Category: Trading

The West Jakarta city government has said it is coordinating with bona fide savings and loan companies to expedite information dissemination to the public to prevent people from falling victim to illegal online lenders.

“We are coordinating to disseminate information on how to apply for loans in the right way,” West Jakarta Mayor Yani Wahyu Purwoko said on Monday.

The mayor said the measure is necessary due to the prevalence of illegal lending practices. People are willing to borrow money from illegal fintechs, which charge high interest rates, thus making it difficult to pay back debt, he explained.

Oftentimes, customers face harassment ranging from verbal intimidation to threats, forcing them to pay the money back, he observed. He said he expected people to be more careful in using money-lending services.

“People need to be careful about this; they have to be vigilant. Understand what is good and what is not,” Purwoko cautioned.
On October 14, 2021, the Greater Jakarta Police raided the office of an illegal lending company in a shophouse in Cipondoh district, Tangerang city.

“Today, we carried out raids at PT ITN, in a four-story shophouse. From the raids, it is known that PT ITN used 13 applications. Ten of them are illegal applications,” head of public relations for the Jakarta Metro Police, Senior Commissioner Yusri Yunus, said in Jakarta last Thursday.

Police arrested 32 people, including the company management and employees, during the raid, he informed.

“They were taken to the Greater Jakarta Police for questioning for the development of the investigation,” he said.

He warned the public to not be easily tempted by illegal online loan offers.

“This is an example to the public; don’t be tempted by this fintech offer, because at first, they offered a good offer, but then they ensnare their customers,” he said.

Police also raided a shophouse in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, on October 13, 2021, which was reportedly serving as the office of a loan syndicate.

Fifty-six employees of the loan offering and collection department were apprehended and taken for questioning.

Police confiscated several pieces of evidence, such as 52 computers and 56 cellular phones, during the raid.

Source: Antara News

The Highest Retail Price (HET) policy for the rice commodity should be evaluated to adjust it to the current conditions in order to ensure fairness, according to Indonesia’s Ombudsman.

According to Ombudsman member Yeka Hendra Fatika, the existing HET policy for rice is currently more beneficial to consumers and fails to take into account the farmers’ interests.

During the Examination Result Final Report (LAHP) reporting event here on Monday, Fatika opined that this HET policy would be more on target if it were to be imposed in nations with greater levels of poverty.

“This HET policy would not be a problem if we have a large population living under poverty. However, BPS (Statistics Indonesia) data indicates that the number of poor people in Indonesia reaches only 10.4 percent,” he highlighted.
Ombudsman provided an evaluation record on three aspects, he noted.

The first one is that the HET has, since 2017, not taken into account the fluctuating economic conditions, such as inflation and an increase in production costs, he emphasized.

Secondly, he pointed to non-compliance to the HET among several entrepreneurs. Based on the investigation by Ombudsman, there had yet to be any penalty for these entrepreneurs, he stated.

The third aspect entails rice labelling, such as premium and medium quality types, to determine the HET. Fatika sought answers to the reason behind differing labels, starting from the harvest results to the rice sold to consumers.

Ombudmsan handed in the LAHP to the Ministry of Trade that will respond to the same within a fortnight.

Thereafter, within the next 30 days, the ministry is expected to take corrective action based on the report provided by the Ombudsman.

Source: Antara News

The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and the Ministry of Trade inked a cooperation agreement to tighten control on the imports of fish and salt to protect domestic food commodities.

“We shared a mutual goal to enhance control on the imports of fish and salt in an effort to protect our fishermen and salt farmers,” Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Rear Admiral Adin Nurawaluddin stated during the agreement-signing ceremony at the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s Office, Jakarta, on Monday.

The two ministries will collaborate to conceive strategies on import monitoring and supervision operations, he remarked.

The director general informed that one of the key goals of the agreement was to supervise and ensure conformity of fishery and salt commodities’ imports to its objectives and legal requirements.

“We will collaborate for the monitoring process to ensure that the imports abide by the regulations and conform to its purposes,” Nurawaluddin stressed.

Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry’s Director General of Consumer Protection and Trade Order, Veri Anggrijono, expressed optimism that the collaboration would benefit domestic maritime and fisheries industries.

Anggrijono reiterated the need for fisheries and salt commodities’ imports to ensure a conductive domestic business climate while ensuring adherence to current regulations on conducting exports and import control in future.

