VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

With its New Southbound Policy, the government of Taiwan is exploring technical cooperation in health with Indonesia, according to Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) Chief John Chen.

In general, there are many areas that can be developed for cooperation with Indonesia, but the most important is how Taiwan also wants to share experiences on national issues, Chen remarked on an occasion in Jakarta recently.

Seeing Indonesia`s big population of more than 250 million, he said Taiwan is optimistic to provide assistance to Indonesia and become a right partner to overcome health problem in this country.

Chen noted that Taiwan is a country with the best health related technology in the world.

In addition, Indonesia is a country with an emerging economy, so health issues are also a concern as the economy increases.

According to Chen, economic improvements are also in tandem with rising risks faced with illness, therefore both countries can share experiences and work together in this area.

The TETO chief added that the two countries can cooperate in efforts to prevent endemic diseases, or training health care workers to national health insurance.

He said health cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia has enormous potential, in which Taiwan`s political policy is considered to be in harmony with Indonesian policies that are realizing the ASEAN Healthy Community.

According to the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), health is the human right of every human being who basically sees no national borders, and does not distinguish race, religion, political beliefs or social economic conditions.

Referring to the guidelines, Taiwan continues to work on research and prevention of infectious diseases and epidemics.

Taiwan is an important part of the world in disease prevention, Chen said proudly.

Therefore, Taiwan has a great hope to be able to work with Indonesia and other ASEAN countries, through sharing experiences and contributing to the medical world. (ANTARA)

Women Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise has attended the 2018 Fijian Women’s National Exhibition during her visit to the Fijian Republic.

Yembise’s visit to Fiji was in the framework of strengthening cooperation relations between the two countries in the field of women`s empowerment and child protection.

"I am proud and happy to be in Fiji to new relations, and to attend the exhibition that has managed to bring together hundreds of Fijian women to showcase their products and demonstrate their expertise," the minister remarked in a press statement made available to Antara in Jakarta on Saturday.

As a follow up of the cooperation between the two countries, Yembise said she would invite Fijian delegation to attend a gender workshop and climate change.

During the workshop, there will be a group discussion, focused on on the making of module material for activator of gender responsive planning and budgeting in Indonesia.

The women empowerment and child protection minister remarked that women are still often hampered in fulfilling their potential in various sectors including in the economic field. In addition, there are many discriminatory and gender inequalities experienced by women.

"Therefore, there needs to be encouragement of support from many parties for women, that is by realizing gender equality and women empowerment, as one of the 17 goals of Sustainable Development Objectives to achieve the development target by 2030," she said.

Fijian Women`s National Exhibition 2018 presented 340 women craftsmen from Fiji and surrounding areas to exhibit handicrafts such as webbing, accessories, and coconut oil.

In addition to attending the exhibition, Yembise also visited training centers for women from vulnerable groups, such as female headed households, as well as women with low economic and education. (ANTARA)

The 23 kilometer track of Light Rail Transit (LRT) of South Sumatra will be operational next month to be ready to facilitate transport of athletes in Asian games to be held in Palembang, the capital city of the province of South Sumatra.

The elevated track with 13 stations extends between the International Airport of Mahmud Badaruddin and the sport city of Jakabaring.

The completion of the project, built by state construction company PT Waskita Karya, is timed to be ready to support the Asian games.

Palembang and Jakarta will co-host the Games opening in August, 2018.

The LRT, to be operated by state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), will facilitate transport of people from the airport to the city including the athletes to the Jakabaring sports city.

It will reduce the need for the use of private cars in the city of provincial city which is already faces problem of traffic jams almost everyday.

The project is estimated to cost Rp10.9 trillion must cheaper than Rp817 billion per kilometer for Malaysian LRT and Rp907 billion for the Philippinen LRT.

President Joko Widodo is expected to officially commissioning the operation of the LRT. (ANTARA)

Industry ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) encourage all parties in Indonesia to do actions to reduce plastic pollution.

About 13 million tons plastis waste going to the sea affected environment worldwide every year, UNDP estimated.

"Therefore, the government, private sector and community should share responsibility to handle this plastic waste," the ministry`s Industry research and development agency head Ngakan Timur Antara said in a press release on Sunday.

The efforts to reduce plastic waste can be carried out in three ways including minimizing the use of disposable plastic product, using alternative materials that more easily decompose and recycling plastic waste into goods which have economic value.

Using biodegradable plastic can be one of the solutions to reduce plastic waste, Antara said.

"However, it is not so popular among non-retailers because it is relatively pricey compared to conventional plastics," he explained.

Not only biodegradable plastic technology that promises changes in plastic consumption pattern in the society, but also edible coating which began to grow in use.

Edible coating material, which has plastic-like characteristics and commonly used in the food industry, is usually made from vegetables such as tapioca flour that is more environmentally friendly and certainly edible.

Antara believes that in the future, more technology will be emerged to help solve plastic problems, but putting plastic into the circular economy is considered as the fastest solution today.

"A simple example of how people can contribute in the circular economy is by throwing the trash in the garbage can or the collecting point," he said.

He also mentions that one of the leading cosmetic brands even rewards some points to their customers who return the used packaging. The points are redeemable in rupiah which can be spent on products from the brands.

Another action is plastic straw reduction that has been initiated by a famous fast food franchise in Indonesia.

Such movements has in fact, created new opportunity of promoting eco-friendly and sustainable straws made by bamboo or stainless.

UNDP Indonesia Senior Programme Manager Anton Sri Probiyantono said, the risks posed by plastic pollution to the environment and human health have driven the international community to act through the global movement of "Beat Plastic Pollution" in the framework of World Environment Day on June 5.

"We want to encourage everyone to start doing something simple in everyday life to save the environment", he noted.

In order to contribute to the goal of reducing plastic pollution, Industry Ministry and UNDP held special events through exhibitions of photography and art installations made by plastic waste, workshop of dyeing fabric shopping bags, waste sorting contests and documentary films on sustainable development.

This activities are expected to target the Indonesian young generation to raise their attention to the issue of environmental development.

Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto has confirmed the commitment to encouraging the growth of sustainable and environmentally friendly industries, one of them through biodegradable plastic producers to increase production.

This effort is expected to contribute significantly to environment preservation.

"Within two years, the product (of biodegradable plastic) is expected to be 10 times fold, so it will not only replace the shopping bag but also packaging as a whole, and not only in modern market but also traditional," he said.

To that end, the minister spurred the increase of biodegradable plastic production up to five percent of the current national capacity of 200 thousand tons per year to replace conventional plastic.

"Meanwhile, plastic consumption in Indonesia reaches five million tons per year, and only 50 percent can be met from the domestic industry," he said.

Moreover, the Indonesian government is actively promoting the concept of a circular economy with a principle known as 5R comprises of reduce, reuse, recycle, recovery, and repair. (ANTARA)