Month: December 2021

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Palu airport to repair facilities damaged in 2018 quake

Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport, Palu, has confirmed it has begun a project this month to repair facilities damaged by the 2018 earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi and upgrade existing facilities.

According to Palu Airport’s head, Ubaedillah, the airport revamp project will cover repairs to the airport terminal, supporting facilities, and 250 meters of the southern side of the runway that was damaged due to liquefaction in the 2018 earthquake.

The landside part of the airport terminal will be repaired first under the project, he informed. At present, the terminal is operating at 60 percent capacity, as both end sides of the terminal—which were significantly damaged in the quake—are yet to be repaired, he said.

“We have also requested the Transportation Ministry to beautify and modernize the terminal during the renovation project,” Ubaedillah said.

The project is expected to take around 1.5 months to complete, with the works scheduled to be commenced in January 2022, he informed.

The repairs will be performed by a third-party company, he said.

“Airport facilities that will undergo the revamping process are expected to be operational by May or June 2023, and we hope the Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport could become an icon for Central Sulawesi province upon completion of the revamping project,” Ubaedillah remarked.

The airport head assured that flight activities and passenger movement at the airport will not be disrupted by the project.

The Transportation Ministry has also cooperated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund the project, he added.

In the future, the airport will upgrade its 2,500-meter runway to allow larger aircraft than Boeing 737-900, currently the largest aircraft the airport can serve, to land, Ubaedillah said.

“We need assistance from the regional authority to elevate the Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport status to be an international airport, as they also targeted the airport becoming a Hajj embarkation point in the future,” the airport head stated.

Source: Antara News

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BMKG collaborates with ministries for sustainable development

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) has said it is collaborating with the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry and Transportation Ministry to realize sustainable development.

BMKG’s primary secretary Dwi Budi Sutrisno said that sustainable development requires synergy between knowledge and data from the tourism and maritime sector with the data that BMKG could provide.

“Additional value in the form of the strengthening of security, defense, and economy could only be realized if there is a synergy between the two sectors,” he explained in a statement on BMKG’s official website on Wednesday.

Indonesia’s territory is very strategic with its rich and unique, meteorological, climatological, and geophysical conditions, he said.

“This unique trait comes with the potential for disasters, which is why it needs to be managed well,” he added.

Proper management could reduce the negative impact caused by these disasters to bolster the safety of the people and the economy, he added.

Currently, BMKG has developed and operated several information and early warning systems for several disasters, including the extreme weather warning and its potential impact information system (Signature BMKG), he said.

In addition, there is also the Flash Flood Guidance System, shoreline flood warning and information system (CIFS BMKG), and Ocean Forecast System BMKG, he noted.

Further, there is the extreme climate early warning for drought potential information system, rainy and dry season information, ultraviolet intensity information, dengue fever prediction information (CEWS), and earthquake information system and tsunami early warning (INaTEWS), he added.

“We are also striving to integrate these hazards information systems into an integrated multi-dangers information system within a single platform to improve its effectiveness in realizing Zero Victim in the form of Geo-Meteorologist Multi-Dangers Early Warning System (MHEWS),” Sutrisno informed.

Meanwhile, sea transportation directorate general Arif Toha noted that the collaboration between the BMKG and the ministries is aimed at improving coordination and synergy between parties in utilizing maritime meteorology information.

The scope of the collaboration includes the provision, exchange, and utilization of maritime meteorology data and/or information and tsunami early warning, and distribution of maritime meteorology data and information, and tsunami early warning, he said.

Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry secretary Wayan Giri Adnyani said that events such as the World Superbike (WSBK) race in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara, is one popular event that requires accurate weather info.

“So, that the problem and disaster mitigation could be handled well,” she explained.

Source: Antara News

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Culture Ministry holds International Conference on Indonesian Culture

The Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry is holding the International Conference on Indonesian Culture (ICONIC) in an online format from November 30 to December 2, 2021.

“ICONIC is being held with the intention of realizing a cross-disciplinary mutual assistance platform that involves domestic and international researchers, (it is) designed to enrich the study of Indonesian culture, Judi Wahjudin, an official from the ministry, informed here on Wednesday.

“One of the cultural advancement strategic agendas is providing space for a diverse cultural expression and encouraging cultural interaction to bolster inclusive culture,” he said.

