VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (voinews): The General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of Papua province has invited people living with disabilities to participate in supervising the implementation of the 2024 General Elections so that they can be conducted fair and square.

A member of Papua provincial Bawaslu Anugrah Pata told ANTARA here on Thursday that his party is intensively carrying out dissemination in a number of areas to encourage the community to participate in monitoring the general elections.

"On Monday (March 20, 2023), we disseminated the implementation of the participatory election supervision to persons with disabilities in Jayapura city, so that they can find out how far the progress (of the implementation of election stages),” he noted.

He said that according to Article 5 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, people living with disabilities have the same voting rights as non-disabled people as long as they meet the requirements.

Persons living with disabilities also have the right to become participants (prospective legislative members or executive leaders) or the organizers of the general elections, the Bawaslu member added

“Hence, we are striving to assure and inspire (people living with disabilities) to be involved in every stage of the election process," he stated.

It is expected that the Bawaslu’s attempts can improve the confidence of people living with disabilities to participate in determining the future leaders of the country, he added.

"We want this group (persons with disabilities) to not feel inferior and ashamed to use their rights (as voters) to know about the progress of every stage of the general elections,” Pata said.

Through this dissemination, his party also hopes to encourage people with disabilities to take part in preventing potential election violations.

"If persons with disabilities can be confident and enthusiastic to be actively involved in overseeing every progress of (election) stage, certainly their voting rights can be accommodated properly” he added.

The general elections are scheduled to take place on February 14, 2024. The most recent stage of the general elections carried out by the General Election Commission (KPU) was voters’ personal data verification, which was held from February 12 to March 14, 2023. (Antaranews)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un does not appear poised to carry out a nuclear test during U.S.-South Korea military exercises, but the United States is staying vigilant, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said on Wednesday.

U.S. officials have warned for nearly a year that North Korea may resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017, a move that would be seen as a serious provocation by the United States, South Korea and Japan.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and other officials warned of that possibility in May 2022 ahead of President Joe Biden's trip to Asia.

"I have been waiting for that as well," Lieutenant General Scott Berrier told reporters at DIA headquarters. "There are a bunch of different factors that play into (Kim's) decision calculus on that. And there are a bunch of things that we watch in terms of indications and warning. Those two haven't aligned."

Berrier said Kim could have opted to time a nuclear test to coincide with the ongoing Freedom Shield drills by the U.S. and South Korean militaries. The 11-day exercise is set to conclude on Thursday.

"It doesn't look like he's going to do that," Berrier said. "But he will uncork that at a time and place of his choosing, which is something we'll be watching for very, very carefully."

'MUCH MORE DANGEROUS'

North Korea has long been banned from nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the Security Council, which has strengthened sanctions on Pyongyang over the years to cut off funding for those programs.

In recent years the 15-member body has been split on how to deal with North Korea. Although both Russia and China backed toughened sanctions after North Korea's last nuclear test, in May 2022 they vetoed a U.S.-led push to impose more U.N. sanctions over North Korea's renewed ballistic missile launches.

North Korea conducted an unprecedented number of such launches last year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland.

That testing continues. North Korea fired several cruise missiles off its east coast on Wednesday, three days after firing a short-range ballistic missile into the sea.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Wednesday's launches could have involved strategic cruise missiles.

"Strategic" is typically used to describe weapons that have a nuclear capability. North Korea's last known firing of strategic cruise missiles was on March 12, when it said it fired two from a submarine.

Asked about the flurry of testing by North Korea, Berrier said he believed Kim was still not satisfied with his deterrent, despite the advances in his military programs in recent years.

"He continues to pursue greater accuracy and lethality with his with his missile force," Berrier said.

He noted that North Korea's conventional ground forces "have atrophied over time" as Kim has advanced his nuclear weapons and missile programs.

"But I think it is a much more dangerous North Korea than it has been in the past," Berrier said. (Reuters)

Singapore's key consumer price gauge rose 5.5% in February, unchanged from January and lower than forecast, official data showed on Thursday, though while analysts said core inflation appeared to have peaked, prices remained at historic highs.

