Day: July 22, 2021

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The recent regulation restricting the entry of foreigners into Indonesia, enacted by the Law and Human Rights Ministry, is a good step to control COVID-19 spread in the country, according to aviation analyst Alvin Lie.

“I see (the entry restriction regulation) as a good step because international arrivals are (behind) the entry of new variants (of the coronavirus),” he said here on Thursday.

The new regulation is better because it does not restrict only foreign workers’ arrival, but also regulates restrictions for all overseas foreigners visiting Indonesia, he added.

Minister of Law and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly, on July 19, 2021 enacted the Law and Human Rights Ministry Regulation No. 27/2021 on restrictions on foreigners’ entry into Indonesia amid the emergency community restrictions enforcement.

The regulation restricts entry of most foreigners, except those mentioned in the entry exception clause in Paragraph 3, Article 2 of the regulation, Lie said.

According to the regulation, only foreigners holding diplomatic and official visas, diplomatic and official stay permits, and temporary and permanent stay permits will be allowed entry into Indonesia.

Foreigners attached with healthcare and humanitarian missions and transport crew of vessels will be allowed entry as well under the regulation.

The ministry’s regulation is comprehensive because it regulates all modes of land, sea, and air transport, Lie observed. Immigration officers nationwide could use the regulation as the basis for restricting foreign arrivals, he added.

Though the regulation was enforced on Wednesday (July 21, 2021), just two days after its enactment by Minister Yasonna, the time span is still reasonable, Lie said.

However, the period between the enactment and the enforcement of the regulation could prove too tight to allow travelers to adjust their arrival, he pointed out.

Furthermore, it will be impossible to complete all formalities, including PCR tests and settled visa application procedures, required for entry into Indonesia in just two days, he added.

Lie said he hopes that the new regulation will be consistently enforced and prove effective in preventing new variants of the coronavirus from entering Indonesia.

“I hope the restriction of international access of all air, sea, and land transportation modes could control and tackle the entry of new variants of the virus,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Head of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Hammam Riza, has said the exploration and exploitation of deep sea minerals in Indonesia will support the development of environmentally friendly technologies.

“Why are deep sea minerals such an attractive and important natural resource? It is due to the fact that terrestrial mineral deposits for metals such as copper, nickel, aluminum, manganese, zinc, lithium, and cobalt are depleting,” he said at a webinar on ‘Exploration of Marine Minerals In Indonesia: Potential, Policy, Challenges and Technology’ here on Thursday.

The demand for metals is also increasing for manufacturing high-tech applications or for use in products, such as smartphones, and green technology or environmentally friendly technologies, such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, and electric storage batteries, he pointed out.

Hence, in the last decade, the demand for mineral deposits in the deep sea, the sea area below 200 meters, and covering about 65 percent of the earth’s surface, has been increasing, he said.

The World Bank estimates the demand for essential metals to implement energy storage technologies, as well as solar and wind technologies needed to limit climate change to below 2°C, at more than three billion tons, he noted.

Meanwhile, the Institute for Sustainable Futures has calculated that, in a scenario of a global temperature rise limited to less than 1.5 degrees, demand for cobalt will increase to 423 percent by 2050, while demand for nickel will increase to 136 percent, and lithium 280 percent, Riza said. The metals will be needed to produce energy and renewable storage, he added.

The increasing demand for metal for infrastructure will have a major impact on global demand, he said.

He cited the example of electric vehicle production, which is projected to increase from 5 million units currently to 245 million units by 2030, an increase of more than 30 times compared to the current levels. There are nearly one billion passenger cars in operation today, he said adding, he estimates that their number will rise to two billion by 2040.

Electric vehicles use at least four times the amount of metals used in gasoline or diesel cars, Riza informed. Electric vehicles fueled by 75KWh batteries require 56 kilograms (kg) of nickel, 12 kg of manganese, 7 kg of cobalt, and 85 kg of copper for power cables, he added.

“Hence, deep sea mineral sources will be the key answer for future needs,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) said it is strengthening deep-sea research infrastructure for exploring the deep sea and mapping potential mineral reserves in Indonesian waters.

“As part of efforts to strengthen deep-sea research infrastructure, in recent years, BPPT has taken various steps to improve the capabilities of research infrastructure by revitalizing the Baruna Jaya research vessel and other supporting equipment,” head of BPPT, Hammam Riza, said at a webinar on ‘Deep Sea Mineral Exploration in Indonesia: Potential, Policy, Challenges and Technology’ originating from Jakarta on Thursday.

In 2020, BPPT conducted a limited revitalization of the Baruna Jaya I and Baruna Jaya III research vessels, he added.

The two vessels are currently dedicated to surveying operations for the strengthening and development of the Tsunami Early Warning System in Indonesia, he informed.

The research vessels are being deployed for deep-sea mapping of Indonesia’s Extended Continental Shelf Submission and for marine surveys to support the determination of the Palapa Ring, the undersea telecommunication cable line, he said.

A variety of new equipment has also been procured from 2017-2020 to support these tasks, he added.

“The equipment will strengthen deep-sea research infrastructure, such as the miscellaneous Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) for mapping the seabed at a depth of 3,500 meters, 8 thousand meters, and up to 11 thousand meters,” he informed.

Riza said the MBES, which can reach depths of 11 thousand meters, is the only one Indonesia owns today.

Equipment for hydro-oceanography have also been procured, such as CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth) that can reach up to a depth of six thousand meters, and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) that can be used to observe and photograph underwater objects up to a depth of a thousand meters, he added.

