Day: June 5, 2022

The national soccer team landed in Kuwait at 2:05 a.m. Arabian Standard Time (AST, or UTC+3) on Saturday to participate in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification from June 8–15, 2022. The Indonesian contingent comprising 23 players and 20 officials was greeted enthusiastically at the airport and the hotel by dozens of Indonesian supporters residing in Kuwait.

In a statement received here on Saturday, Indonesian Ambassador to Kuwait, Lena Maryana, said that her party welcomed all team members.

“The Indonesian embassy along with the supporter group in Kuwait are ready to support the struggle of the Indonesian national team here,” she remarked.

She informed that the embassy has requested 500 tickets from the Kuwait Football Association for Indonesian supporters so that they can directly support the team at the stadium.

She also spoke with the technical director of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Indra Sjafri, to discuss the preparations of the national team, including the summer weather challenge since currently, the average temperature in Kuwait can reach up to 45 degrees Celsius during the day.

The peak of summer usually occurs in July–August in Kuwait, with average temperatures surpassing 50 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, Sjafri lauded the support of the Indonesian embassy and people in the Arabian country who welcomed the team although the players and officials arrived at an early hour.

“The support of the Indonesian people in Kuwait will motivate the team,” he remarked.

The Indonesian national team has been placed in the same group as Kuwait, Jordan, and Nepal for the qualifiers.

In the first match, Indonesia will face host Kuwait on June 8 at 7:15 p.m. AST or 11:15 p.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB, which is UTC+7).

Furthermore, Indonesia will take on Jordan on June 12 (10:15 p.m. AST) or June 13 (2:15 a.m. WIB), and then Nepal on June 15 (10:15 p.m. AST) or June 16 (at 02:15 a.m. WIB).

Source: Antara News

The Ministry of Religious Affairs informed that the transportation for the 2022 Hajj pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia are arranged into two schemes.

“The first wave of Hajj pilgrims will arrive at Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Medina,” Secretary of the Hajj and Umrah Directorate General at the Ministry of Religious Affairs Ahmad Abdullah said in a virtual press conference on Sunday.

Based on the first scheme, the pilgrims would stay in Medina for around 8-9 days to carry out the Arbain worship at the Prophet’s Nabawi Mosque.

“In addition to visiting the grave of the Prophet Muhammad at the Prophet’s Mosque, the Hajj pilgrims will also receive a pilgrimage package to various historical places in the local area,” he said.

Then, the Hajj pilgrims will depart to Mecca to carry out the obligatory Umrah ritual.

Meanwhile, based on the second scheme of transportation arrangement, another group of the Hajj pilgrims will arrive at King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah and depart for Mecca to carry out obligatory Umrah ritual.

Abdullah conveyed the ministry’s gratitude to all parties who have supported the 2022 Hajj pilgrimage implementation.

He noted that all parties’ cooperation, coordination, support, and inputs have made the pilgrimage process run well.

“The Ministry of Religious Affairs would like to thank the President, the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, relevant ministries and institutions, the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ offices at the provincial level, the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ offices at the district and city level, governors, district heads, mayors, and other parties,” he said.

This year, Saudi Arabia has allowed the Hajj pilgrimage to open for one million pilgrims from various countries. Indonesia has been allotted a quota of 100,051 people for the pilgrimage.

Although it has allowed foreign pilgrims to undertake the Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia has laid down two conditions for them this year. First, pilgrims must not be older than 65 years and must have received a full dose of any COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Saudi Ministry of Health.

Second, pilgrims traveling from abroad must have a certificate showing a negative PCR result, with the test taken no more than 72 hours prior to departure.

Source: Antara News

The Lampung police apprehended three drug couriers who attempted to transport 69 kg of marijuana to Bekasi in West Java Province at the end of May 2022, a police officer said.

The suspects were identified as AG, AMN, and ERW, Deputy Director of Lampung Police’s Narcotics Division Adjunct Senior Commissioner F.X.Winardi said in a statement that ANTARA quoted here Sunday.

AG was a bus driver who carried the marijuana, packed in three cardboard boxes. He was arrested at Lampung’s Bakauheni Port before boarding a ro-ro ferry which headed to Merak Port in Banten Province on May 28, 2022.

From the ferry port, the drug package would be transported to Bekasi.

Following AG’s arrest, the police investigators also apprehended AMN and ERW, he said.

