Time For A Change?

Last updated: July 26, 2012

Indonesia MIGHT be changing from three time zones to one, on 28 October 2012.

Indonesia is currently split into three time zones:

But now, the Indonesian Trade Ministry has announced a plan to synchronize watches in Indonesia. Effective 28 October 2012, Indonesia will copy emulate Malaysia and China, and have one time zone across the country: GMT+8. It is perceived that the change will increase trade with its largest markets – China, Singapore and Malaysia – which are all in the GMT+8 timezone. Some also believe it will improve productivity, because employees across the nation will be working at the same time.

While industry groups have praised the move, Indonesian airlines have expressed concern at the major disruption it will have to flight schedules and airport landing times, especially to popular routes that cross time zones, such as Jakarta to Bali.

A change will also impact international flights’ departure/arrival times. Visitors transiting Jakarta and connecting to domestic/international flights may also lose or gain an hour of transit time.

At the time of writing, there is a little over 3 months to go before the change is scheduled to occur. After the initial announcement, there has been no publicity about the change. In most countries, this would suggest it will not happen, but not necessarily in Indonesia.

How can I check if my flight is affected?
Passengers who have already booked flights on/after 28 October 2012 are encouraged to reconfirm their flight’s departure/arrival times by following the procedures here.

Train timetables will be unaffected, as no trains cross different time-zones like flights do.

Local time in Jakarta

7 Comments on Time For A Change?

1. rustyprince Says:
   July 27th, 2012 at 8:10 am

   Great news for Aceh civil servants as malam now descends at 8.30pm, and I’m sure the vampires of Jayapura will love that the sun now sets at 5.00pm.

2. David Says:
   July 27th, 2012 at 12:03 pm

   At least I won’t almost miss an international flight again in Bali for forgetting about the time difference from Java…

3. timdog Says:
   July 27th, 2012 at 3:11 pm

   But you’ll no longer be able to fly from Bali to Surabaya and experience landing before you arrive…

   This is a rather silly idea, I think. A single time zone for a country as long as the distance between Dublin and Bagdhad is not sensible.

   In China, in the far west they have “Beijing” time, which tends to be used for public transport times, but then everyone actually runs to an unofficial “Xinjiang time”, two hours behind – opening hours, schools, even local buses use this.
   It makes life very confusing, and actually probably fuels a sense of separation and simmering resentment of the “centre”…

   Not a good idea.

4. nora Says:
   July 29th, 2012 at 6:40 am

   Thanks for the news! em

5. lomboksurfer Says:
   July 29th, 2012 at 11:24 am

   There seems to be only one bloody time in Indonesia anyway and that is “late”!!! : )

6. rosa Says:
   September 5th, 2012 at 7:14 pm

   Looks like it has been postponed until next year
   http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/clock-stops-on-indonesias-unified-time-zone/541352

7. Feiko Says:
   September 19th, 2012 at 3:19 am

   We Europeans have the problem of changing times, twice in the year. The winter is harder to bear. I think, three time zones, reduced to one, will pose more problems than benefits. It would be wiser to start introducing two time zones. Think of a better productivity is ridiculous, the rising and setting sunset could not care less, by cons, the human and animal life will be completely disordered. Feiko

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