Day: July 28, 2021

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Dean of IPB University’s Economy and Management Faculty, Nunung Nuryanto, has highlighted the importance of the economic transformation in Indonesia, a phenomenon that most nations are experiencing to varying degrees amid the pandemic.

“The thing that differentiates them is the speed of the transformation within those countries themselves. For example, within one nation’s development, the transformation is characterized by the role of one sector being replaced by another sector,” he said in an official statement received here on Wednesday.

The academician explained that Indonesia, as an archipelago state, needs a different economic transformation strategy than other nations.

Economic transformation will not be easy because the design will need to be constantly perfected, he pointed out.

“Every related party must accompany this transformation process so that it can be implemented on the field. In our current pandemic, we need to pay attention to what we need to do to accelerate our economic transformation process. This is the momentum to accelerate that process,” Nuryanto stressed. He said he and his team have studied the nation’s economy over the 1997-2020 period and found that Indonesia’s economic structure has been changing along with its development strategy. However, Java Island has remained consistent as the nation’s economic center, contributing no less than 58 percent to the economy, he noted.

To fix the issue, he suggested the economic transformation capability of each province be studied. By observing the resources in those regions, policy makers can determine concrete steps, Nuryanto said.

“Provinces that are quick to transform must be maintained, while provinces that have moderate transformation speed must be pushed to become better. Provinces that have a slow transformation speed need to have their enabling factors prepared,” he advised.

In addition, human resources need to be prepared amid the ongoing pandemic, Nuryanto said.

By doing so, economic transformation can happen equally across Indonesia, and not just be focused on one island, he remarked.

Source: Antara News

Palembang (ANTARA) – The Social Office of South Sumatra has said it has prepared one thousand tons of rice to assist residents, especially those affected by the implementation of level 4 Public Activity Restrictions (PPKM).

Each beneficiary family will receive 10 kilograms of rice, which will be distributed in stages to hundreds of families in Palembang City, Lubuklinggau, Musi Banyusian district, and Musirawas, head of the Social Office, Mirwansyah, informed here on Wednesday.

Social assistance in the form of necessities will be provided to ease the burden on the people, who are struggling to put food on the table due to the implementation of the PPKM, he explained.

With the assistance, it is hoped that social problems can be prevented so that the implementation of the PPKM can run well in reducing COVID-19 transmission, he added.

Mirwansyah said his office will strictly supervise the distribution of the rice aid and other social assistance released by the government to ensure it is received by the right people.

Hundreds of Social Office officers in the province, districts, and cities, supported by the Indonesian Military TNI)( and Police, will help supervise the social assistance distribution, he informed.

Officers will directly supervise the distribution of aid at the earmarked locations by referring to data on the Family Hope Program (PKH) beneficiaries, which was updated in January, 2021, he said.

To help people in need amid the pandemic, the Indonesian government is providing social assistance through several programs across the country.

The programs are in addition to the Family Hope Program, Basic Food Card Program, PPKM Basic Food Card, Social Cash Transfer Program, Bulog Rice Assistance, Electricity Discount, Minimum Account Assistance for Load/Subscription Fees, Pre-Employment and Labor Wage Subsidy Assistance, Internet data packages assistance, and village fund cash transfers (BLTs).

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Rector of the Indonesian Defense University (Unhan) and TNI (Indonesian Defense Forces) vice admiral, Prof. Dr. Amarulla Octavian, underlined the need for global cooperation to tackle the threat of biological terrorism at a conference on Wednesday.

“COVID-19 is dangerous, as it is vulnerable to be misused as a biological weapon by terrorists. All countries can utilize the architecture of security cooperation to roll out Bio-Defence and Bio-Intelligence,” he remarked at the 7th International Maritime Security Conference, organized online by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the Singapore Navy.

It is important to internationally register all unmanned systems used by navies and coast guards around the world, Octavian said.