“We are hopeful of a beneficial business climate being created through the import control arrangement that may encourage development of the domestic maritime and fisheries industries,” he stated.

Earlier, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono underlined his commitment to protecting fishermen, fish farmers, and farm farmers. The minister also expressed support for efforts to improve the quality of life of residents dependent on marine and fisheries by developing fish cultivation processes and establishing fish cultivation villages.

Source: Antara News

All stakeholders need to make efforts to anticipate the impact of hydrometeorological disasters stemming from La Nina weather phenomenon and the rainy season, Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) head, Dwikorita Karnawati, has said.

“Do not destroy the environment such as carelessly cutting down trees and reducing land slopes because La Nina triggers heavy rainfall and flooding,” she said at a press conference on La Nina and the rising risk of hydrometeorological disasters in Indonesia here on Monday.

Hydrometeorological disasters are not only caused by La Nina or heavy rainfall, but are also greatly influenced by the environmental capacity, she added.

In addition to disseminating weather information and forecasts, BMKG has also been pushing intensive coordination between ministries and institutions and running simulations of the impact of weather conditions in some regions, she informed.

Numerical modeling prediction analysis has been intensified because the risk is quite high like last year when La Nina raised monthly rainfall by up to 70 percent, Karnawati said.
Coordination with local governments is also being carried out to prepare the environment, review water tank capacity, and control lake siltation levels, she added.

Lake siltation needs to be considered as lake capacity is key to keep surface water flowing, she explained.

“Those who live along the riverbank area need to monitor weather information and observe the environment, whether it is a zone prone to flooding or landslides. Let’s take steps to protect the environment,” she expounded.

According to the BMKG, currently, 20 percent of the Indonesian season zone area has entered the rainy season. The agency forecast that weak La Nina conditions may likely prevail until February 2022.

The La Nina phenomenon is influenced by anomalies of sea surface temperature in the central Pacific Ocean, with Indonesian territorial waters warming up the Indonesian sea surface, it explained.

The anomaly has exceeded the limit of La Nina occurrence, which is 0.5, Karnawati said. In October 2021, it was recorded that in the first ten days, the limit was minus 0.61, she added.

La Nina increases the flow of wet air masses, thereby increasing rainfall, according to Karnawati.

Source: Antara News

A team has been established to accelerate the lifting of the sanctions against the Indonesian Anti-Doping Agency (LADI), which were imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali has informed.

The attempt is in response to the absence of the Indonesian flag at the medal ceremony of the 2020 Thomas Cup in Ceres Arena, Aarhus city, Denmark on Sunday afternoon local time, when the national contingent was declared the champion of the two-yearly tournament for the first time in 19 years.

The flag’s absence marked the first official enforcement of the sanctions since a warning letter on Indonesia’s non-compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code was issued earlier this month, Amali noted.

“In a meeting with LADI and the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), I had formed a team and given them two tasks,” the minister informed at a virtual press conference here on Monday.

In addition to accelerating the revocation of the sanctions, the team has been assigned to investigate the initial problem that led to the national doping agency failing to meet the minimum test sample threshold, he said.

The team comprises the general chief of KOI, Raja Sapta Oktohari, the secretary general of KOI, Ferry J Kono, two representatives of LADI, two representatives of national sports organizations, and one representative from the Youth and Sports Ministry, he added.

“Our first step is to have internal coordination between the ministry and LADI soon. We need one month to evaluate and administer the data we received from LADI,” Oktohari said.

In addition, the team will do its best to lobby WADA to revoke the punishment quickly, he added.

“Furthermore, the investigation of the imposition of the sanctions will involve more competent parties to avoid the recurrence of the same mistake. However, I believe we can solve it together,” he said.

The team will be assisted by a number of experts, who have been divided into three groups which have been assigned the tasks of acceleration, investigation, and communication, he added.

Source: Antara News

Digital transformation and sustainability are important factors for achieving the 2025 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) blueprint target, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has said.

He made the statement at the online 20th ASEAN Economic Community Council (AECC), which he chaired on Monday.

He said he fully supported the sustainable attempt for improving the digital skills of the region’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through various initiatives, for instance, the ASEAN SME Academy, Go Digital ASEAN, ASEAN Access, and the integration of MSMEs into the global value chain.

“The collaborations are key for designing policies and regulations to mitigate disruption and maximize the benefits of the digital economy through a collective approach of digital transformation in ASEAN,” he remarked, quoted in a statement received here on Monday.