ICONIC has been organized to build a mechanism for cultural research consolidation in Indonesia that supports the strategic agenda of cultural policymaking, he added.

The event aims to realize synergy between the world of academia and publishing, both domestic and international, to facilitate the translation and publishing of books on Indonesian culture, he informed.

The other purpose of ICONIC is to encourage the distribution of research results among the public and stakeholders, which would allow transformation at a local level, he added.

The conference is themed “The Resilience of Cultural Ecosystem amid the Pandemic”, he said. It is expected to produce a solution to that problem, he added.

A number of cultural experts are scheduled to talk about the role of culture within the present-day during the conference.

Several cultural and non-cultural researchers, academicians, and practitioners have been invited to the conference to provide their ideas and suggestions through writing and discussions, he informed.

In June 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published a report entitled Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) In the Face of COVID-19: An Economic Impact Outlook, Wahjudin added.

As per the report, CCI was one of the first sectors to be closed down and will be the last one to revive since most of the sector depends on mass congregation, he noted.

The UNESCO report provided an outlook for the economic impact on the CCI and also the efforts taken in various countries to handle the issue. (

Source: Antara News

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Health Ministry pursues vaccination in plural regions

A spokesperson for COVID-19 Vaccination from the Indonesian Health Ministry Siti Nadia Tarmizi affirmed that her side continues to encourage vaccination in areas with plural conditions.

“We are starting to pursue vaccination in plural areas with their own challenges,” Tarmizi stated during a dialogue on vaccination continuity here on Wednesday.

The spokesperson later explained that the Indonesian government had administered the first dose of vaccine to 67 percent of the community. Hence, 33 percent of the people must immediately receive the vaccination.

While administering vaccination in plural areas, Tarmizi admitted that they were facing several challenges, such as geographical location, availability of transportation, and access for people living in villages to reach vaccination sites.

In Maluku Province, people at times had to navigate through rivers or the sea to receive vaccination provided by the government, she noted.

“Vaccine distribution is also a challenge to expedite vaccination coverage. We encounter problems in terms of the geographical location and transportation,” she noted.

In view of the several challenges faced in expanding vaccination coverage to remote areas, she emphasized that it is important for the public to not be picky about the vaccine brands available in Indonesia.

Vaccination must be pursued immediately on account of the emergence of the new Omicron variant. However, this new variant is reported to have no impact on increasing the severity of symptoms in vaccinated people.

Hence, Tarmizi urged the public to immediately get vaccinated to prevent severe illness due to the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“Although we know several aspects still need to be researched for the vaccine, it nonetheless offers significant protection and benefits to the people,” Tarmizi added.

Source: Antara News

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Decline in vaccinations due to improved conditions: Health Ministry

The number of COVID-19 vaccinations has shown a decline possibly due to the improved condition and controlled coronavirus transmission in Indonesia, spokesperson for COVID-19 vaccinations at the Health Ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, has said.

“If we look at the declining number in vaccination, maybe the factor is because the virus transmission is getting lower,” she said during a discussion on vaccination continuity on Wednesday.

The decline in the vaccination rate can also be attributed to people’s tendency to choose certain brands of vaccines, Tarmizi added.

As per data from the Health Ministry, the number of people who have received the first dose has reached 138 million, or 67 percent of the target, while the number of fully vaccinated recipients has reached 95.5 million, or 45.8 percent, she noted.

However, the vaccination coverage among the elderly population has only reached 53 percent for the first dose and 34 percent for the second dose, she said.

“On the other hand, if we look at the regions, for almost two to three weeks, there has been a decrease in injections per day. This is because many regions are waiting to be able to get the Sinovac vaccine,” she informed.

Looking at the map of COVID-19 vaccines, in the first half of 2021, Indonesia used a lot of Sinovac vaccines, since other types of vaccines could not fully supply the needs of the community at that time, Tarmizi said.

However, in the last six months of 2021, Indonesia had more types of vaccine brands besides Sinovac, such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna, she added.

With the availability of various vaccine types, she said she hoped that all districts and cities can expedite and complete vaccinations.

“We know that all vaccines are equally good even with several side effects. Those are reactions from our bodies to stimulate our immune system reacting to the virus,” she added.