“All UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), USVs (Unmanned Surface Vehicles), and USSVs (Unmanned Subsurface Vehicles) must be registered to be legally identified as one of the world countries’ belonging, and not belonging to the sea criminal perpetrators,” he explained.

The international conference was divided into four sessions, each of which had a different theme.

It was attended by eleven naval chiefs and four coast guard heads, professors from several universities, representatives from shipping and shipbuilding industries, and officials from international and regional organizations. The conference was officially opened by Singapore Navy Rear Admiral Aaron Beng and Singapore’s Minister of Defense, Dr. Ng Eng Hen, who served as the main speaker.

As the second speaker of the second session, Octavian presented a paper on ‘Maritime Connectivity and Resilience in the Post-Pandemic Maritime Environment’.

In the paper, Octavian comprehensively covered the role played by Indonesia in ensuring the security of international sea trade routes.

The vice admiral also talked about Indonesia’s contribution to maritime connectivity and maritime resilience.

“Indonesia’s main contribution is the implementation of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Sunda strait and the Lombok strait to reduce traffic density in the Malacca Strait while protecting Indonesia’s marine ecosystem from pollution hazards,” Octavian informed.

The other speakers at the conference included six naval chiefs from the United States, France, Germany, India, Japan, and Malaysia, and three vice chiefs from China, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Besides military officials, academics, practitioners, and maritime security experts also attended the event.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The government will continue to focus on five strategies for strengthening economic recovery, following the International Monetary Fund lowering its projection of Indonesia’s 2021 economic growth by 0.4 percent from 4.3 percent to 3.9 percent.

Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu, made the remarks in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“The IMF’s projection of Indonesia’s economic growth for 2021, which is 3.9 percent, is still within the government’s projection range of 3.7 to 4.5 percent,” he said.

Indonesia’s five strategies would continue to focus on efforts to control the pandemic, protect people’s welfare, encourage national economic recovery, and increase competitiveness, he added.

Indonesia will continue to take advantage of the conducive global economic outlook while being aware of the risks, namely the presence of the Delta variant and the acceleration of vaccinations, he said.

In addition, the Finance Ministry has expressed concern about the normalization of the US monetary policy as an implication of accelerated economic recovery that has the potential to encourage a reversal of capital flows to the US, he added. The demand for export products, which is expected to remain robust, in line with the solid global growth outlook, will serve as an opportunity to continue to boost Indonesia’s manufacturing performance in 2021, Kacaribu said.

Global trade volume in 2021 is projected to remain solid, with growth recorded at 9.7 percent, or an increase of 1.3 percent, he added.

The strong growth in trading activity shows that the external sector has become a major factor driving the growth of the global economy, he noted.

The threat of the Delta variant has encouraged Indonesia to strengthen policies in the health and social protection sector by increasing the budget allocation for national economic recovery, Kacaribu said.

“The state budget provides expansion of social protection and support for MSMEs accompanied by efforts to accelerate distribution,” he added.

Indonesia is currently targeting to administer 1.5 million daily vaccinations and increase them further gradually, he said.

As of July 27, 2021, the cumulative total of vaccines that have been given to the public has reached 63.94 million doses, he added.

The government is also ensuring that vaccine stocks continue to be available so that the acceleration of vaccinations can be carried out according to the set targets, he said.

“Vaccination is indeed one of the key policies for every country to control the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Jakarta’s development, especially in mass transportation, is on track, former Jakarta governor and National Defence Forces (TNI) lieutenant general (retd.), Sutiyoso, has said.

“It (the development of mass transportation) is a work of continuity from the draft of my administration,” he remarked in North Jakarta on Wednesday while observing mass vaccinations organized by the National Democratic (NasDem) Party.

Each governor may face unique difficulties in COVID-19 handling and need to work with his administration to resolve issues through equally unique problem-solving methods, he said.

During his years in office from 1997-2007, Sutiyoso said, he focused on guarding democracy from the threat of post-reformation riots in 1998. Introducing people to the idea of good democracy was one of his main jobs, he added.

