Day: January 4, 2022

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Weather anomaly triggers frost in Dieng during rainy season

Weather anomalies triggered the frost phenomenon or locally known as “upas dew” in the Dieng highlands of Wonosobo and Banjarnegara region of Central Java Province during the rainy season, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

“The phenomenon of ‘upas dew’ generally occurs at the peak of the dry season during the period from June to August,” Head of the BMKG Meteorological Station Class II Ahmad Yani Semarang, Sutikno, noted in a press release here on Tuesday.

Sutikno explained that the air mass during the rainy season is generally humid and wet and is influenced by a fairly large Asian monsoon.

Based on data from the Automatic Weather Station (AWS) installed in the Arjuna Temple area in Dieng, weather conditions around the highlands since the start of 2022 were dominated by overcast sunny climate, with excessively hot weather.

“Rainfall is low, while the difference in air humidity between day and night is quite significant,” he pointed out.

Sutikno explained that areas with good vegetation and low plant cover are highly likely to experience upstream dew.

He noted that several areas in Central Java, including the Dieng highlands, largely experienced sunny overcast weather.

Atmospheric dynamics around the Dieng highlands during the period from Jan 1 to Jan 4 of 2022 supports the appearance of frost, as it is almost similar to the dry season.

“With such atmospheric dynamics, the likelihood is very high for the appearance of the frost phenomenon,” he added.

 

Source: Antara News

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Legislators must push women’s participation in electoral bodies: MPI

Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) must consider women’s representation while performing the fit and proper test for selecting commissioners for electoral bodies, a women’s advocacy group has said.

At a webinar broadcast on Rumah Pemilu’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, coordinator of Onward Indonesian Women (MPI) Lena Maryana Mukti urged legislators to ensure 30 percent women’s representation while selecting commissioners for the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).

“We hope legislators will consider affirmative action by allocating 30 percent of the total positions offered to women candidates during the fit and proper test,” she said.

She expressed the hope that the fulfillment of the 30 percent quota for women’s representation would influence electoral bodies’ policies and decisions and make them more accommodating to women’s interests.

Women’s involvement in the decision-making process in the electoral commissions is essential to ensure women’s voices are heard in the national election conduct, she added.

In view of the competency of women candidates, Commission II legislators must fully consider women’s participation in the KPU and Bawaslu by appointing women commissioners, she reiterated.

“We had observed the interview process of several women candidates for the KPU and Bawaslu commissioners, and we see that all women who participated in the selection process have an adequate knowledge, personal capacity, and integrity for the job,” Mukti, who also serves as Indonesia’s Ambassador for Kuwait, remarked.

She also expressed confidence that more women will participate in the national electoral process as they have proven they have the competency to serve as commissioners for national electoral bodies.

“We believe women who have participated in the fit and proper test process are ready to preside over electoral bodies, either at national, provincial, or regional levels,” Mukti said.

 

Source: Antara News

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Universities prepared to conduct face-to-face learning: ministry

Universities are prepared to implement limited face-to-face learning, acting director general of higher education, research, and technology at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nizam, said here on Tuesday.

“For instance, our friends in Surabaya and Padang have been preparing for this since the last semester,” he noted.

According to Nizam, there are a number of universities that have started to implement limited face-to-face learning.

Limited face-to-face learning is being carried out in medical and engineering faculties, he said.

So far, no COVID-19 infection cluster has emerged in universities that have carried out face-to-face learning, he informed.

“There is no new cluster so far. The key is maintaining discipline in implementing the health protocols,” he explained.

Universities have been carrying out face-to-face learning gradually in accordance with the availability of supporting facilities and infrastructure within the campus environment, Nizam said.

In addition, COVID-19 has brought lecturers and students closer to technology as well as encouraged universities to produce various innovations, he remarked.

“We are doing a serious effort so that many universities that are not yet optimal amid the pandemic can conduct acceleration,” Nizam affirmed.

Meanwhile, several regions have rolled out 100-percent face-to-face learning in schools on Monday, he noted.

