Month: March 2022

With the contribution of the automotive industry to the national economy growing to 22.41 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, electric vehicles could emerge as a large market for PT PLN, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said.

“Among the non-oil and gas industry sectors, the automotive industry contribution was close to 19.25 percent, while (in) the fourth quarter, (it) grew significantly to 22.41 percent. This could become a large market for PLN if vehicles switch from fuel to electric,” Hartarto projected at the 2022 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) Hybrid Exhibition at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Thursday.

Through Presidential Regulation Number 55 of 2019, the government is encouraging the acceleration of the battery-based electric motor vehicle program as part of efforts to control climate change.

Currently, Indonesia has imposed tariffs on vehicles based on the level of carbon emissions, as stipulated in Government Regulation Number 74 of 2021 concerning amendments to Government Regulation Number 73 of 2019.

This year, for the initial stage, the government will start imposing a carbon tax on steam power plants (PLTU). The carbon tax will later target the automotive sector.

Furthermore, Hartarto said that the geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine has had an impact on the world’s energy and food sectors, including Indonesia.

Therefore, the transition to electric cars must be pursued because one liter of gasoline costs around Rp15 thousand to Rp17,000 thousand, which is equivalent to 1.5 kWh of electricity, he added.

Meanwhile, state-run PLN’s President Director Darmawan Prasodjo said that his company has prepared various services to support the electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia, starting from the construction of public electric vehicle charging stations (SPKLUs), preparing electric vehicle battery exchange stations (SPBKLUs), home charging, as well as providing promotions, and adding power and discount rates for electric vehicle owners.

“The government is planning to shift from fuel-based vehicles to electric-based vehicles. Right now, we are working to build an ecosystem to help this transition,” Prasodjo remarked.

Based on PLN’s calculations, electric vehicles produce lower emissions than fuel-based vehicles, where each liter of fuel could cover a distance of 10 kilometers and produce around 2.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

For the same distance, electric vehicles use 1.5 kWh of energy and only produce emissions of around 1.27 kilograms, which means there is a 50-percent reduction in emissions.

In terms of costs, electric vehicles are cheaper for consumers: it costs Rp13 thousand to travel 10 kilometers on a fuel-based vehicle that runs on gasoline, while it costs Rp3,300 to cover the same distance using an electric vehicle.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia has a host of unique cultural values, of which gotong royong, or collaboration, is a prime example.

This intangible cultural heritage applies to every aspect of people’s lives. Be it weddings, deaths, building a home, to building a place of worship—everything is done together. This is not exclusive to just one region, and can be seen nationwide.

The Minahasa people are familiar with Mapalus culture. In the book Baku Beking Pande by H.N. Sumual, it is explained that the word Mapalus was derived from the word palus, which means to pour and exert.

Thus, Mapalus means attitudes and actions that are based on an awareness of the necessity to carry out activities by gathering the power or strength of the community to get optimal results.

A Minahasa tribe member, Mesyia, said that the Mapalus culture is deeply ingrained and inseparable from community activities. The culture originated in the agricultural sector, where everyone works together to plant and harvest agricultural products.

On a set day, each community member comes to a designated location and works until the appointed time. If someone is absent, that person is punished.

Over time, the activity has extended to other events as well, such as deaths, marriages, even to building houses, the tribe members said.

Mapalus is not limited to contributing energy: but food or money donations are also included in the concept. The Mapalus culture has survived to this day and has been adopted by most people of North Sulawesi.

Mesyia said that the culture is so deeply ingrained that buildings in Manado always have a room called Mapalus.

Beganjal

The Minahasa know gotong royong in a different context, the same is the case for people in the Riau Islands. The Malay people of the Riau Archipelago term it Beganjal, a timeless tradition of mutual cooperation. It involves people collectively making preparations for weddings and other activities.

A Tanjung Pinang resident, Niko Pratama, said that people who contribute do not get paid. The host only prepares meals and drinks, he elaborated.

Pratama stated that the people make preparations leading up to the D-day of the event, such as cooking, preparing food seasonings, and shopping. Not only men, women are also involved in this tradition.