In addition to the drug trafficking operation involving AG, AMN, and ERW, the Lampung police officers had also uncovered two other drug cases in May.

On May 12, the local cops seized 1,300 ecstasy pills in Bandarlampung, the capital of Lampung Province, and nabbed three suspects — IRF, RFK, and TRM, he said.

The Lampung police officers also uncovered a trade of three kg of crystal methamphetamine at the Bakauheni Port following the arrests of four drug offenders in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara Province, he said.

Domestic and transnational drug dealers view Indonesia as a potential market owing to its huge population and millions of drug users.

Drug trade in the nation is valued at nearly Rp66 trillion.

People from all strata of society are falling prey to drugs in the country regardless of their socio-economic and professional backgrounds.

Over the past few decades, the Indonesian government has taken harsh punitive action against drug barons found smuggling and trading drugs in the country.

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has sought capital punishment for those involved in drug trade in the country.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has also issued shoot-at-sight orders against drug kingpins.

However, this has failed to deter drug traffickers, who continue to treat Indonesia as a main market, prompting Indonesian law enforcers to step up vigilance against them.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia’s search and rescue team (SAR) on Sunday managed to rescue 26 people including foreign tourists, after a passenger ship, that they were on, suffered engine failure in the Lombok Strait, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province.

“Several victims are foreign nationals of India, Germany, Spain, Australia, the United States, and Italy, while the rest are from Indonesia,” Head of the Mataram SAR Office Nanang Sigit PH said here on Sunday.

He said that his office received a report from the chairman of the Karya Bahari Cooperatives, on Saturday (4/6), at 8:48 p.m. local time regarding AL II KAI GT 171 ship which suffered an engine failure in the Lombok Strait waters.

“We received a request for evacuation of 26 people. Eleven of them are crew members and the rest are passengers,” he said.

The engine of the ship that departed from Benoa Harbor, Bali, to Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, had failed in the Lombok Strait waters since Saturday (4/6).

The Mataram SAR office deployed personnel from Lembar Harbor, West Lombok District, using the Rescue Boat 220 Mataram to evacuate the tourists and crew members.

“The distance to the ship’s location is 21.75 nautical miles, that’s according to the coordinates given by the captain of the ship,” he said.

The SAR team managed to find the AL II KAI GT 171 ship, on Sunday (5/6) at around midnight local time. The ship was found in the western waters of Nara Bay, North Lombok District, after being carried away by currents to the south. Despite the poor condition, the ship was able to sail at very low speed.

The ship managed to anchor at Nara Bay at 2:45 a.m. local time. Everyone was evacuated safely.

“Because it’s close, we directed it to Nara Bay with supervision to ensure a safe position,” he said.

Source: Antara News

Denpasar Mayor I Gusti Ngurah Jaya Negara has said that he expects the development of Sanur Seaport in Denpasar, Bali, to be completed on schedule, that is, by September 2022, ahead of the G20 Summit.

“In addition to (bolstering) the tourism sector, the establishment of the port aims to support the community’s spiritual ceremonies,” he informed while accompanying Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi for a review of the port’s construction progress here on Saturday.

Furthermore, considering the high mobility of the people between Denpasar city and Nusa Penida Island in Klungkung district, the development of the port is necessary, he added.

Hence, his administration will design several port supporting facilities so that the port can optimally benefit the community, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as other business actors around the coastal area of Sanur.

On Saturday, the Transportation Minister reviewed Sanur Port to ensure that the quality and realization of the project were in accordance with the determined target.

In addition to the Denpasar Mayor, he was accompanied by Governor of Bali, I Wayan Koster, and a number of ministry officials.

The construction of the port has currently reached 81.08 percent completion, higher than the actual target of 71.16 percent.

Sanur is a famous place and designing it into a hub to connect Bali Island with surrounding islands is very important, Sumadi noted.

Furthermore, the 2022 G20 Summit will be held on Bali Island on November 15 and 16, he said.

“It is targeted that the port will be operational in October,” he added.

The Transportation Ministry began the development of Sanur Port in December 2021 under a Rp398-billion (US$27.4 million) multi-year budget scheme.

In addition to inspecting the port, the minister also visited the arrival hall of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport to review the readiness of the airport for welcoming the G20 Summit delegations.

Source: Antara News

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin expressed hope that all Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) in Indonesia would have supporting facilities and activities that benefit students and the nearby people.