The policy refers to the joint decree (SKB) of four ministers on Learning Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic Guide, which allows regions with Level 1 and 2 public activity restrictions (PPKM) to implement 100-percent PTM.

Responding to the decree, House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani called for an evaluation of the implementation of 100-percent face-to-face learning (PTM) until vaccinations for children can be realized more equally.

Maharani asked the government to consider the advice of experts, who believe that 100-percent face-to-face learning should not be carried out at the moment.

 

Source: Antara News

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Welfare, security paramount to expediting development in Papua: VP

Welfare and security for the local community are the keys to accelerating Papua’s development, according to Vice President Ma’ruf Amin.

“We want to develop Papua, build the welfare of Papua, to create a prosperous but safe Papua. Those are two aspects that cannot be separated,” Vice President Amin noted in a statement issued by the Press, Media and Information Bureau (BPMI) of the Vice President’s Secretariat (Setwapres), Tuesday.

To materialize accelerated development in Papua, the government has formulated a master plan in keeping with the community’s requirements, the vice president noted.

“We are designing a master plan for accelerating development in Papua, which aligns with our view that Papua’s prospects should be like this, though we are also heedful of the aspirations of the Papuan people,” he noted.

Moreover, the government will continue to hold dialog and communicate with the people of Papua and West Papua.

“We continue to communicate with them about what they need. Regarding the security approach, we do not want to fight them, but instead, want to protect the community, so that their security is not disturbed,” he affirmed.

One of the government’s efforts for accelerating the development of welfare for people in Papua is to constantly keep the lines of communication open with traditional, religious, and women leaders, as well as academics.

The vice president emphasized that the government was continuing to develop the requisite educational and health facilities as well as build infrastructure for boosting the welfare of Papuan people.

“Then (we) build training centers to empower people in Papua, and address extreme poverty. We will continue to do those together with the local governments and non-government figures,” Amin stated.

 

Source: Antara News

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Ideological preparedness key to curb radicalism, terrorism: BNPT

Ideological preparedness is essential to protect the nation from the threats of radicalism and terrorism, prevention director of the National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT), Brigadier General R Ahmad Nurwakhid, has said.

“National preparedness to fight radicalism and terrorism is not only on the physical or military aspects performed by the government and relevant authorities but also on the ideological aspect,” Nurwakhid remarked at a youth seminar on the prevention of radicalism and terrorism, which was broadcast on MT Darul Hasyimi Jogja’s YouTube channel and accessed from Jakarta on Tuesday.

Ideological preparedness can be realized through “ideological vaccination”, which refers to utilizing a religious approach for instilling nationalism and Pancasila values among Indonesian youth, he said.

He also highlighted the importance of the religious approach for tackling the narratives of radicals and terrorist groups who often deride nationalism, native culture, and Pancasila as incompatible with religious values.

Ideological preparedness will protect Indonesians, mostly using a moderate approach toward religious issues, from radicalism and terrorism, he said.

“Ideological preparedness is important to ensure 87.8 percent of moderate Indonesians — in contrast with 12.2 percent of residents assessed in the BNPT survey in 2020 to have an inclination to support radicalism — have adequate ‘immunity’ from radical and terrorism-related thoughts,” Nurwakhid noted.

Besides ideological preparedness, necessary measures must be taken to rescue residents who have been exposed to radicalism and terror ideologies, the director said.

Promoting religious moderation and counter-radicalization strategies through counter-narratives and counter-propaganda must also continue, he added.

“Counter-radicalization must be promoted on social media because a recent survey has revealed that 67 percent of religious-themed social media content is leaning toward promoting intolerant and radical values,” Nurwakhid remarked.

 

Source: Antara News

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Public mobility follows health protocols during year-end holidays

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi affirmed that public mobility during the Christmas and New Year holidays was observed to be in strict compliance to the set health protocols.

“We thank the community. Those, who traveled, had implemented the health protocols as well,” Sumadi noted while closing the transportation monitoring post for the holiday period of Christmas 2021 and New Year 2022 online here on Tuesday.