Meanwhile, the Malay community in Bangka Belitung knows it as the Nganggung tradition, or Sepintu Sedulang. The name originates from the custom under which each house (sepintu, literally “a door”) brings at least one tray or pan (sedulang, literally “a tray”) to bring food to religious events, weddings, or thanksgiving after the harvest.

Sungai Liat resident, Farida, said that under the Nganggung tradition, people bring food to the masjid or village hall. Each house provides side dishes, cakes, and fruit in a food container. This tradition is also carried out at other social events related to the interests of the village members.

Farida stated that at the regional level, gotong royong as a tradition is still very strong, which is different from metropolitan cities where the tradition has faded away due to busy lives.

According to director general of culture at the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry, Hilmar Farid, gotong royong values form Indonesia’s invaluable and intangible cultural heritage. They must be collectively fostered to prevent them from being lost.

Farid said that the spirit of gotong royong could determine how quickly people resolve all the issues they are facing. The ability to collaborate and put differences aside is also required.

Gotong royong as a mindset must be taught through actual practice, and not just discourse. This can be done through activities involving collaboration at the school, family, and community levels.

He opined that hard times truly test if people uphold the value of gotong royong. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesian people showed their mutual cooperation even more than usual.

Likewise, when disasters occur in several areas, people work together to alleviate the pain. Not only in the form of manual help, but also time, food, and money.

With the spirit of gotong royong, people can easily get through the most difficult of times. It has also enabled people to rise together against hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This pandemic has made us aware that our nation’s cultural values, such as mutual cooperation, are indispensable (in our efforts) to recover and rise together,” said Hilmar.

Even Indonesia’s G20 Presidency has raised the theme “Recover Together, Recover Stronger.” The theme was inspired by gotong royong, one of the Indonesian people’s basic values, which has grown to become the nation’s culture.

The noble values of the Indonesian people have become the basic foundation for the G20 Education Working Group (EdWG) for solving global education and cultural problems. The G20 Forum is a momentum for Indonesia to work together with its members to address inequality in access to good education in post-pandemic recovery.

Source: Antara News

The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) is conducting research to strengthen food security in the new capital city (IKN) Nusantara as an input for developing IKN Nusantara’s master plan.

“BRIN is starting to prepare for studies at IKN Nusantara to ready its master plan development,” Acting Director of Environmental, Maritime, Natural Resources, and Nuclear Development at BRIN, Abdul Kholiq, noted in a written statement received here, Thursday.

Kholiq remarked that several important studies for IKN Nusantara were related to food security, food industry, and agricultural products’ processing in IKN Nusantara’s supporting areas.

“The output target of the Food and Agriculture Focus Group Discussion is expected to produce one policy paper, one policy brief/memo, two international scientific papers, and one national scientific paper,” Kholiq revealed.

He also noted that BRIN was tasked with providing recommendations for the preparation of national development policy plans or the main backbone of science-based policies.

In food and agriculture, the BRIN seeks to build a green economy through smart farming and a circular economy for the food and agriculture sectors.

“In building a green economy, we want to ensure a sustainable economy by paying attention to environmental sustainability, a low-carbon economy, new renewable energy, and nuclear power,” he remarked.

Through a circular economy, the BRIN aims to reduce the extraction of natural resources and utilize waste or channel waste into a new economic cycle.

The Food and Agriculture Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Directorate of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Noor Avianto stated that based on Presidential Regulation Number 18 of 2020 on the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), there were two priorities in the food and agriculture sectors.

The two priorities are programs to increase the availability of access and quality of food consumption as well as programs to increase added value, employment, and investment in the real sector and industrialization.

Avianto said BRIN’s support was important in the agenda of modernization and digitalization of agriculture and technological innovation in agricultural cultivation practices that were required in the region to increase the capacity of food production.

He also conveyed that strengthening food and agricultural sectors required research and innovation results to implement disaster resilience and land management, climate-resistant seeds, fertilizers, feed, and pesticides.

The results of research and innovation are also important to support precision and low-carbon agriculture, food processing and processed food, food derivative products, farmers’ social engineering, and farmer institutions.

