Day: December 9, 2021

The Indonesian Veterinarian Association (PDHI)-East Java chapter has deployed 31 members to the disaster zone of Mount Semeru’s eruption in Lumajang District to tend to the locals’ affected cattle.

“We have commenced our door-to-door service since yesterday,” Chairperson of the PHDI-East Java chapter Puput Rijal stated in Lumajang District, East Java Province, on Thursday.

Apart from providing healthcare service to the affected cattle in areas, such as the hamlets of Sukosari and Kebonagung in Sumberwuluh Village, Candipuro Sub-district, the veterinarians also hand out vitamins, Rijal remarked.

The PDHI members partaking in the community service mainly come from the districts of Lumajang and Jember in East Java, Rijal remarked, adding that the PDHI collaborates with the Lumajang agriculture office for conducting this mission.

“The Mount Semeru eruption did affect the cattle. However, alhamdulillah (thank God), the condition is not as bad as earlier projected,” Rijal stated.

The veterinarians’ on-field findings showed that several cattle suffered from burn injuries, while most had developed minor syndromes, including that related to breathing, Rijal added.

Mount Semeru, located in two districts — Malang and Lumajang — in East Java Province, erupted on December 4, 2021, at around 3 p.m. local time. The mountain spewed incandescent lava while emitting rumbling sounds and thick gray smoke.

To evacuate victims of the Mt Semeru eruption, the East Java Police has prepared 14 excavators that will be operated by the Lumajang Police in coordination with the Mount Semeru Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Of the 14 excavators, four will be deployed in Curah Kobokan Village in Pronojiwo Sub-district and 10 in Jarit Village, Pasirian Sub-district.

The East Java Police has also provided eight dump trucks, one tanker truck containing diesel fuel, and two trucks carrying excavators to assist in the evacuation of victims.

On Tuesday, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inspected areas affected by the eruption of Mount Semeru to ensure assistance for refugees.

“I come here to ensure that we have put in all our efforts to find the remaining victims and evacuate them,” he stated in Lumajang District.

“We are also looking at the plan to repair infrastructure damaged by the eruption,” President Jokowi stated.

Source: Antara News

The Social Affairs Ministry has ensured to fulfill all meal requirements of refugees of Mount Semeru’s eruption following requests from residents in need of food assistance at refugee camps in Lumajang District, East Java.

“There is funding for all types of food assistance and is supported by the national budget, which is intended for refugees and residents affected by the Mount Semeru disaster,” the ministry’s Secretary of the Director General of Social Protection and Security, Robben Rico, noted in a release here, Thursday.

Rico detailed the locations of the refugees, with some being in family homes and schools, though it was confirmed that the ministry will provide aid to all local residents affected by Mount Semeru’s increased activity.

“It is not true that we do not give when people seek food assistance. For instance, it is known that as many as 7,800 rice packs were distributed in Sumberwuluh Village, and as much as two thousand packages of rice (were distributed) in a day in Jarit Village, of course, for those who were registered,” he elaborated.

He noted that food would certainly be sent for the registered residents. However, the assistance would also be provided to those that had yet to be registered.

“For instance, there is a community of residents asking for 20 packs of meals to be given, and of course (it will be given). In such cases, it is not fixed, so it is not the same every day. This means it can fluctuate,” he stated.

Rico took the time to personally inspect the tents set up by the ministry. It included booths for families and tents that are open to everyone.

“I also accompanied storytellers for children to relieve their trauma and observed the soup kitchen managed by the disaster mitigation team (Tagana),” Rico added.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria has assured that the provincial government and TransJakarta are striving to find solutions to improve the bus rapid transit operator’s safety record following repeated accidents.

“Just wait for the announcement from TransJakarta regarding measures they will take to improve their safety record, surely with Jakarta authority’s assistance to the operator,” Patria said in North Jakarta on Thursday.

The Jakarta authorities have urged the TransJakarta management to conduct a thorough evaluation to determine the causes behind the repeated bus accidents before conceiving solutions to their operational issues, he informed.

“We will conduct a thorough investigation on the operational system. I understand that driving a large TransJakarta bus is not an easy task because of its straight lane, and barriers on both of the lane sides easily cause the drivers to be fatigued more easily,” the deputy governor noted.

Patria also instructed the bus operator to elucidate solutions and measures taken to ensure bus drivers comprehend the arrangement and improve their driving performance.

