Month: December 2021

Self-proclaimed Myanmar national, Te Mau Dong, who died by suicide at the immigration detention center of Ambon, Maluku, has not been recognized as a citizen by the Myanmar caretaker government.

There is no clarity on where Dong’s body can be buried because it cannot be repatriated to Myanmar if there is no claim from the caretaker government, the head of the Class I Immigration Office at Ambon, Armand Armada Yoga Surya, said here on Thursday.

“Since November, the immigration office has written to the Embassy of the Republic of Myanmar, but until now they have not replied. We only got recognition from Dong himself that he is Myanmarese, but without any recognition from his country, then he is stateless,” Surya added.

Dong initially turned himself in to the authorities in late November 2021 and asked to be repatriated to Myanmar, he informed.

During immigration checks, Dong had claimed he was born in Natale, Myanmar on July 7, 1966, and had been residing in Ambon since 2013 after escaping on a fishing boat operating in Maluku sea because he had been tortured, he added.

“He lived by himself in Laha (a village). His job was helping clean the mosque. He was quite proficient in Indonesian,” Surya said.

When he arrived at the immigration office, Dong did not bring a single citizenship document and only claimed he was a Myanmar citizen, he informed.

The immigration authorities have reported Te Mau Dong’s death to the Myanmar Embassy and it is expected that within 1×24 hours, there will be an answer as to where he will be buried, Surya said.

Since Dong did not hold any proof of citizenship, he had been detained at the Ambon Immigration Office, waiting for his case to be processed by the Myanmar Embassy, Surya said. However, he fell sick and ran away while he was being treated in a hospital, he added.

“When he was vomiting and had cold sweats, we immediately took him to the Army Hospital in Ambon. But he ran away, even though he was still being infused,” Surya said.

Later, Dong was arrested in Piru, Seram district. On December 28, 2021, Dong was detained again and on Thursday (December 30), it was planned that he would be transferred to the Makassar Immigration Detention House, South Sulawesi, he informed.

However, the same day, Dong ended his life by hanging himself in the bathroom.

“We have not been able to ascertain what caused him to hang himself, the investigation is still being carried out by the police,” Surya said.

Meanwhile, the Islands of Ambon and Lease Police said that Dong’s suicide was recorded by surveillance cameras (CCTV). Police have examined the footage and sought witness statements, officials said. There were no signs of violence on his body, they added.

Dong’s body was taken to Dr. Haulussy Hospital in Ambon for an examination.

Source: Antara News

Confirmed daily cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia rose by 189, with Jakarta recording the highest count of new cases, reaching 53, on Thursday, as of 12 p.m. local time, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force confirmed.

Based on data of the COVID-19 Task Force received here on Thursday, the second highest count of confirmed daily cases was recorded in West Papua at 29 cases, followed by East Java, 19 cases; Central Java, 17 cases; and West Java, 16 cases.

In total, the number of confirmed cases since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in Indonesia reached 4,262,540.

The number of people recovering daily increased by 399. The highest daily recovery count was recorded in West Papua reaching 252 people, followed by 34 people in Jakarta, 32 people in Central Java, and 19 people in West Java. With the addition of 399 recovered patients, the total recovery count reached 4,114,141.

Meanwhile, the national death count increased by seven comprising two in East Java and one each in Central Java, Bali, West Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara, and Riau. In total, the COVID-19 death count reached 144,088 people since March 2020.

Furthermore, the number of active cases declined by 217 people, thereby bringing the total to 4,311 active cases. However, 4,059 people were declared as suspects, and 229,759 specimens had been examined.

The COVID-19 Task Force’s Head of Health Handling, Alexander K. Ginting, stated that the posts of public activities restrictions (PPKM) at the village level should encourage the application of health protocols in the community.

“By activating micro-scale PPKM posts, we can tackle Omicron, so it does not enter our villages, neighborhood units (RT), or hamlets (RW),” Ginting emphasized.

He accentuated that village-level PPKM posts should push the implementation of health protocols to prevent the surfacing of new clusters due to ignorant behavior in families and communities, as the pandemic is still under control.

Such efforts can also prevent the emergence of the Omicron variant that has a rapid transmission ability and can increase hospitalization capacity despite its mild symptoms.

Source: Antara News

The National Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM) plans to restore 360 thousand hectares of peatland in 2022 by implementing the peatland hydrological unit (KHG) model, BRGM’s deputy of construction, operations, and preservation has informed.

Speaking at the ‘BRGM Year-End Reflection’ event here on Thursday, Tris Raditian said that the target has been determined in accordance with Presidential Regulation Number 120/2020 regarding BRGM.

Based on the regulation, the total restoration target till 2024 is 1.2 million hectares, he noted.