“This program is important to encourage productivity in technology. We also want to encourage millennial farmers to connect with technology and be able to replace labor whose numbers are currently decreasing,” he concluded.

Source: Antara News

The Ministry of Manpower has vouched to continually strive to boost the competence of Indonesians from the productive age group to achieve the goal of a demographic bonus, Secretary General Anwar Sanusi stated.

“If it is not managed and given sufficient knowledge capacity, then I believe that the productive age population will not be a blessing, but a kind of disaster, as they would not have adequate skills and knowledge,” Sanusi remarked here on Thursday.

The secretary general explained that some 60 percent of Indonesia’s total population of 270 million falls in the productive age group. The productive age population is in the age bracket of between 15 and 64 years, he noted.

“Our current manpower has both an opportunity and challenge at the same time. The opportunity is that we are in a momentum called the demographic bonus because our productive age population is extraordinary,” he remarked while opening the 2022 Press Tour in Padang, West Sumatra, Wednesday.

Sanusi noted those several people of the productive age should be managed properly by supporting better human resources to have competitive skills.

The secretary general reasoned that if the productive age population is not built well, then it will result in turmoil.

To prevent demographic disasters, the Ministry of Manpower continues to improve the competence of job seekers or candidates through various types of vocational training, both organized by the government and private parties.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had stated that Indonesia only has two years to expedite the development of human resources to capitalize on the demographic bonus during the period from 2030 to 2035.

“Do we dare to change during these two years? Otherwise, we will not be able to optimize the demographic bonus during the 2030–2035 period. We will retard if we do not immediately change,” he remarked at an academic event at the Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta City, Central Java, on Friday (March 11).

Source: Antara News

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has informed that the imposition of the carbon tax has been postponed till July 2022 since the government is still synchronizing the implementation road map for the tax.

Speaking at the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center’s (PPATK’s) 3rd Legal Forum here on Thursday, she said that according to the Tax Regulation Harmonization (HPP) Law, the policy was initially to be implemented from April 1, 2022.

However, the postponement of the implementation of the policy will not interfere with the national economic recovery program.

The government is still coordinating to synchronize the road map to ensure the implementation of the policy runs well, the minister said.

There are a number of difficulties regarding the imposition of carbon tax since international carbon trading requires a joint global agreement, she noted.

There are differences in tax implementation in each country, especially regarding the quantum of tax, thus a road map for the imposition of a carbon tax must be prepared properly, she said.

For instance, the carbon tax per ton of CO2e in Japan is US$3, France US$49, Spain US$17.48, and Colombia US$4.45.

Moreover, according to calculations, if the international community is successful in overcoming climate change, the carbon price could reach US$125.

“If the prices are different, they will possibly cause a leakage. The development of a market regime and design for carbon policies is quite complicated,” Indrawati remarked.

Hence, she assured that the Indonesian government will impose the policy carefully and gradually, especially in the midst of a pandemic situation and efforts to restore the national economy.

“Climate change disaster is almost certain to occur considering the trend of rising global temperatures,” she added.

Earlier, the minister had said that the implementation of the carbon tax is part of Indonesia’s commitment to cut carbon emissions by 29 percent on its own or by 41 percent with international support by 2030, in accordance with the target of Nationally Determined Contributions

Source: Antara News

Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said the G20 Trade, Investment, and Industry Working Group (TIIWG) meeting in Solo, Central Java, was the first in the history of the G20.

He delivered the statement while attending the TIIWG G20 Meeting on Thursday.

He was accompanied by Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka. Forty-one delegates from G20 member countries as well as representatives from international organizations, such as the WTO (World Trade Organization) and UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), attended the 2022 TIIWG meeting.

As part of the meeting, Minister Kartasasmita and Mayor Raka visited dozens of booths at Alila Hotel in Solo, which were showcasing furniture from various parts of Central Java, and were specifically arranged for G20 delegates.

The minister said that the industry working group was the first in the history of the G20, as the G20 has never previously had a specific agenda pertaining to the industry.

He said he expected the success of the event to be replicated by countries holding the G20 Presidency after Indonesia.

