VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The president-elect of the executive board of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI), Adib Khumaidi, has urged the government to maintain the availability of drugs and medical devices to anticipate the third COVID-19 wave.

"We do not want any spike in COVID-19 cases. Still, we have to be prepared for it," he remarked at a virtual discussion on the Merdeka Barat 9 Forum (FMB 9), accessed from here on Tuesday.

Although currently, the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia is quite low and controlled well, the availability of drugs and oxygen cylinders must still be maintained, Khumaidi said.

"I always say to stay alert and keep maintaining the availability of the medical treatment devices," he added.

Regarding health workers, the IDI president-elect said he believed that they are ready to face a potential third COVID-19 wave.

"I am sure our fellow health workers can anticipate it. We had learned a lot in January and July (2021) when the number of cases increased significantly," he added.

Various preparations and coordination must continue to be carried out to prepare for a spike in COVID-19 cases in the future, Khumaidi said.

Furthermore, he assessed that it is important to tighten community mobility before and during the Christmas and New Year holidays to prevent a significant rise in cases.

"We must remain vigilant. The existing health protocols must continue to be enforced," he said.

Khumaidi predicted that if people's mobility in December-January does not cause a spike in COVID-19 cases, the pandemic will end soon.

Hence, he asked the regional COVID-19 Handling Task Force to continue overseeing the implementation of health protocols in public places and tourist destinations.

"We must enforce strict health protocols with the implementation of the PeduliLindungi app and travel requirements. Moreover, it is important to wear masks, maintain physical distancing, and avoid crowds at tourist attractions," he emphasized.  (Antaranews)

The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) will set its sights on three key technologies -- motor, battery, and charging station -- to support readiness of the battery electric vehicle (BEV) industry.

During an event participated from here on Wednesday, BRIN's Head Laksana, Tri Handoko, noted that mastery over the motor, battery, and charging station should also be followed by BEV's Domestic Component Level (TKDN) calculation.

This aligns with Industry Ministry's Regulation No. 27 of 2020 on Specification, Development Road Map, and Determining the Domestic Component Level Calculation of Domestic Vehicle and Battery Electric Vehicle.

At the Indonesia Electric Motor Show (IEMS) 2021 event held in a hybrid format, he highlighted that TKDN's calculation should be included within the battery electric vehicle ecosystem.

According to Handoko, Indonesia's researchers should make all-out efforts to develop new-fangled technologies for electric vehicles and address the bottlenecks in the three technologies in order to create BEV, with a high level of TKDN.

Several problems, such as the electric vehicle and battery pricing, after sales support, and infrastructure availability, are still areas of concern for potential electric vehicle users.

BRIN's head noted that research and innovation related to electric vehicles had become increasingly important to prepare the domestic industry to support the era of electric vehicles in Indonesia.

In addition, regulations and incentives should be synergized to support the BEV ecosystem in Indonesia.

The government's commitment is apparent from the target set to discontinue the sales of two-wheeler conventional vehicles by 2040 and four-wheeled conventional vehicles by 2050.

The government is also preparing the electric vehicle ecosystem after issuing Presidential Regulation No. 55 of 2019 on Expediting the Battery Electric Vehicle Program for Road Transportation. (Antaranews)

 The Transportation Ministry has encouraged the creation of human resources (HR) of superior capacity in the maritime sector through increasing education on shipping science.

"Maritime education is currently developing rapidly, and compliance with national education standards and international shipping education has always been the focus of shipping education institutions," Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi stated at the centenary celebrations of the Revitalization of Indonesian Maritime Education in here on Wednesday.

Sumadi noted that as a member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Indonesia remains committed to always adapting to international developments in the shipping sector.

In addition, the government is eyeing to make Indonesia the world's maritime axis, for which shipping education plays an important role in creating superior human resources.

He informed that currently, 10 Shipping Vocational Education Centers, two Shipping Centers under the auspices of the Transportation Ministry, and State College of Sailing Jakarta had held the Postgraduate Vocational Education as of this year.

Sumadi expects that the development and existence of national maritime education could continue to improve the quality of graduates, thereby enabling them to compete at the national and global scale.

"I hope that the celebration of a century of revitalization of national shipping education would be a milestone in the spirit that the Indonesian nation is a nation of seafarers. A momentum to improve the quality of national maritime schools so as to produce quality human resources that are internationally recognized," he remarked.

Sumadi revealed that based on data for the last quarter of 2021, there were 1.23 million seafarers, of which 28 percent, or over 350 thousand seafarers, worked on foreign shipping and filled up some ranks.

The number of shipping graduates absorbed from the Transportation Ministry reached 8,080 and were currently partaking in the Maritime Industry of the World of Work (IDUKA).

"If it is assumed that seafarers earn around 1,500 US dollars per month, then every year, seafarers earn 110 trillion in foreign exchange per year," he remarked. (Antaranews)

 The Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry has developed centralised solar power stations for Indonesia's National Defence Forces' (TNI's) 23 posts at the border areas in West Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, and Papua.

The ministry's Director General of New, Renewable Energy, and Energy Conservation, Dadan Kusdiana, projected that the solar power stations would be completed by the second week of December 2021.

"The current infrastructure development for the military is to materialise the MoU and agreement between the ESDM Ministry and TNI that has been established since 2018," Kusdiana stated in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The ministry has developed solar power stations for the TNI in 2018 and 2019, with the total infrastructure valued at Rp47.09 billion (around US$3.29 million), the director general noted.

Concurring with Kusdiana, the ministry's Secretary General Ego Syahrial dedicated the ministry's support for the TNI while performing the duty to safeguard the national territory that comprised over 17 thousand islands, with focus also to be placed on land border regions.

Meanwhile, Assistant for Logistics of TNI Commander Rear Marshal Sujatmiko stated that the developed solar power stations would significantly reduce the electric bill of each military post and alleviate electricity issues often faced by troops stationed there.

"I hope the construction of solar power stations developed through the military-ministry cooperation would continue to the TNI headquarters and other military posts and facilities," Sujatmiko stated.

Earlier, on Tuesday (Nov 23), the TNI headquarters had acquired 22 centralised solar power stations constructed since 2019 and three roof solar power systems developed in 2018 from the ministry after officials from both institutions inked the hand-over agreement to allow the military to perform self-management and maintenance of the solar power station facilities. (Antaranews))