Earlier, a TransJakarta official denied that overworked bus drivers were the main reason for the recent accidents that have tainted the bus operator’s safety record.

“We clarify that no bus drivers are working for more than eight hours because operation procedures prohibit such practices,” president director of TransJakarta, Mochammad Yana Aditya, clarified in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Aditya reiterated the bus operator’s willingness to abide by the National Transportation Safety Committee’s recommendation following its assessment of several TransJakarta bus accidents.

He also confirmed that the management has summoned contractors who have assisted TransJakarta bus operators to perform a joint evaluation on the bus operation.

“We must equate our perception to prevent differing information issued by one of us. We must also unify our effort to evaluate human, bus fleets, or environmental factors that might cause the accidents,” Aditya remarked.

Source: Antara News

The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) of Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry will station an assistance team to compute the volume of volcanic eruption material at the peak of Mount Semeru, to anticipate the recurrence of cold lava flow.

“The team will arrive at Mount Semeru soon,” Head of PVMBG Andiani noted in a statement on Thursday.

Andiani remarked that the agency had also dispatched an emergency response team and a mapping team to survey the areas affected by the volcanic eruption.

The team also flew a drone to monitor the condition of Mount Semeru. In addition, a geologist team will be sent later to examine the volcanic rocks.

Andiani affirmed that PVMBG was constantly monitoring all volcanic activities at Mount Semeru.

Hence, currently, the agency continues to conduct various studies to provide an understanding of the characteristics of the volcano to the public.

According to Antara’s observation on Thursday, dozens of houses in Kamar Kajang Village, Candipuro Sub-district, Lumajang District, were flooded by the cold lava flow from Mount Semeru due to heavy rainfall on Wednesday night and the wee hours of Thursday.

Earlier, several other villages, such as Renteng and Curah Kobokan, were also flooded by the avalanche.

Andiani has urged the public to stay away from hot cloud flows areas owing to the likelihood of a secondary eruption and hot rock sediments.

She also called on the public to remain vigilant against cold lava flow as Indonesia is still in the midst of the rainy season until the start of next year.

“People are not allowed to conduct any activity within a radius of one kilometer (km) from the peak and five km in the southeast sector of the mountain, as well as along the river that originates from the peak,” she added.

Source: Antara News

The Indonesian government is drafting a regulation on the retrieval of valuable objects from sunken ships (BMKT) and their utilization, which the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry expects will contribute to sustainable marine development.

“It will regulate the mechanism for retrieval, on-site and off-site utilization, and utilization status finalization of BMKT,” acting Director General of Marine Spatial Management at the ministry Pamuji Lestari said in a statement here on Thursday.

The sunken ships can be developed into local community business since BMKT investment has been regulated by Government Regulations Number 5/2021 concerning Risk-Based Business Licensing, she added.

Furthermore, the ministry currently manages more than 200 thousand BMKT collections retrieved from Indonesian waters, dating from the 9th–18th centuries, she informed.

They are exhibited at the ministry’s Marine Heritage Gallery and stored at the Cileungsi Warehouse, which can be accessed openly by the public, she said.

In addition, the ministry has determined an Australian ship that sank during World War II in Banten Bay as a Maritime Conservation Area, which can be visited by divers who are interested in historical sites, Lestari added.

Meanwhile, the Director of Marine Services at the ministry, Miftahul Huda, said that BMKTs are marine resources that have economic, historical, cultural, and scientific value.

Hence, their use needs to be measured, he added. BMKT management includes ships, cargo, and locations, he noted.

“More than 900 ships and BMKT sites are recorded in Government Regulation Number 32/2019 concerning Marine Spatial Planning, while 463 of them are predicted to have historical value,” the director informed.

Twenty-five percent of the locations have been surveyed and valuables from three percent of them have been retrieved. In addition, around 15–30 sites have the potential to be developed into diving tourism attractions, he added.

Head of the ministry’s Research Center for Coastal Resources and Vulnerability (LRSDKP), Bungus sub-district, Padang city, West Sumatra, Nia Naelul Hasanah Ridwan, said that marine tourism is the largest segment in the sector.

Hence, tourism development must be part of integrated coastal area management to help preserve vulnerable ecosystems and promote a blue economy, she added.

“Introducing BMKT as one of the marine resources is in line with Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono’s policy to manage marine resources wisely while still maintaining their sustainability and economic values,” she remarked.