In general, the Ministry of Transportation reported a 10-percent increase in community mobility via land, sea, air, and rail transportation, the minister remarked.

Sumadi pointed to a 56-percent rise in community mobility in the rail sector as compared to the period before the Christmas and New Year holidays, while a 22-percent increase in the land sector, 10 percent in the air sector, and one-percent rise in the modes of transportation crossing were recorded.

Meanwhile, he noted that community mobility in the marine transportation sector had declined by 26 percent.

“All those figures show that people are still keen to travel, but we provide a good service,” Sumadi noted.

Coordination across ministries and institutions was conducted by the Ministry of Transportation, Indonesian Defense Forces/National Police, state-owned enterprises in the transportation sector, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), and the local government.

The minister affirmed that the cooperation was expected to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and the emergence of new clusters during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

However, he also urged all parties, especially transportation operators, to consistently enforce the rules of travel conditions stipulated in the Ministry of Home Affairs Instruction (Inmendagri), COVID-19 Task Force Circular Letter and the Circular Letter of the Ministry of Transportation.

“Looking at the trend, Insyaallah (God Willing), there will be no surge in the number of (COVID-19 cases),” he affirmed.

 

Source: Antara News

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Weekly swab tests in 10% Jakarta schools: official

Students and teachers will undergo weekly swab tests in 10 percent of Jakarta schools that are carrying out face-to-face learning (PTM) to prevent an increase in cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Head of disease prevention and control at the Jakarta Health Office, Dwi Oktavia, made the remarks on Tuesday.

The effort is part of active case finding (ACF) or testing and tracing for detecting COVID-19 cases, she explained.

“We will conduct ACF in face-to-face learning activities every week. Ten percent of the schools will test students and teachers by swab test,” Oktavia informed.

The swab tests will help the Jakarta Health Office monitor any potential increase in cases, she said.

Some COVID-19 Task Force officers will also be assigned at each school to monitor health protocol compliance by students and teachers so they can remind each other to remain disciplined in following the protocols, she explained.

Regarding on-site learning duration, there are also early-stage regulations for shortening study hours, she revealed.

Each school will also be supervised and encouraged to conduct daily evaluations and improvements with the aim of fixing technical errors that are not in accordance with the health protocols, she said.

“We, together with the Education Office, will closely monitor the development of cases. Hence, if there are children who are infected (with COVID-19), we will certainly inspect the school further and search for (close contacts),” she added.

Oktavia assured that the government will not stagnate in supervising the implementation of PTM, and the policies taken will depend on developing conditions.

“In case we need to limit the activities, it will definitely be done. Do not let the chain of transmission be lasting,” she remarked.

 

Source: Antara News

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Cl government’s decision awaited for booster dose administration

In the wake of rising number of Omicron cases, the Jakarta Health Office confirmed that the central government’s decision was awaited for administering the third or booster COVID-19 vaccine dose to the public.

Head of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) of the Jakarta Health Office, Dwi Oktavia, remarked that based on the information she received, the central government had provided information that booster vaccination would commence on January 12, 2022.

“Of course, we have to wait for the central government’s decision,” Oktavia noted when contacted here, Tuesday.

The Jakarta Health Office head pointed to no fixed information yet being received regarding the technical aspect and which age group should be prioritized first for the booster.

In addition, the office awaits information regarding the available vaccine doses and whether the booster must be of the same brand as the first and second doses, Oktavia explained.

“In principle, the scenario for booster vaccinations, of course, will follow instructions from the Health Ministry,” she noted.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin earlier highlighted President Joko Widodo’s decision that third dose vaccinations would commence on January 12, 2022.

The minister revealed that the booster vaccine will be administered to people in the age bracket of 18 years and above following the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) recommendation.

The minister affirmed that booster vaccinations would be given in districts and cities where vaccination coverage had reached 70 percent for the first dose and 60 percent for the second dose.

“Some 244 cities and districts have met the criteria until now,” he stated

The booster vaccine will be given to those having completed six months since having taken the second vaccination dose, Sadikin confirmed.

 

Source: Antara News

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