Day: February 19, 2022

Policy normalization that will be conducted by developed countries, such as the United States and Europe, will affect the recovery process in several developing countries, Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo stated.

“The biggest risk from the macroeconomic and monetary policy is the normalization process,” the BI governor noted at the G20 Indonesia Presidency Agenda here on Saturday.

Warjiyo pointed out that several developed countries had recovered and would soon start to normalize their policies. However, there are still several developing countries, including Indonesia, which are just starting their economic recovery.

The normalization process caused the global economic recovery and monetary policy to be out of sync, thereby creating several new problems, especially for developing countries.

In the meantime, apart from policy normalization, other risks still loom large over the recovery process, such as the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, supply chain disruption, and energy issues.

Hence, Warjiyo emphasized that the policy normalization process should be integrated and coordinated, so that recovery runs in a balanced manner, both for developed and developing countries.

The BI governor pressed for developed and developing countries as well as international organizations, especially the IMF, to work together to normalize policies.

“Hence, we need to emphasize the importance of being well-calibrated, well-planned, and well-communicated,” he stressed.

Source: Antara News

The government will make the most of the G20 Presidency to showcase Indonesia’s leadership in guiding recovery from the pandemic’s impacts through technological utilization, Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate stated.

“For the Indonesia G20 Presidency, the government has determined three national priorities,” he noted during the “Indonesia Capital Market Investors Gathering: Investing and Trading Summit” webinar on Friday.

Through a press statement, Plate noted that these three priorities comprised a more inclusive global health architecture, digital transformation, specifically digital economy, and energy transition-related agenda.

Amid the global dynamics, such as the limitation of the world’s fiscal space, climate change, and geopolitics, Plate is optimistic that the condition in Indonesia would be relatively different.

In Indonesia, the countercyclical policy through fiscal stimulus to support transformation at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic had yielded good results, and this becomes a topic of discussion at the 2022 G20 forum.

The government has sought to increase investment in the productive sector and develop the digital economy, the minister stated.

“To this end, we prepare the Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) priority in three sectors of connectivity and post-COVID-19 recovery, digital literacy and competency, and cross-border data flow and free-flow with trust,” he remarked.

Plate deemed that the digital economy sector held vast potential.

In 2021, the valuation of Indonesia’s digital economy transactions, based on the gross merchandise value (GMV), was worth US$70 billion, a 49-percent increase from the valuation in 2020.

In 2025, the size prognosis from Indonesia’s digital economy was estimated to be US$146 billion, or a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent as compared to that in 2021.

Meanwhile, in 2030, Indonesia’s digital economy prognosis is estimated to rise by two folds as compared to the forecast of US$316 billion in 2025.

Source: Antara News

The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) calls for concrete programs from the science sector for sustainable development, such as the efforts to speed up sustainable energy transition in the Group of Twenty (G20) event.

“The BRIN provides support through available laboratory infrastructure programs, facilitation and funding scheme, and domestic and international cooperation,” BRIN’s Research and Innovation Utilization Acting Deputy, Mego Pinandito, noted through a written statement on Saturday.

Sustainable energy transition became one of the three priority sectors within Indonesia’s G20 Presidency, he noted. Indonesia encourages the G20 to play a part in ensuring the availability of affordable clean technology.

Related to the energy sector, Indonesia still requires a variety of technologies to develop existing natural resources.

The study of energy transition from the social, economical, cultural, and financial perspectives is also necessary as Indonesia has local wisdom within the context of energy and its utilization.

Sustainable energy transition is also discussed within the Science 20 (S20) Program. The S20 is an engagement group activity, as part of the series of the G20 events, that discusses main science-related issues.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) also highlights sustainable energy transition within the S20.

Earlier, the Indonesian government had invited nations within the G20 to reach a global agreement by expediting the energy transition program.

Indonesia has unveiled the G20 Energy Transition to connect and push for advancing and developing nations to accelerate the transition from fossil fuel to clean energy as well as to bolster the sustainable global energy system.

The G20 Energy Transition was unveiled as a part of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency from December 1, 2021, until the G20 Summit in November 2022.

The energy transition pillar will bring up three priority issues: access, technology, and funding.

Source: Antara News

Residents of Lemukih village in Sukasada, Buleleng district, Bali, have stepped up tree plantation activities for saving forests, which have been traditionally and socially conducted and inspired by Hindu teachings.

The tree-planting activities are also in line with one of Indonesia’s G20 priority issues, green energy transition, officials said.

“The forest rescue program has involved indigenous villages with their customary rules and also Village-Owned Enterprises as an effort to utilize forests socially,” Lemukih village chief Nyoman Linggih said on Saturday.

