VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Southeast Asia's top diplomats will gather in Indonesia on Tuesday amid pressure to address a bloody political crisis in Myanmar and resolve tensions in the South China Sea where some ASEAN members have overlapping territorial claims with China.

The meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) comes as doubts mount over the credibility and unity of the bloc in dealing with the region's thorniest challenges.

Chief among them is the lack of meaningful process on an ASEAN peace plan for Myanmar, which was agreed with the country's military rulers after they seized power in a 2021 coup and calls for an immediate halt to violence.

More than 3,400 people have been killed and almost 22,000 arrested in the military's crackdown on dissent, according to a United Nations report published in June.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk recently urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the escalating violence to the International Criminal Court, and for countries to stop supplying weapons to the junta.

ASEAN has barred Myanmar's junta leaders from attending high-level meetings like the one in Jakarta this week, but as the bloc's chair this year, Indonesia has been intensely engaging the junta and opposition groups behind the scenes.

But two sources familiar with the efforts say attempts to create an inclusive dialogue have been complicated by conditions put forward by all sides to start even informal talks.

"As long as the approach that the parties take is a zero-sum approach, durable peace will never be achieved," Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said of the efforts last week.

Indonesia is also seeking during this week's forum to accelerate talks on a long-stalled code of conduct on the South China Sea. The talks would advance a 2002 commitment by the bloc and China to create a set of rules to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight in the strategic waterway.

More than $3 trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea each year, and overlapping territorial claims by China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei have led to a spate of confrontations.

ASEAN will also hold the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum later this week, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov both slated to attend. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PAN-RB) Minister Abdullah Azwar Anas stated that President Joko Widodo had instructed him to streamline the governance system in order to be beneficial for people.

"During my appointment as the PAN-RB minister, Mr President urged me to find a way to run an impactful bureaucracy," Anas remarked in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The minister delivered the statement at the Workshop on Optimization of the Implementation and Target Achievements of National Public Service Complaint Management System-The People's Online Complaint and Aspiration Service (SP4N-LAPOR) during the 2020-2024 period.

Minister Anas underscored the importance of an impactful bureaucracy while urging the workshop participants to make the most of the information provided at the workshop, so they can optimally implement it.

"Hopefully, ladies and gentlemen here will not merely attend this meeting (workshop) but also be able to improve our bureaucratic quality," he noted.

In his speech, Anas also reminisced about his term as the head of Banyuwangi District, saying that he always urged those in his rankings to provide him with the summary of meeting results, so he could formulate new policies for the sake of the district's development.

The minister affirmed that he is still applying the same method at his ministry, as he believes that an impactful bureaucracy needs to be ensured in order to optimize the work and activities of civil servants.

"Therefore, I would like to encourage all colleagues across Indonesia, including those participating virtually, to take notes of the briefing received here and report to your superiors," he pointed out.

Anas also pushed for a more swift bureaucratic process in order to provide vast benefits to the people, including by maintaining and optimizing the SP4N-LAPOR application.

"Through his directives, Mr President is pushing us all to hold only impactful and beneficial meetings, which in turn, are expected to help us run an impactful bureaucracy," he added.  (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) maintained its short-term growth forecast of ASEAN+3 region at the level of 4.6 percent in 2023 in its July quarterly update to the ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO) 2023.

"The recovery of ASEAN+3 now depends on strong demand in the region," chief economist of AMRO Hoe Ee Khor noted in a press conference titled "Quarterly Update of AREO 2023" monitored online in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Although the ongoing weakness in global trade has prompted a slight reduction in ASEAN's growth forecast in 2023 to 4.5 percent, from April's projection of 4.9 percent, he remarked that this would be offset by an improved outlook for the Plus-3 economies: Japan, South Korea, and China.

Recovery in the labor market and reduced inflation, coupled with growing intra-regional tourism, are helping to protect growth against sluggish external demand that is dampening the region's exports.

Meanwhile, inflation has slowed in most ASEAN+3 economies due to the easing of global commodity prices and supply chain normalization that allowed several central banks in the region to halt to reduce the pace of monetary tightening, which in turn will strengthen consumption.

AMRO revised its inflation forecast in 2023 for the ASEAN+3 region, excluding Laos and Myanmar, to three percent, slightly lower than the earlier forecast of 3.4 percent.

For the next year, Khor affirmed that economic growth is expected to decline slightly to 4.5 percent, while inflation is projected to slow further to 2.4 percent.

Without any new surprises, the ASEAN+3 region's export performance will change its direction soon. The turnaround in the global semiconductor cycle, which is likely to start later this year, will become a bright spot for several exporters in the region.

Pent-up demand from returning Chinese tourists will also provide additional boost to the growth. AMRO, however, gives a warning about some lingering risks going forward.

He revealed that one of these risks is the threat of a recession in the United States and Europe. While the current possibility is lower than three months ago, the potential for a recession in the two regions cannot be ignored completely.

“The downside risks to the prospects for the ASEAN+3 region have indeed reduced since April, but we are not out of predicament yet. Rising financial pressure due to tighter US monetary policy is a risk that ASEAN+3 policy makers must continue to watch out for," he warned.  (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The moving of State Capital City (IKN) from Jakarta to Nusantara in East Kalimantan is a symbol of transformation for Indonesia, Communication and Informatics Ministry's Information and Public Communication (IKP) Director General Usman Kansong stated.

According to Kansong, the relocation is not merely the moving of government officials, buildings, and infrastructures.

"Moving the capital city is a symbol for the Indonesian nation to carry out transformation towards an Indonesia that is more advanced and adaptive to change," Kansong, who attended online the Literacy Corner CreativeTalks, themed "Towards a Sustainable Archipelago Capital: Innovation and Challenges," held in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday.

Kansong remarked that IKN will integrate six economic clusters, comprising clean technology industries, integrated pharmaceutical, sustainable agriculture industries, ecotourism and wellness tourism, chemicals and chemical products, and low-carbon energy.

"Added two supporting clusters, the smart city cluster and industrial center 4.0, as well as the latest education cluster," he revealed.

According to Kansong, development of all these clusters will apply innovations that are expected to drive the development of other regions across Indonesia.

However, he noted that not all people can accept innovation easily. It is because innovation can change the existing order, overhaul the mechanism followed for years, and also change mindsets that have been set in the old way.

"Therefore, talking about IKN innovation cannot be separated from public communication, so that people can accept the innovations we hope for and support the moving of the capital to IKN," he remarked.

Moreover, Kansong believes it is highly likely for the government to open up public participation in providing innovations in order to advance the Nusantara Capital City as a symbol of the nation's progress.

"We understand very well that there are a lot of Indonesian human resources, who are experts in their fields, can contribute to the nation," Kansong stated.  (Antaranews)