To support marine survey operations in the middle of the ocean, BPPT’s Marine Survey Technology Center has also been equipped with a control room or command center as a Survey Operations Control Center for research vessel Baruna Jaya, with VSAT satellite-based communication capability, he said.

“With the research infrastructure of BPPT’s research vessel Baruna Jaya, it expects to support the efforts for deep-sea research activities including deep-sea mineral exploration in Indonesia,” Riza remarked.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) has said it supports the improvement of research for mapping the potential for deep sea mineral exploration.

“This is a challenge for all of us to be able to comprehensively study the potential of deep sea resources, including mineral deposits, which have not been widely carried out in Indonesia,” said head of BPPT, Hammam Riza, at a webinar on ‘Deep Sea Mineral Exploration in Indonesia: Potential, Policy, Challenges and Technology’ here on Thursday.

Although the potential for deep sea mineral exploration in Indonesia has been identified, not much research has been done on the subject in Indonesia, Riza said. This is a common challenge — to be able to create a comprehensive research and innovation ecosystem of studies on the potential of deep sea resources and their commercialization, he added.

The synergy between academics or research actors, businesses, and the government needs to be strengthened to build a knowledge-based ecosystem that supports the exploration and utilization of deep sea minerals, he said.

The Ocean Research Consortium, which has been initiated by 15 ministries and institutions as well as universities, could be the first step to form a stronger marine research and innovation ecosystem, he pointed out.

Government research institutions that have a strong enough research and innovation infrastructure can be used together in the consortium, Riza suggested. Meanwhile, universities will have a big role in helping strengthen the quality of research and innovation, he added.

With the presence of National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), which directs and synergizes the preparation of plans, programs, budgets, and science as well as technology resources for research, development, assessment and application, the deep sea research ecosystem in the future is expected to run better, Riza said.

Currently, three types of deep sea mineral deposits have been identified and are the main targets of exploration in order to move to the exploitation stage, he informed.

The three types of mineral deposits are Sea Floor Massive Sulphide (SMS) and Hydrothermal Vein, which can be found in mid-oceanic ridges and in the back arc; Polymetallic Nodules, which are located on abyssal plains; and, Cobalt crust, which can be found on seamounts, he said.

With the help of the Baruna Jaya research vessel fleet, BPPT has several times been involved in scientific surveys with domestic and foreign ministry or agency partners to determine the potential of deep sea minerals, he added.

Riza cited a deep sea research conducted in 2010 as an example. He said the research was part of a collaboration between Indonesia and the United States within the framework of the Indonesia-USA Exploration for Sangihe Talaud Program, or INDEX SATAL 2010.

The research was conducted from July 6 – August 9, 2010 using Baruna Jaya IV, he said. Under the collaboration, research was carried out in several areas related to the deep sea in the Sangihe and Talaud Waters.

Then, researchers using the Okeanos Explorer ship belonging to NOAA, United States, managed to find the Hydrothermal Vent area, Riza said.

Earlier, the BANDAMIN and the Bone Bay surveys conducted from 2000 to 2001 using the Baruna Jaya III research ship also succeeded in indicating the presence of marine minerals in the form of manganese nodules in the Banda Sea and potential gold minerals in Bone Bay, Riza said.

These all show the potential of deep sea minerals found in Indonesian waters, he added.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk said it has discussed collaboration on the utilization of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites with SpaceX to improve digital connectivity in Indonesia.

“Considering the geographical conditions of Indonesia, satellite technology has become crucial to stabilize digital connectivity all over the country,” Telkom vice president (VP), corporate communications, Pujo Pramono, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

In order to achieve the purpose, Telkom is ready to cooperate with any party that is proficient in developing satellite technology, he added.

“SpaceX’s strong competence and remarkable reputation in the development of satellite technology encouraged us (PT Telkom) to have this discussion,” he informed.

He said he wished a partnership would provide a solution for accelerating connectivity in remote areas through affordable, excellent, and reliable satellite services.

Earlier, Indonesia had involved SpaceX in the development of the Satellite of Republic of Indonesia (Satria) that was planned to be launched in 2023. The American space company was entrusted with manufacturing the launch vehicle for Satria.

Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate has affirmed that the launch of the satellite would improve the development of infrastructure in the middle mile.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indonesia have decreased by about 40 percent in the past week, according to the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

“If you look at the past seven days, nationally, positive cases have decreased from 56,757 on July 15 (2021) to 33,772 on July 21, or down 40 percent,” head of the expert team of the task force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

The cure rate during the same period showed an increase of more than 70 percent, he added.

If we look at the percentage of active cases, it seems to have started to decline over the last three days, Adisasmito said.

The daily percentage of occupied hospital beds at the national level also decreased steadily over the past week from 76.26 percent to 72.8 percent, he informed.

“This good development deserves appreciation. I thank all health workers who have been tireless in caring for patients as well as all local governments who have moved quickly in assisting with patient reporting and (tracing) close contacts of COVID-19 (patients),” he remarked.

However, testing for tracking COVID-19 cases needs to be improved in a number of areas and has become a serious concern, he said.

“The number of people being examined, which has decreased over the past four days, needs to be immediately pursued to increase again. Because the higher the testing, the more cases that can be detected and treated early,” he explained.

Another thing that also needs to be a focus for related agencies is the death rate, which has tended to increase over the past week, Adisasmito pointed out.

“This should be used as a reflection for us together, especially for six days in a row, our deaths have reached more than one thousand every day,” he said.

The death rate from COVID-19 can no longer be tolerated, he remarked.

“Because this is not just a number, it includes family, relatives, colleagues, and loved ones who have left us,” he said.

The decline in positive cases and the increase in recoveries must be followed by a fall in the death rate in the community, he added.

Source: Antara News