At the meeting, members agreed on two documents as part of their commitment to developing the digital economy in the region, he informed.

The documents are the Bandar Seri Begawan Roadmap to Accelerate ASEAN’s Economic Recovery and Digital Economy Integration as well as the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on Advancing Digital Transformation in ASEAN, he said.

Furthermore, the coordinating minister urged ASEAN members to take advantage of the fast-growing global digital market to build the region’s digital economy ecosystem, for instance in the e-commerce, ride-hailing, travel, edutech, and healthtech sectors.
In supporting the regional digital transformation agenda, he highlighted five strategies that need to be carried out by the governments of each member country.

The first is to issue inclusive, coherent, and holistic regulations which support innovation and digital economy development, he said.

Second, develop telecommunications infrastructure and ensure affordable internet access, he added.

The third strategy is to strengthen collaboration with the private sector in policy-making, the minister said.

Fourth, accelerate digital literacy and prepare many digital talents, he added.

Fifth, increase productivity and innovation in the public sector through the digital ecosystem, Hartarto said.

Meanwhile, on sustainable priority issues, Indonesia is committed to implementing the circular economy scheme to run a sustainable economy and create a lot of green job opportunities, he added.

“It is in line with the national policy of reducing food waste by 50 percent and textile waste by 14 percent,” he remarked.

In addition, according to him, blue and green economy programs need to be encouraged as ASEAN’s new growth driving factors while helping the region keep pace with global development.

Hence, the ASEAN Community Post-2025 Vision needs to devote attention to the current situation by increasing biotechnology research and development collaboration to support vaccine production capacity in the region, Hartarto said.

“Thus, further discussions regarding the preparation of the vision need to involve three pillars (political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural cooperation), especially in discussing developing cross-sectoral issues and the capacity of ASEAN institutional mechanisms,” he added.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia and Malaysia have shared their joint concerns on the rising tension and potential arms race between great powers in the Indo-Pacific.

“We do not want the current dynamic to lead to arms race and power projection. This situation will not be beneficial to anyone,” said Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi in a press briefing following a bilateral meeting with her Malaysian counterpart, Saifuddin Abdullah, in Jakarta on Monday.

Without mentioning any particular country or group, Marsudi said that Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to heighten efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region, including by continuing to strengthen ASEAN unity and centrality.

“At the same time, (we) ask for all ASEAN partners to contribute to stability, security, peace, and welfare of the region, while continuing to honor international law,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Foreign Minister mentioned Australia’s plan to build nuclear-powered submarines in cooperation with the United States and Great Britain.

The security cooperation, often referred to as AUKUS, is said to have been formed to rival China’s widening influence in the region by a number of parties, especially regarding the South China Sea dispute that involves a number of countries.

“Even though the country said that the submarines are merely nuclear-powered and not armed with nuclear (weapons), we still reiterate our concern and exasperation as this can lead to the involvement of other powers in ASEAN and in the South China Sea,” said Saifuddin, without specifically mentioning Australia.

Both Indonesia and Malaysia maintain economic interests in the South China Sea and both countries have agreed to exchange views to strengthen cooperation in order to resolve the issue they jointly face, he added.

Source: Antara News

Digital marketing has enabled many micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Lampung Province to survive, and even book increases in sales in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, a local government official.

“Several MSMEs that we met are able to increase productions and improve revenues thanks to digital marketing,” Head of Lampung’s Cooperatives and MSMEs Office Syamsurizal Ari said here Sunday.

According to Ari, during the COVID-19 pandemic, travel and public activity restrictions have been imposed but his office continues to encourage local MSMEs to survive and seek new opportunities through online sales.

To this end, the Lampung administration would continue to empower the institutional and human resources of local MSMEs to enable them to have better performance, and to bolster economic growth during the pandemic.

“We offer several programs, including training of how the MSME actors can utilize digital marketing,” he said.

Based on Bank Indonesia’s (BI’s) survey, around 83 percent of 2,970 MSMEs in Lampung got affected by COVID-19 but some 70 percent of the affected MSMEs managed to survive by utilizing digitalization in their marketing.

He also urged the MSMEs not to be fixated on existing platforms since the definition of digitalization is broad.

Therefore, they can use such social media platforms as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to publicize or to market their products.

“Our job with other related organizations is to provide the MSMEs with mentorship on how to do product marketing, narration, and visualization together so they can be more ready in this digital era,” he stated.

Source: Antara News