The 2022 peatland restoration program will be conducted in seven provinces: Riau (158,636 hectares), Jambi (37,225 hectares), South Sumatra (46,642 hectares), West Kalimantan (36,498 hectares), Central Kalimantan (68,513 hectares), South Kalimantan (922 hectares), and Papua (11,564 hectares), he added.

In addition to the KHG model, the agency will also resort to systematic and integrated peat ecosystem management to achieve the restoration target, Raditian revealed.

“Previously, we acted based on the ‘quick response’ principle, thus the implementation of the restoration program was unintegrated. However, currently, we will focus on achieving a systematic and structured KHG model,” he emphasized.

The KHG model was developed based on empirical experience gained during the previous program implementation period from 2016 to 2021, as well as a number of relevant theories, he said.

The establishment of the model is aimed to obtain optimum KHG with a balanced and stable ecosystem, he added.

The development of the model was carried out through the stages of planning, institutionalization, technical determination of restoration interventions, empowerment and incentives provision, as well as monitoring and evaluation, Raditian said.

At the same event, the agency disclosed that it rehabilitated 34,911 hectares of mangroves in 2021, exceeding its target of 33 thousand hectares.

Initially, the target for the mangrove rehabilitation in 2021 was 83 thousand hectares, it informed. However, it was revised to 33 thousand hectares on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, it added.

Source: Antara News

State-owned Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) has said that it has verified 2.3 million claims pertaining to the treatment of COVID-19 patients from 2,100 hospitals, as of December 23, 2021.

“BPJS Kesehatan supported the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by recording, verifying billing, and reporting COVID-19 treatment claims for all Indonesian people,” the agency’s president director, Ali Ghufron Mukti, said at an event here on Thursday.

The claims will be paid by the Health Ministry to health facilities, he added.

“We are always ready to support all government attempts in handling COVID-19,” he remarked.

In addition to verifying claims, the agency also developed the P-Care Vaksinasi app to record the implementation of COVID-19 vaccinations, including registration, screening, and reporting, he noted.

BPJS Kesehatan also tested the mobile vaccination P-Care app at 10 First-Level Health Facilities (FKTP) to expedite the work of COVID-19 vaccinators in all fields since the app does not require any computer to be used, he informed.

“Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we also strived to maintain the satisfaction of the National Health Insurance and Healthy Indonesia Card (JKN-KIS) program participants in accessing JKN-KIS services by diverting a number of conventional services to digital ones,” he said.

In addition, the agency provided a vaccination and COVID-19 treatment claim monitoring dashboard to local governments, he added.

BPJS Kesehatan also collaborated with the director general of public administration and civil registration of the Home Affairs Ministry for accelerating COVID-19 vaccinations, preparing quarantine facilities for employees testing positive for COVID-19, and increasing the number of verifiers for COVID-19 treatment claims.

Mukti further said that the agency’s net health social security funds had reached Rp37.92 trillion as of November 2021.

“The number is estimated to be able to fund claims for four months. It means that our financials are healthy. However, it has not been excessively healthy,” he added. (

Source: Antara News

People’s contribution will determine the success of COVID-19 prevention efforts in Indonesia, an epidemiologist from Australian Griffith University has said.

“The public has a very big role. No matter how good the strategy made by the central and regional governments, it will not be effective and successful without the active role of the public,” Dicky Budiman said here on Thursday.

He further said the government’s program to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic requires an active role of the community. This entails complying with the health protocols, undergoing a PCR test if symptoms emerge, and getting vaccinated against COVID-19, he added.

He said that the number of people who are actively using masks is still below 80 percent. This will greatly affect the trend of transmission of COVID-19 cases, he pointed out. “Then, tracing close contacts will also become difficult if the community does not participate,” he noted.

Furthermore, the quarantine rules would also fail to stop the spread of any variants if the public does not comply with them, he added.

Meanwhile, separately, member of Commission IX of the House of Representatives, Wenny Haryanto, said the government’s efforts to control COVID-19 through various policies and vaccinations had gone very well in 2021.

As of Wednesday, 158.9 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 112.2 million people have received the second dose, he noted.

“People’s immune system will be stronger for dealing with COVID-19 as they have been vaccinated. Meanwhile, efforts to control the spread will also be easier to detect and anticipate,” he explained.

Besides complying with the health protocols, Haryanto said he expected everyone to immediately get vaccinated so that their immune system becomes stronger.

He said the most effective strategy to control COVID-19 is to continue to implement strict health protocols, undergo vaccinations, consume nutritious food, exercise, and take vitamins.

“Next year, people must continue to comply with the health protocols, as it is a way to protect themselves from the spread of COVID-19,” he added.

Source: Antara News