“We want pesantren to have supporting activities, so that they will produce not only ulemas but also santripreneurs,” Amin remarked while visiting the Tebuireng Islamic Boarding School in Jombang, East Java, on Saturday.

The vice president noted that Pesantren Tebuireng sets an example for other pesantren in the country to develop supporting facilities and activities.

Pesantren Tebuireng has been growing rapidly in developing not only religious schools but also junior and senior high schools, he noted.

“It also has economic activities and a hospital as we can see,” he pointed out.

He expressed hope that all pesantren in the country would have such supporting facilities.

“This morning I visited Pondok Pesantren Tebuireng where I used to study for a few years when I was still young,” he stated.

Source: Antara News

The Ministry of Communication and Informatics is supporting the development of the digital community in the Southeast Asia region by implementing four aspects of inclusive digital transformation acceleration.

“In supporting the realization of the ASEAN digital community, the Indonesian government is pushing four aspects of digital transformation acceleration, starting from strategic planning, connectivity, data utilization, to foreign cooperation,” Communication and Informatics Minister’s Special Staff for Digital and Human Resources Dedy Permadi stated in a press release on Saturday.

For the strategic planning aspect, Permadi noted that the ministry has formulated the 2021-2024 Digital Indonesia Road Map. The road map serves as a strategic guide for realizing a fast, strong, and equitable national digital transformation.

Then, regarding the connectivity aspect, he affirmed that the government continues to encourage the provision of adequate and equitable connectivity in order to resolve the digital divide and increase the ratio of Internet connectivity between regions in the country.

Furthermore, as for data utilization, he stressed that increasing the value and use of data in daily life must always be carried out by paying attention to the principles of data sovereignty.

Lastly, for the foreign cooperation aspect, the Indonesian government proactively supports various cooperation frameworks that encourage the institutionalization of digital transformation in the Southeast Asia region, he said.

Permadi noted that the efforts include Indonesia’s G20 presidency and the country’s involvement in preparing the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on Digital Transformation.

According to him, Indonesia’s support for the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on Digital Transformation and its G20 presidency reflected the country’s contribution to ASEAN.

As the ministry that is in charge of the Digital Economy Working Group forum during Indonesia’s G20 presidency, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics pushes for three priority issues, namely connectivity and recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, digital skills and literacy, and cross-country data flows.

“Indonesia hopes that the focus of the discussion at the G20 DEWG can be continued in the digital transformation discussion forum at the ASEAN level so that it will have a positive impact on the ASEAN digital community,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

State-owned electricity company PT PLN has built 27 public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, locally known as SPKLU, in a number of tourist destinations to support the development of environmentally friendly tourism.

PLN’s Business Director for Java, Madura, and Bali regions Haryanto WS said there were five leading tourist destinations where the EV charging stations were built, namely the Borobudur Temple area, Prambanan Temple area, Bali, Lombok, and Labuan Bajo.

“We are ready to support green tourism in Indonesia by readying electricity infrastructure, and it can also serve as a chance to promote the importance of shifting to electric vehicles,” he said in a statement here on Sunday.

PLN has built many EV charging stations as part of its support for accelerating the clean energy transition in Indonesia.

Haryanto pointed out that the provision of SPKLU is one of PLN’s efforts to push the country’s electric vehicle ecosystem development.

According to him, the utilization of electric vehicles for tourism purposes that connect the main points of tourism, such as airports, hotels, and tourist attractions, is expected to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector significantly.

“Currently, we are preparing the SPKLU network to support the presence of electric vehicles in several other tourist destinations, namely Lake Toba, Likupang, and Mandalika, which are targeted for completion in October 2022,” he informed.

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo assessed that the presence of SPKLU is essential in the future due to the shift to electric vehicles.

He claimed that the use of electricity in the transportation sector has more benefits in terms of costs and emission levels.

“PLN is ready to provide abundant and clean energy-based electricity supply to encourage this electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia to become massive. It is time for a shift from fossil energy to environmentally friendly and abundant energy in Indonesia,” Prasodjo remarked.

Aside from the charging stations, PT PLN also provides home charging services with a 30 percent discount for charging at customers’ homes from 10 pm to 5 am. The company has also established public electric vehicle battery exchange stations or SPBKLU for two-wheeled vehicles.

To facilitate customers in finding the nearest charging stations, PLN has added the electric vehicle feature to the PLN Mobile application.

Source: Antara News