“Governor Baswedan’s main homework right now is handling the pandemic, there is nothing else more important than that,” he noted.

Sutiyoso said that as Jakarta governor, he had initiated efforts to develop mass transportation in the capital through the TransJakarta (Busway).

“When we started developing TransJakarta, we had no investors interested. I had to initiate everything from the beginning since the project was my priority at that time,” he informed.

Sutiyoso said he is grateful that successive Jakarta governors have continued to push mass transportation development in the capital city based on his initial design.

“From TransJakarta, now we have MRT and LRT as well,” he added. However, he admitted several projects were not implemented or were left unfinished while he was in office, as evidenced by the concrete poles of the monorail project that can be seen at Asia Afrika Street.

“Of course, not everything went on track. Some of them had not been completed or left unfinished. However, the current administration has referred to the macro programs and plans that we made earlier,” Sutiyoso claimed.

On Wednesday, he observed mass vaccinations at a vaccination center set up by the NasDem Party, which has appointed him a member of its advisory council, in Tanjung Priok.

He, however, avoided answering reporters’ questions about Tanjung Priok, saying he had not looked into the latest situation in the area since he rarely left his home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I need to take a closer look at what (Tanjung Priok) looks like right now. I rarely go outside nowadays since I am included in the vulnerable group of people,” the 76-year-old remarked.

He said he was grateful that there were many young people in North Jakarta who worked seriously, regardless of which class or party they belonged to, to help the government handle the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting vaccination efforts.

“Vaccination programs are very important,” Sutiyoso stressed.

He said he was satisfied with the high level of public interest in participating in the vaccination program initiated by the NasDem Party.

Once the number of vaccine recipients reaches 100 thousand, the NasDem Party must work with related stakeholders to initiate further steps to help stop COVID-19 transmission, the former governor said.

“We cannot leave the job to the government, they need our help, too. I hope all parties and organizations can work together to expedite the vaccination,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has urged Muslims to switch from fixed assets to movable assets, such as shares, securities, and sharia deposits, when making wakf endowments.

“I hope that in the present era, waqf assets can be in the form of movable assets, such as shares, securities, sharia deposits, and even funds stored in waqf accounts,” he said at the Islamic Economic, Business and Finance Conference, organized virtually by the Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic University, Central Java on Wednesday.

Waqf of fixed assets, such as land, is, indeed, better known among most Muslims because land is easy to maintain and does not experience a reduction in value, he noted.

However, in the midst of technological advancements and the digitalization of economic transactions, waqf can be carried out with movable assets as long as the basic assets are not reduced and the proceeds from their development are distributed, he suggested.

Waqf of movable assets may be carried out as long as the main conditions are met, namely they are professionally and competently managed by experts in the Islamic capital market, the Vice President said.

“The results of the development are channeled to people who receive waqf (mauquf ‘alaih) for social purposes, according to the contract by the waqf giver,” he added. Amin also urged the management of the National Sharia Economic and Finance Committee (KNEKS) and the Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI) to help ensure that waqf is not misused.

“The waqf funds are people’s endowments, the principal amount of which should not be reduced but the benefits will continue to grow,” he said.

Earlier, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati had said the total cash waqf collected and deposited in banks as of December 20, 2020 stood at Rp328 billion.

Meanwhile, project-based waqf totaled Rp597 billion, she informed.

The practice of waqf has developed quite well in Indonesia, but it remains in the form of property waqf, more specifically donations of land and buildings, such as mosques, Islamic schools, Islamic boarding schools, and burial places for the benefit of the community, she noted.

The sharia social fund sector, comprising zakat (alms), sodaqoh (simple alms), infaq (disbursements), and waqf, its main component, has strategic potential to be developed, the minister said.

The Islamic social fund sector has vast potential to support efforts to overcome problems of development and poverty as well as boost the welfare of the community, Indrawati averred.

Source: Antara News