Source: Antara News

The priority lists and legacy issues of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency will balance the global agenda with domestic priorities and interests, Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo has said.

“It will also align many parties’ interests, both from developed and developing countries,” Warjiyo told the press in Nusa Dua, Bali on Thursday.

The alignment of different interests will be realized during Indonesia’s G20 Presidency through the meeting of Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD), he said.

According to Warjiyo, the meeting, which is part of the Finance Track, is key to ensuring the sustainability of the G20 leadership in supporting global economic recovery in the short and long term.

The priority agenda of the G20 Finance Track also relates to BI’s duties, such as international cooperation in the normalization of the monetary policy, he added.

There is also the implementation of regulations in the finance sector that must observe its readiness, digitization of payment systems, and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the governor said.

Warjiyo then detailed some of Indonesia’s to-do lists during the G20 Presidency that will continue to focus on a number of legacy issues.

These issues, he pointed out, include the risk integration of the pandemic and the climate through the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN).

The legacy issues also encompass the matter of increasing capital flows, proceeding with data gap initiatives, improving the reform of financial sector regulations, and strengthening the transparency and management of debt, he said.

Furthermore, the agenda will cover dialogues on accelerating sustainable and inclusive infrastructure development and optimizing financing support from multilateral development banks (MDBs), he added.

Finally, according to Warjiyo, the Finance Track will discuss strengthening the capacity of health systems in preventing and responding to pandemics.

It will also deliberate on continuing support to attract private sector investment in low-income countries in the African region, he added.

Source: Antara News

Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah has said that Indonesia must push major breakthroughs during its G20 Presidency and encourage greater equality in national and global employment development.

“Indonesia must be able to make big breakthroughs at this G20 forum, especially in facing the current and future global employment challenges,” she remarked while officially opening the G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) in Jakarta on Thursday.

This would be in accordance with the directions issued by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) when he officially opened Indonesia’s G20 Presidency on December 1, 2021, she noted.

Indonesia’s G20 Presidency in 2022 will not only be a ceremonial momentum but will be used to encourage real action from G20 countries to fight for the aspirations and interests of developing countries, such as Indonesia, the minister said.

In terms of employment, Indonesia will focus on four priority issues, including the creation of sustainable jobs, inclusive job market, and the initiative for decent job creation for disabled people, she informed.

Another focus will be the development of human resource capacity for sustainable productivity growth and the protection of an adaptive and inclusive workforce in response to the changing world of work, she said.

As G20 President, Indonesia can produce concrete initiatives to encourage the recovery of global employment conditions, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauziyah added.

“We will also use the Indonesian presidency to contribute to national, regional, and global employment development that is more equitable, more fair, and of course, more inclusive,” she emphasized.

The effort is needed to achieve a world that is more resilient to crises, digital disruptions, and climate change, she explained.

Indonesia’s Presidency of the G20 started in December 2021 and will end in October 2022. The main theme of its Presidency is ‘Recover Together, Recover Stronger’.

President Jokowi had previously outlined three main focuses of the forum—providing inclusive health, digital-based transformation, and the transition to sustainable energy.

The G20 is a global forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union. Members of the forum, which was formed in 1999, account for 80 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 75 percent of global exports.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia hosted the 14th meeting of the Bali Democracy Forum under the theme “Democracy for Humanity: Advancing Economic and Social Justice during Pandemic” on Dec. 9, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Azerbaijan was represented at the event by Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev.

Mammadguliyev, who was present at the online meeting, stressed Azerbaijan’s contribution to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deputy foreign minister added that Azerbaijan opposes “vaccine nationalism”.

In particular, Mammadguliyev reminded that a special meeting of the UN General Assembly was held in December 2020 on the initiative of the Azerbaijani President as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The deputy minister informed the participants of the event that a trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020 put an end to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which had lasted for almost 30 years, and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity was restored after the 44-day second Karabakh war.

In his speech, the deputy minister stressed that Azerbaijan attaches importance to the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, various ethnic and religious groups have peacefully existed for centuries. Azerbaijan holds a number of international events.

The public and political figures from many countries, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attended the forum.

The Bali Democracy Forum has been held since 2008 at the initiative of the Indonesian government and serves to promote democracy in the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide through the exchange of positive experiences.

Source: TREND News Agency