Industrial issues will continue to form a part of a special discussion on the sidelines of the G20 implementation, he added.

“I and the Mayor of Surakarta, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, visited a furniture exhibition, in which what we really want to (remind) that this is not a public exhibition, but it is intended to be attended, and seen by G20 participants only,” he added.

He also said that they wished to inform the world that the furniture industry in Indonesia is already sustainable, as there are no industries that use illegal materials to make furniture. Everything can be accounted for, he affirmed.

Surakarta Mayor Raka said the TIIWG G20 forum activities in Solo, Central Java, went well. G20 delegates from various countries took a tour of Solo city afterward.

The mayor said that the tour is expected to increase tourism and boost the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprise) sector. Although it was organized in a limited way, it will be enough to raise MSMEs’ potential because the products are of high quality, apart from the tour serving as a way to introduce arts and culture to G20 participants.

The G20 delegates headed to the station by taking the Jaladara steam train to the Loji Gandrung Surakarta Mayor’s Office, where they were welcomed by the Mayor and Minister Kartasasmita. The G20 delegates then saw the MSME booth and took a group photo.

The delegates then visited Danarhadi Batik Museum on Slamet Riyadi Street Solo. After that, they headed to Mangkunegaran Temple, which is a historical building that has become one of the tourism icons of Solo city, for dinner. (

Source: Antara News

Corruption impedes sustainable economic growth, according to deputy chairperson of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Lili Pintauli Siregar.

“Corruption hampers sustainable economic growth, and undermines the rule of law and elderly people’s trust in the institution,” said the deputy chairperson at the 2022 OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum (GACIF), here on Thursday.

Corruption is a sharp impediment to the country’s efforts to build prosperity and security, she added. It also undermines the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Manifestations of corruption, she said, are constantly evolving, especially in the context of economic crises, where it opens up new opportunities for corrupt behavior. Hence, joint efforts need to be continued to eradicate corruption.

Pintauli said that the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) has developed a series of initiatives and also intensified cooperation with engagement groups, including business and civil society and international organizations.

The joint effort will focus on two out of the four priority issues proposed by the G20 Presidency. The first session, she said, will focus on the integrity of public finance amid the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the second session will focus on efforts to fight corruption and promote integrity in the renewable energy sector.

“The Presidency believes it is crucial to identify and manage corruption risk associated with renewable energy investment. Further, we believe it is also important to discuss opportunities to promote integrity, good governance, and transparency to support further investment in renewable energy,” said Pintauli.

Source: Antara News

The government will discuss the implementation of a tax on packaged sweetened beverages (MBDK) with the House of Representatives (DPR) during the formulation of the 2023 draft state budget (RAPBN), an official has said.

According to policy analyst at the Ministry of Finance’s Fiscal Policy Agency, Sarno, the ministry is currently awaiting instructions from the Finance Minister in this regard.

During an online event held to disseminate MBDK tax policy recommendation on Thursday, he informed that, after the minister issues his instructions, the agency will promptly deliver an approval request letter to Commission XI of DPR.

According to Sarno, if the policy is quickly approved by the DPR, the tax can even become a part of the 2022 revised state budget plan.

The expansion of taxable goods to include products that contain a high amount of salt, sugar, and fat, which pose a dangerous risk to health, aligns with the mandate of the 2020–2024 Medium-Term National Development Program (RPJMN).

The imposition of a sweetened beverage tax is expected to improve the quality of human resources and strengthen economic resiliency for ensuring quality growth.

The sweetened beverage tax will be applied to beverages with sugar content that exceeds the limit set by the government with a multi-tariff scheme, he informed.

“We want beverages with higher sugar to be imposed with higher tariff. However, we also want to create a threshold. How much sugar is still safe to consume so that the tax does have not to be imposed,” he remarked.

In addition, the government is also still currently discussing the utilization of state revenues from the sweetened beverage tax.

Before it is implemented, Sarno said he expects support from various parties for the tax, especially in communicating to the people that sweetened beverages should be taxed, and not just to increase the state’s revenue.

Source: Antara News