in the year-long training from October.

The professional training will combine academic and on-the-job coaching programmes by the supermarket’s senior executives and experienced lecturers from leading management training centres.

Besides a full scholarship, trainees will also be provided a monthly allowance and subsidies for lunch and transport, accommodation for those hailing from outside the city, voluntary health and accident insurance, and others.

This is the fifth year of the programme.

According to Big C, the country’s retail industry has developed strongly in recent years, leading to high demand for human resources, especially in management positions, but there are no schools providing training in this field.

The index is trade-weighted and tracks international market prices for the cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, meat and sugar commodity groups.

For June, the index averaged 163.4 points, up 4 per cent or 6.7 points from the 156.7 points recorded in May.

The index was also now 1 per cent below the 164.9 points reached in June 2015.

Even then, the FAO said there were prospects for improved food production for the year ahead.

Earlier this week, the FAO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the world had likely seen the end to a period of high agricultural prices, but vigilance was needed as the probability of a major price swing remained high.

The OECD and the FAO said in their Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025 report that inflation-adjusted agricultural commodity prices were expected to remain “relatively flat overall” in the next 10 years.

“Although we are now witnessing a period of lower agricultural prices, we need to remain alert as changes in markets can take place rapidly,” OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said in a statement.

“The key priority for governments in the current context is to implement policies that will increase agricultural productivity in a coherent and sustainable way,” Gurria said. “Getting our agricultural policies right is critical to end hunger and undernourishment in the decades to come.”

The report shows that, globally, the increased demand for food and feed for a growing and more affluent population was projected to be mostly met through productivity gains.

Mitsubishi has a 93 per cent stake in MC Biotech. It said Tokyo-based seafood producer Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd has a seven per cent stake in MC Biotech and will be responsible for producing and exporting the dried biomass to Japan.

“Astaxanthin is an antioxidant used as a health food supplement and as a raw material for cosmetics and natural food coloring. Global demand for astaxanthin, which is highly regarded for its health benefits, has seen phenomenal growth in recent years, particularly in the US, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and Chinese markets,” Mitsubishi said.

Haematococcus algae is a fresh water weed which when exposed to ultraviolet rays turns from green to red due to the formation of astaxanthin which provides protection to the cell.

“Brunei, where the cultivation factory is located, has optimal conditions for cultivating the Haematococcus algae, including an adequate supply of sunlight and water,” Mitsubishi said.

After the astaxanthin is extracted from the dried biomass in Japan, Mitsubishi said another partner Biogenic Co, Ltd—health and beauty products manufacturer—will market the final products.

Mitsubishi said MC Biotech has been working, with Brunei government’s support, to implement a pioneering project in BIC, an industrial park set up to attract halal and bio-industry related investments to the sultanate.

“Through the stable operation of this new project, which seeks to make good use of rich microbial resources available in Brunei while maintaining utmost consideration for safety and the environment, MC Biotech aims to contribute to the diversification of industry, the creation of employment and the development of human resources in Brunei,” Mitsubishi said.

The company said it has a long presence in Brunei, noting that it has been buying LNG from the sultanate for over 40 years.

Mitsubishi said setting up MC Biotech in BIC will help strengthen the trade relations between Japan and Brunei.

Starting in September last year, the government has issued 12 economic policy packages to boost the business climate and attract investment, including by cutting red tape and providing incentives for certain sectors. These efforts are expected to stoke growth in the country’s economy, which slowed to a six-year low of 4.79 percent in 2015.

As of May this year, the government has completed 194 of the total 203 regulations required to support its packages, including both new and revised rules. “The regulations are needed as those policies need a legal basis,” Rosan said.

Meanwhile, Kadin recently submitted evaluation materials for all the packages to the government to ensure a clearer framework.

Rosan said that Kadin had in its evaluation particularly praised a policy to provide three-hour licensing services for new investors in special economic zones and the revision of the negative investment list (DNI) to allow for more foreign ownership in select sectors, which he said had had immediate and concrete benefits for businesspeople.