VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has called on Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief General Andika Perkasa to intensively monitor development of the people's welfare in Papua.

Vice President's spokesman Masduki Baidlowi remarked that the message was conveyed directly by Ma'ruf Amin to Andika during their meeting at the Vice President's official residence here on Wednesday.

Amin also called on the former Army Chief of Staff to continue to monitor the situation in Papua and West Papua with regard to accelerating development in the provinces.

"The vice president urged (Andika) to continue to monitor development of the national conditions, especially in Papua, as the vice president has the responsibility to improve the welfare of Papua," he expounded.

Earlier, on Tuesday (Nov 23), Andika Perkasa and the Indonesian Police (Polri) Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo discussed security handling measures in Papua.

During the discussion at the National Police Headquarters, Andika spoke of his intent to soon visit Papua to deliver the strategy for handling the Papua issue.

"Later, hopefully, next week, I will go to Papua, and I will announce it there," Andika stated at the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

The meeting also discussed the security situation in Papua to avoid the overlapping of tasks between the TNI and Polri. (Antaranews)

Exports and imports could provide relatively strong support for economic growth in 2022, the head of the Trade Assessment and Development Agency at the Ministry of Trade, Kasan, has said.

"Exports and imports are expected to be a strong enough support for economic growth next year, apart from household consumption," he remarked at a webinar on Wednesday.

The Indonesian government has set an economic growth target of 5 percent–5.5 percent for 2022, supported by 5–5.3 percent growth in household consumption, 5.8–7.9 percent growth in exports, and 6–8.6 percent growth in imports, he noted.

In addition, government consumption is projected to grow by 2.8–4.5 percent, while investment is forecast to grow 5.6–7 percent, he said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade is designing an outlook for strategic trade indicators for 2022, including the goods trade balance, which is expected to reach US$19.1 billion–19.6 billion, Kasan said.

Real exports of goods and services are estimated to grow by 4.16 percent, non-oil exports are estimated to grow 5.40–5.79 percent, while the ratio of exports of services to GDP is predicted to be 1.5 percent, he added.

According to Kasan, the economic situation in 2022 will be influenced by various factors, including the country's successful handling of COVID-19, recovery of public consumption, implementation of structural reforms, and prospects for global economic growth.

Policies for handling COVID-19 that are being carried out comprehensively and massively through the implementation of public activity restrictions (PPKM), accompanied by acceleration of vaccinations and dissemination of health protocols, are expected to increase people's confidence in carrying out socio-economic activities, he said. (Antaranews)

As many as 4,397,740 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the form of finished products have arrived in Indonesia as part of the 129th shipment, Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate informed on Wednesday.

"With this (vaccine) arrival, the total number of vaccines that have arrived both in the form of bulk and finished products is around 358 million," he said in a statement released here.

He assured that the government is continuing to increase vaccine stocks to fulfill the needs of Indonesians in a bid to bolster immunity against COVID-19.

"This effort is proof of the government's seriousness in fighting the pandemic," he remarked.

Based on Health Ministry data, as of November 23, 2021, around 135 million Indonesians have received the first vaccine dose, while 90 million have been fully vaccinated against the virus, he said.

Among the adolescent group, 23 million teenagers have received the first dose, or 86 percent of the targeted recipients, he noted. Meanwhile, as many as 15 million teens have received the full dose, he said.

In addition, first dose vaccines have been administered to 11 million older adults, while 6.9 million of them have been fully immunized, he informed.

In 2022, older adults, who are in the vulnerable group, are planned to be included in the first group of booster vaccine recipients, followed by participants who receive BPJS Health contribution assistance (PBI), he said.

For this reason, community participation is needed to help older adults get COVID-19 vaccines without delay, he added.

Regarding the preparations for administering boosters or third vaccine doses in 2022, the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has issued emergency-use permits for 11 COVID-19 vaccines, he said.

"The eleven COVID-19 vaccines are Sinovac, PT Bio Farma's COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Moderna, Pfizer, Sputnik V, Zifivax, Janssen, Convidecia, and Covovax," the minister expounded. (Antaranews)

The Indonesian government has allocated a budget of Rp46.464 trillion for fund assistance recipients (PBI) of the National Health Insurance (JKN) program for 2022, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said.

"We have prepared an average assistance of Rp40 thousand per month for 96.8 million people, thus the total budget will be Rp46.464 trillion," he informed during a meeting with the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), which was accessed online from here on Wednesday.

The allocation calculation was carried out by the National Development Planning Ministry, Finance Ministry, and Health Ministry, he said.

Still, the exact amount of the funds will be determined later according to data inputs from the Social Affairs Ministry before being verified by the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), he added.

"Insya Allah (God willing), the amount may be determined in November (2021), thus the assistance may be disbursed based on the data submitted by the Social Affairs Ministry," the minister stated.

Furthermore, he informed that there has been a decrease in the number of recipients, according to a periodic verification carried out by the Social Affairs Ministry.

"As the number of recipients has declined, the amount of JKN subsidy paid by the Health Ministry to BPJS Kesehatan has also decreased," he said.

Out of the 268 million people in Indonesia, 214 million have been registered under the National Health Insurance (JKN) program, Sadikin noted.

He said that 120 million JKN participants have been subsidized by the central and regional governments.

Meanwhile, the remaining 94 million participants comprise 58.9 million salaried employees, 31 million non-salaried employees, and 4.37 million non-employees.

"The data shows that the coverage of JKN can be increased for an additional 54 million people," the minister said.

Therefore, he urged individuals, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and the private sector to help fund the JKN program so that more people can be covered by it.  (Antaranews)