February's core inflation rate - which excludes private road transport and accommodation costs - compared with a forecast in a Reuters poll of economists for a 5.8% increase in February.

Lower prices for services were broadly offset in the core inflation data by higher prices for retail, as well as other goods and utilities, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.

However, the inflation rate in February is still at the same level as in January, which was the fastest pace seen since November, 2008.

MAS has said core inflation was likely to stay at about 5% for the early part of 2023.

It has also projected a core inflation rate of between 3.5% to 4.5% in 2023, with headline inflation coming in at between 5.5% and 6.5%.

Headline inflation was up 6.3% year-on-year in February, compared with a forecast 6.45% increase in a Reuters poll.

While analysts said inflation in February was below their forecasts, there were divisions over the implications for a monetary policy review MAS will conduct in April.

"The inflation may appear high on year-on-year basis, but it has started to moderate more than expected in the past few months," said MUFG analyst Jeff Ng, who expects no changes to MAS monetary policy in April.

Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ, said even though core inflation had peaked and should start to edge lower in coming months, MAS would still need to tighten policy in April.

"Inflation is still very high, well above the historical average...MAS will need to tighten further to ensure that inflation expectations remain well anchored," he said.

The MAS tightened its monetary policy four times last year, including in two surprise moves. (Reuters)

Investors hoping to cash in on a boom in Chinese travel after nearly three years of pandemic lockdowns are shifting into airports, hotels and duty-free operators and away from airlines subject to fluctuating fuel prices and more intense competition.

The first wave of bullishness as China began abandoning its zero-COVID policy in December lifted airline stocks and online travel agencies like Trip.com Group Ltd (9961.HK).

But with global airlines being slow to add capacity to connect China with the U.S. and Europe and Chinese travellers preferring trips closer to home, a new set of stocks is benefiting.

Thailand has re-emerged as a favourite destination for Chinese travellers, and also for investors.

"We were active earlier in terms of domestic travel, lodging space and airports, where we've done quite well," said Elaine Tse, portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments. Tse said the firm has locked in some profits from those bets.

"We are optimistic on a rebound in regional and international travel and continue to get exposure through airports and airplane leasing."

Shares of airports, such as Airport of Bangkok (AOT.BK) and Shanghai International Airport (600009.SS) have underperformed the big three Chinese airlines Air China (601111.SS), China Eastern (600115.SS) and China Southern (600029.SS) since the start of November, leaving room for further gains in the former.

Investors say airline stocks are not only expensive, but their earnings tend to be volatile and susceptible to swings in oil prices.

Shares of Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have gained between 7% to 17% in the past four months, with Air China and China Southern trading above their 5-year average forward earnings, according to Refinitiv data.

In contrast, China Tourism Group Duty Free Corp (601888.SS) trades at 28 times its forward earnings, well below a 5-year average.

In the battle for Chinese travelers, local airlines are expected to fare better than regional airlines such as Qantas (QAN.AX), Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) and Cathay Pacific (0293.HK), mainly because Chinese airlines kept more widebody planes and staff ready.

China expects inbound and outbound tourist numbers in 2023 to reach more than 90 million, recovering to 31.5% of pre-pandemic levels. All three Chinese airlines are expected to swing to profit in 2023 after reporting big losses last year, according to Refinitiv data.

Analysts expect Chinese airlines will see profits peak next year as international traffic makes a fuller rebound.

"I think we need to be patient and wait for the earnings to kick in to drive the valuations down," said Vey-Sern Ling, senior equity advisor at Union Bancaire Privee.

Hilde Jenssen, head of fundamental equities at Nordea Asset Management, has bought some consumer discretionary companies exposed to tourism such as duty-free operators in hopes of capturing secondary effects of the reopening.

While investors were betting at the start of the year that sky-high Chinese household savings, which jumped to 17.8 trillion yuan ($2.61 trillion) last year, will lead to a post-pandemic splurge, Chinese consumers have so far been cautious.

Jenssen said earnings from some consumer discretionary companies showed they were restocking inventories in anticipation of strong demand.

"It might not be sort of the big bang that everybody was hoping for at the beginning of the year ... (but) there is definitely some pent up demand." (Reuters)