The tree cover in Lemukih village has reached around 988 hectares, and this area has already been classified as a forest area with a dense variety of plants, he informed.

So far, the village has collaborated with the Forest Management Unit (KPH) and the forestry person in charge, who have continued to encourage education and forest planting programs by routinely involving the participation of local communities, he said.

Moreover, tree planting is part of the local people’s daily activities as they are in line with the teachings of Tri Hita Karana, he added.

The Tri Hita Karana are the Balinese Hindu society’s basic principles that prescribe maintaining a harmonious relationship between humans and God, humans and humans, and humans and the environment, he said.

“The tree-planting program is an implementation of those three elements in nurturing harmonious relationship between humans and their environment,” he added.

Furthermore, Linggih also revealed that the existence of indigenous villages in the region is supported by customary rules, or perarem.

Indigenous villages are now formulating perarem related to rescuing forests, such as prohibiting people from hunting and cutting down trees, he added.

“The existence of indigenous villages is vital. So far, we have always worked together in an effort to protect indigenous forests that are the ancestors’ heritage,” Linggih remarked.

Source: Antara News

The use of technology carries the risk of child exploitation, either sexual or economic, Lentera Anak Foundation chairwoman Lisda Sundari warned during a discussion here on Saturday.

“Since the last ten years, we have been increasingly worried because there is a phenomenon of utilizing information and technology as a way to sexually exploit children,” she elaborated.

Child sexual exploitation involves sharing, demonstrating, exhibiting, and even distributing child pornography materials, she said.

Exploitation is not only limited to sexual acts involving children but also sexting or sending sexually charged messages to children, she added.

There is also the practice of grooming, or intentionally building an emotional relationship with a child, in order to erase barriers in preparation for sexual activities, she pointed out.

In addition to sexual exploitation, the risk of economic exploitation also exists, which falls into a gray zone or has no clear boundaries, Sundari said.

Economic exploitation is not only related to child labor, which refers to involving children in the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, but it also includes the exploitation of children’s talents and interests, she explained.

“Most literary discussion states that there is the potential of (exploitation of children’s talent),” Sundari, who is the founder of the Lentera Anak Foundation that aims to protect Indonesian children from ill-treatment, explained.

Referring to Law No. 35 of 2014 on Child Protection, there are several elements that must be observed, which pertain to actions taken with or without the children’s consent, she said.

In particular, children’s consent does not condone economic exploitation because children do not have the ability to anticipate risks, she highlighted.

The second element is unlawful acts and taking undue advantage of children’s energy or ability, she said.

“These three principles can actually be a guideline for us (to judge) whether (an incident) is exploitation or not,” she added.

Source: Antara News

The Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry is targeting to complete construction of Sepaku Semoi Dam in Tengin Baru village, Sepaku sub-district, North Penajam Paser district, East Kalimantan, by 2023.

The dam will serve as a raw water source for the new capital city, Nusantara, which is also under development, PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said.

The dam, which will span 280 hectares and have a capacity of 10.6 million cubic meters, will initially meet the raw water needs of Balikpapan city, he informed.

Hence, since the infrastructure will also support the new capital, it will be optimized to supply 2,500 liters/second of raw water and reduce flooding by 55 percent, he said.

“In future, we will increase the water supply capacity by building the Batu Lepek Dam and Selamatyu Dam. Meanwhile, the flood control infrastructure is being designed to be established soon,” the minister informed in a written statement received here on Saturday.

Meanwhile, head of the Kalimantan IV Center for River Basin (BWS), Harya Muldianto, informed that the construction of Sepaku Semoi Dam reached 37 percent as of mid-February 2022.

“According to the contract, the dam is targeted to be completed by the end of 2023. However, we will expedite the development to finish the physical structure of the dam by early 2023. Thus, the impounding (initial filling) of the dam can be conducted by mid-2023,” he added.

The Sepaku Semoi Dam is being constructed under a multi-year contract worth Rp556 billion involving operational cooperation among several domestic companies, including state-run construction company PT Brantas Abipraya, he said.

Currently, there are six reservoirs in East Kalimantan province. They include Manggar Dam (with a capacity of 14.2 million cubic meters), Teritip Dam (2.43 million cubic meters), and Aji Raden Retention Basin (0.49 million cubic meters) in Balikpapan city.

In addition, there are Kalhol Mahakam River Intake (0.02 million cubic meters) and Lempake Dam in Samarinda city (0. 67 million cubic meters), and Samboja Dam in Kutai Kartanegara district (5.09 million cubic meters).

Source: Antara News