VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (voinews): Japan has asked Indonesia to establish closer cooperation with related partner countries in order to overcome the issues faced in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region.

"To solve a very important problem, we need to cooperate more closely with related partner countries," deputy director of the second division of Southeast Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Kaneko Kazuya said here on Thursday.

He made the statement in response to a question regarding Japan's view of Indonesia's chairmanship of the ASEAN in 2023.

Kazuya said that Indonesia is one of the largest dominant countries among ASEAN member countries.

Regarding Indonesia's ASEAN chairmanship, he said that Indonesia has been elected as the chair because it is considered capable of guiding the ASEAN community in dealing with issues faced in the region.

"Regarding the selection of which ASEAN member countries are eligible to be chosen as the host of the summit, it is always influenced by conditions or problems currently being faced by ASEAN," he said.

Kazuya gave an example of one of the problems currently being faced by ASEAN member countries, namely the problem of Myanmar, whose situation is considered to be increasingly worrying.

The issue is considered very serious because the response of ASEAN member countries to it has varied.

"I think Indonesia is able to guide the ASEAN community (on this issue)," he said.

Hence, to resolve problems in the region, it is deemed necessary for Indonesia to establish closer cooperation with other ASEAN member countries and related partner countries to find solutions together.

Like Indonesia, which hosted the ASEAN Summit, Japan also hosted the G7 Summit of seven countries with developed economies.

Kazuya said that Indonesia and Japan are both capable of guiding certain communities at the international level.

"Indonesia and Japan have been given a very good opportunity, including the choice of (the two countries) as the hosts for the summit," he added.

"Thus, Indonesia and Japan are considered as countries capable of leading the international community," he said. (Antaranews)

Jakarta (voinews): Genome sequencing can help the medical world make more specific diagnostics and Indonesia will get the benefit from developing the method, an Indonesian health ministry official has said. 

“The genomic sequencing approach can be applied for the diagnostic stage in health. We can create specific diagnostic tools based on genomic data from the Indonesian population," pharmacy and health device director general at the Ministry of Health, Rizka Andalusia, said in a health discussion here on Thursday. 

The medical trend that will grow in the future will target personalized medication and this can be done through the genomic database, she said.

She highlighted the fact that Indonesia has a large human population with potentially diverse genomic data.

"Actually, genome sequencing in health in Indonesia is still in the early stage. However, we have a very high potential for genome sequencing in health," she said. 

Throughout this time, diagnosis tools, vaccines, and medicines have been developed based on studies of Caucasian populations. This, she said, is despite the fact that Indonesians or Asians genetically have different genomic data compared to Caucasians.

Thus, scientific advancements in genome sequencing can be utilized to develop diagnostic tools, vaccines, and medicines that suit the Indonesian population for more accurate prevention and medication.

"To diagnose, let's say a genetic disorder or cancer, we need accurate handling and diagnostics," Andalusia said.

"Genomic profile or genomic approach became their own challenges for us in the development of diagnostic tools, vaccines, and medicines," she added.

Andalusia noted that the implementation of genome sequencing in health in Indonesia has risen ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. This method has been utilized by the government for COVID-19 mitigation in Indonesia.

The ministry has also unveiled the Biomedical & Genome Science Initiative (BGSi), which is a program for expediting research by relying on genome sequencing technology.

Given how important technological development is for the utilization of genome sequencing in health, Andalusia urged various parties, such as academicians, researchers, and startups, to create synergy in the process. (Antaranews)

The flight of suspected Chinese surveillance balloons has shown that Japan and Taiwan need to share "critical" intelligence about possible aerial threats, a senior defence policymaker for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said.

Although Japan does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it worries that China could imperil Japanese security if it gained control over the self-governing island.

"We don't have those bilateral relations with Taiwan, so we don't cooperate on that, but Japan's government will have to consider what it does next," Itsunori Onodera, a former defence minister and an influential lawmaker in the ruling party, said in an interview.

One way that Japan could share information with Taiwan could be through its close ally the United States, Onodera said, adding that he had visited Taiwan in January and was briefed about threats posed to the island by China.

Japan said on Tuesday it suspected Chinese spy balloons had flown over Japan at least three times, most recently in 2021.

Japan did not intercept any of them, but on Thursday defence ministry officials briefed Onodera and other Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers about a planned change in military engagement rules to allow Japan's air force to shoot down unmanned aircraft, including balloons that could endanger other air traffic or people on the ground.

"The rules now cover manned aircraft or military aircraft. The change will add unmanned aircraft to those," Minoru Kihara, one of the lawmakers, told reporters after the briefing.

Japan's Self Defence Force will begin training pilots to engage those targets, he said.

Japan on Wednesday said it had warned China that violations of its airspace by surveillance balloons were unacceptable.

The issue of spy balloons has drawn new attention in recent days after U.S. fighter jets shot down a Chinese balloon on Feb. 4, and subsequently three other objects.

China said the balloon was a civilian weather-monitoring aircraft and it accused the United States of sending its balloons into Chinese airspace. (Reuters)

Kazakh prosecutors have filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify the transfer of a local bank's ownership from ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev's non-profit foundation to a foreign company, they said on Thursday.

The foundation established by Nazarbayev, who ran the oil-rich Central Asian nation for three decades until resigning in 2019, used to own Jusan Bank (TSBN.KZ), the sixth-largest lender in the former Soviet republic.

But according to a statement by the prosecutor general's office, the company through which the foundation owned the bank transferred its shares to a foreign company in 2020, "endangering public interest".

Nazarbayev, 82, fell out with his successor Kassym-Jomart Tokayev last year and lost key positions which had given him sweeping powers even after resignation, such as the chairmanship of the security council.

The Nazarbayev foundation, run by his daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva, acquired Jusan in 2019 after it was bailed out by the state.

According to prosecutors, the foundation asked them this month to look into the case, describing the ownership transfer as a result of illegal actions by several entities.

Neither the foundation, which runs a university and a network of prestigious schools, nor Nazarbayev's spokesman could be immediately reached for comment. (Reuters)