VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

State-owned postal company PT Pos Indonesia has collaborated with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) to provide universal post service (LPU) through the opening of supporting branch offices in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost (3T) as well as border areas.

The existence of LPU offices can directly help educate the people on non-cash transactions, the president director of PT Pos Indonesia, Faizal R. Djoemadi, said in a statement issued on Thursday.

This is because there is almost no bank office in those regions, thus automatically, many people there do not have bank account numbers.

"Government programs are now oriented toward a cashless society. Not just in cities, but also all of Indonesia," he explained.

"This is because, for the government, the more cashless a society is, the more efficient the economy becomes. We are also there to provide financial services," he added.

According to Djoemadi, the unveiling of LPU supporting branch offices for 3T regions was carried out simultaneously at 2 locations, Jakarta and Mandalika in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on February 1, 2023.

Meanwhile, Hutagalung said that as part of the collaboration, the government will provide a budget through the Finance Ministry.

Kominfo will supervise its implementation while Pos Indonesia will carry out the services, he said.

The newly unveiled branch offices comprise 8 LPU offices in Regional 1 Sumatra, 13 LPU offices in Regional 5 East Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and 15 LPU offices in Regional 6 Papua, Maluku, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan.

In 2023, the government has allocated an LPU fund of Rp378 billion (US$25.4 million) for operational purposes for 2,375 LPU offices along with other post service units, which serve more than 70 percent of the 7,266 sub-districts in Indonesia.

Hutagalung said that his side conducted direct monitoring and reporting that must be conveyed to Pos Indonesia.

"We encourage PT Pos to come directly to the people. This is done to trigger economic growth," he said.

While the LPU offices are located in 3T areas, the rates will be set directly by the government, he added. (Antaranews)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has stressed the importance of quality state budget spending to provide optimal benefits to the people.

"One of the most crucial keys for the state budget to be tangible, not wasted, is the quality of spending. So, good and plentiful allocation does not necessarily turn out to be a real result," the minister said at an event entitled “State Budget for the Whole Country,” which was followed online from here on Thursday.

One of the priorities of the state budget is improving human resources, she noted.

A country can develop and become prosperous if it has healthy, smart human resources of good quality, she added.

Hence, she said, 20 percent of the state budget, which amounts to Rp612.2 trillion (US$41 billion), has been allocated for the education sector in 2023.

Of the allocation, Rp237.1 trillion (US$16 billion) is for central government expenditure, Rp305.6 trillion (US$20.5 billion) for regional spending, and Rp69.5 trillion (US$4.7 billion) for funding.

Another sector that has been prioritized in the state budget is health, she said.

According to her, in the past three years, there has been significant spending on health, which has been predominantly used for COVID-19 handling and covering vaccinations, treatments, and expenses of people undergoing self-isolation, among other things.

Indrawati informed that currently, COVID-19 is under control, so the budget can be used for other issues such as stunting reduction as well as improving medical facilities to treat patients suffering from non-communicable diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

As much as Rp178.7 trillion (US$11.9 billion) in the state budget has been allocated for the health sector in 2023, with Rp118.7 trillion (US$7.9 billion) set aside for the central government and Rp60 trillion (US$4 billion) for stunting reduction.

Further, the state budget has allocated Rp476 trillion (US$31.8 billion) for social security, with Rp454.7 trillion (US$30.4 billion) set aside for the central government, Rp17 trillion (US$1.13 billion) for regional use, and Rp4.3 trillion (US$288 million) for others.

The state budget functions as a shock absorber, she said, which consistently protects the people and the economy at times when the global situation is not stable, such as when fuel prices fluctuate, the minister noted.

For instance, when global fuel prices doubled, the government used the budget to provide subsidies so that the prices remained affordable, she added. (Antaranews)

Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said on Thursday that he would welcome investment in the new Indonesian capital (IKN) Nusantara from one of Elon Musk's companies.

He conveyed this during a discussion at the 2023 Mandiri Investment Forum's (MIF's) “Morning Talk” in Jakarta.

During the session, one of the representatives of the US-ASEAN Business Council, Taufikurrahman, pointed out that one of Musk's companies intends to enter IKN to support Nusantara's smart city vision.

"This may provide major technological assistance to IKN and also to Indonesia as a whole. We request for assistance in the licensing process," he added.

Taufikurrahman said the company is in the licensing process, though it has run into technical problems.

In response to the request, Lahadalia assured that his ministry will provide assistance to the company without delay and expedite the licensing process.

He sought a list of the problems that the company is facing and details on how much it wants to invest and in which sectors.

"As long as they truly want to invest, and the domain is under the Investment Ministry and other ministries, we will expedite it. I will expedite it. That is my promise," he said.

The minister then underlined his commitment to helping investors who are willing to park their capital in Indonesia.

Lahadalia said that his ministry will not block investments coming to Indonesia.

"This is because, in my opinion, blocking investors, blocking investments, is similar to blocking potential job creation, blocking state income, and our competitiveness will be disrupted," he explained.

During the same discussion, IKN Authority head Bambang Susantono said that his side is ready to facilitate investment from Musk's company.

There have been many investment proposals seeking to support connectivity in IKN, he said.

However, he said that he has not seen the proposal from Musk's company. (Antaranews)

The speaker of Taiwan's parliament during a forum for international religious freedom in Washington on Wednesday stressed the importance of defending the island's democracy in the face of pressure from China.

In an address to the International Religious Freedom Summit, You Si-kun sharply criticized Beijing's suppression of religious minorities and described Taiwan as the only democracy in the Chinese-speaking world.

He also stressed the self-governed, but Chinese-claimed island's strategic importance at the center of key global sea lanes and as an important producer of semiconductors.

"So it's very important to safeguard Taiwan, especially its democracy," he said.

"If Taiwan falls into the sphere of influence of CCP, then the beacon of democracy will be destroyed. And China may invade the first island chain, and will cause a threat to the entire world," You said, referring to China's ruling Communist Party and its ambitions in the Pacific region.

Speaking through a translator, You said about 50% of global shipping used the Taiwan Strait between the island and China, "so it has very important economic significance for the global trade."

"And ... Taiwan has produced the best semiconductor chips and will be very important for global trade as well," he said. "So if Taiwan cannot be safeguarded very carefully, it will be very dangerous to global trade as well as global peace."

You, who belongs to Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party but does not speak for President Tsai Ing-wen, is in Washington amid speculation that Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy could soon visit the island.

Speaking to reporters later, You declined to say whether he would meet with U.S. officials or McCarthy while in the United States. He said China had overreacted to such congressional visits, which he called "very normal."

In August, then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, visited Taiwan and met Tsai, defying warnings from China, which launched military drills around the island in response, raising fears that Beijing may carry out its threat to reclaim the island by force if necessary.

Since then, Taiwan has welcomed a wave of U.S. lawmakers, and speculation has swirled around whether McCarthy would travel there this spring or summer. McCarthy last year expressed interest in visiting Taiwan if he became speaker, a role he assumed in January after Republicans took control of the House in November's midterm elections.

Like most countries, the United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

Washington has long stuck to a policy of "strategic ambiguity" and not making clear whether it would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan. However, President Joe Biden said in September that U.S forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, his most explicit statement on the issue. (Reuters)