Source: Antara News

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COVID-19: Number of second dose recipients reaches 96.5 million

The number of Indonesian citizens who have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine reached 96,519,346 on Wednesday, an increase of 1,045,478 compared to the previous day, according to data from the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the number of first dose recipients increased by 839,608 to reach 140,205,046.

According to the Health Ministry, 46.34 percent of the targeted 208,265,720 recipients have been immunized so far. The government had set the target in order to build herd immunity.

So far, 1,922,615 health workers have been fully vaccinated against the virus out of the 1,468,764 targeted recipients.

Among the elderly category, 7,415,686 people have received the second dose out of the 21,553,118 targeted recipients.

Among public workers, 20,997,222 have been administered both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The number of vaccinated people in this group has exceeded the target, which was set at 17,327,167 people.

A total number of 50,470,357 people from the vulnerable and general category have obtained the second dose against the target of 141,211,181, as per the ministry’s data.

Meanwhile, 14, 554, 975 children aged 12–17 have been fully vaccinated against the virus. The government is targeting to vaccinate 26,705,490 children in this age group.

Earlier, COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson and expert team chief Wiku Bakti Bawono Adisasmito had said that the government is considering rolling out booster vaccinations to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

However, the current priority is to get people to complete the first and the second dose of vaccination, he informed.

Source: Antara News

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Kampus Mengajar aims to improve students’ literacy, numeracy skills

The Kampus Mengajar (Campus Teaching) program aims to improve the literacy and numeration capability of students, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology has said.

Under the program, university students are being sent to teach students of schools in rural and remote regions who are struggling to adopt the distanced learning system amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have received extraordinary feedback from the university students,” Nizam, an official from the ministry, noted here on Wednesday.

“For the first batch of the Kampus Mengajar program, we sent 10 thousand students. For the second batch, we sent 20 thousand students. For Kampus Mengajar’s third batch, we will send many more,” he informed.

The hard work of all parties, including university students, is aimed at providing literacy and numeration education to elementary and middle school students in Indonesia, he added.

“So, that it would contribute in advancing the nation and citizens’ lives,” he affirmed.

The interaction with university students from across the country not only presents new experiences for school students, but also for university students, Nizam explained.

The ministry announced the third batch of Kampus Mengajar volunteers due to the overwhelming response from teachers, students, and university students, he said.

“Advancing education necessitates collective mutual assistance. Working together with the spirit of Merdeka Belajar (Freedom in Learning), we are presenting quality education throughout the nation,” he noted.

The ministry has lauded the headmasters and teachers of a number of schools who have welcomed the program with open arms, he said. Through this program, university students can acquire knowledge as well as share it, he added.

Earlier, Nizam asked university students to help the government in carrying out disaster mitigation, specifically tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

University students could conduct applied research whose results could help in improving the COVID-19 situation, he said.

Source: Antara News

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National Committee for Disabilities first step to equality: official

The establishment of the National Committee for Disabilities could be a good step towards ensuring equality for people with disabilities and creating an inclusive environment for all, the President’s Special Staff, Angkie Yudistia, has said.

“The establishment of this National Committee will be a positive first step towards equality or equity for people with disabilities, to create an inclusive, disability-friendly Indonesia environment,” she remarked at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Wednesday.

She delivered the statement after President Joko Widodo inducted seven commissioners into the committee.

The National Committee for Disabilities comprises seven commissioners, including a chairman and a deputy chairman, she informed. The seven commissioners comprise four people with disabilities and three able-bodied people, she added.

“This means that this is a form of inclusivity,” she remarked.

The special staff also said that the move emphasized the government’s commitment to upholding the rights of people with disabilities by protecting and respecting them.

“The seven commissioners have gone through various phases, in which the selection committee has succeeded in creating candidate of leaders who will lead the National Committee for Disabilities,” Yudistia revealed.

She described the establishment of the committee as a milestone for Indonesia. The creation of the committee is in accordance with Law Number 8 of 2016 regarding people with disabilities, and it is further reinforced by Presidential Regulation Number 68 of 2020 about the National Committee for Disabilities, she said.

Yudistia emphasized that the committee is proof that people with disabilities have the capability to contribute to national development.

Source: Antara News

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