VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Second Minister of Foreign Affairs (Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs) Singapore, Mohamad Maliki Osman, visited the Riau Islands Province, Indonesia. There he held a meeting with the Mayor/Head of BP Batam Muhammad Rudi and Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad.

After hearing the explanation from the leaders of the Riau Islands Provincial Government, Osman assessed that there were a lot of investment opportunities for Singapore there. For that, he promised to convey various investment cooperation opportunities in various sectors in Riau Islands to the Singapore Government.

"I will convey various opportunities to increase investment from Singapore here," said Osman, Thursday (19/8/2022). Previously, the Riau Islands Governor offered various new collaboration opportunities in the digital, tourism, energy, livestock and plantation sectors.

Governor Ansar Ahmad emphasized that Batam is currently focused on developing the digital industry with the presence of the Nongsa Digital Park. Thus, there are many opportunities to grow this industry as global demand for digital content will increase.

In addition, there are other benefits that will be felt by the Riau Islands community. "New investment in this sector will certainly open up new job opportunities for local residents," he said.

Ansar also invited the Singaporean Government to invest in the energy sector through partnerships with PLN and BPH Migas. This is because the energy needs in Riau Islands, especially Batam, always increases every year for industrial purposes. (RRI)

SOE Minister Erick Thohir supports Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi regarding the government's efforts to stabilize air ticket prices. According to him, the price of airline tickets is an important component in controlling inflation.

"The president has firmly requested that the price of airline tickets be stabilized," said Erick in Jakarta, Friday (19/8/2022). According to the Minister, this is important for controlling inflation in Indonesia.

Therefore, the Ministry of SOEs will immediately move to prepare a formula to stabilize airline ticket prices. "We have to be a balancer when the market price is experiencing turmoil," said Erick asserted.

According to him, SOEs do not only serve as a driving force for the economy but also must be present as a counterweight. This has been proven before when intervening in mask prices to market operations for food needs.

This time, his party is trying to maintain inflation through stabilizing flight ticket prices. "With this, we are also helping the public to get airline tickets at affordable prices," said Erick.

The SOE Minister admitted that he had asked PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) to take a number of steps. For example, increasing the frequency of flights to meet the increasing demand for aircraft service users.

So, said the former President of Inter Milan, this will have an impact on the decline in airline ticket prices. "This is also a momentum for Garuda to regain public trust," he said.

Erick assessed that the intervention in flight ticket prices was proof that Garuda's transformation and restructuring was on the right track. "It's time for Garuda to come and answer the trust and support of the people who are in need of affordable flight ticket prices," he said.

Erick also fully supports the steps taken by the Ministry of Transportation to involve stakeholders such as local governments to stabilize flight ticket prices. For example by ensuring the level of passenger occupancy, providing subsidies, and various other incentives.

This is because the issue of airline ticket prices requires synergy from many parties. Starting from the central government, local governments, SOEs, to the private sector.

"With a comprehensive collaboration, we are optimistic that we can immediately stabilize flight ticket prices," said Erick. "This will certainly have a big impact on the activities of people who really need this mode of air transportation," he added. (RRI)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has projected national inflation in the range of 4.0 to 4.8 percent for 2022, or slightly above Bloomberg's estimate of 4.5 percent. Therefore, he hoped that several programs and extra efforts that are being carried out will continue to be carried out well.

"Some things that need to be maintained and anticipated in controlling inflation include the role played by the government through the state budget to contain fuel prices, which will certainly be a challenge in the second quarter," Hartarto said during the 2022 national coordination meeting on inflation control on Thursday.

To contain the spike in inflation, the synergy of the Central Inflation Control Team (TPIP) is continuously being pursued, he added.

Several measures, including maintaining price affordability, food and supply availability, smooth distribution, and effective communication, have been intensified, especially to maintain stability and purchasing power.

Meanwhile, from the perspective of the Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID), almost all districts and cities have strengthened their participation in 2022.

"TPID participation has reached 78 percent this year; last year, it was still around 71 percent," the minister informed.

Hartarto, who is also the chair of TPIP, said that there are also several regions that have excelled in controlling inflation, so it is hoped that additional facilities and incentives from the Minister of Finance can be provided.

The national Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in July 2022 was recorded at 4.94 percent on an annual basis (year-on-year/yoy).

He said the factors for the high national inflation in the mid-term this year were global commodity prices, weather, inflationary pressures in several regions, and production disruptions.

Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo had earlier noted that Indonesia's inflation rate had reached 4.94 percent year-on-year in July 2022, fueled by volatile food prices, which rose 11.47 percent.

Meanwhile, President Joko Widodo had said hebelieves that sound synergy and cooperation between the regional governments and TPIP and TPIDs would help keep the inflation rate below 3 percent.

"I believe if the cooperation that I have mentioned earlier (runs well) and governors, district heads and mayors, TPIP, and TPIDs all work (together), (then we will be able to) return it to below 3 percent. As a matter of fact, the goods are available," he affirmed.

To this end, Widodo had instructed Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian to issue a regulation allowing regional governments to utilize the unforeseen budget fund in their regional budget (APBD) to offset food transportation costs that posed a problem.

The President also urged Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi to respond to a complaint regarding high inter-regional air cargo fares that also contributed to inflation.

Moreover, he asked State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir to increase the number of aircraft to help normalize the prices of air tickets.

He further called on all regional heads to get a grasp on the inflation situation in their respective regions.

The President noted that five provinces recorded high year-on-year inflation in July 2022: Jambi (8.55 percent), West Sumatra (8.01 percent), Bangka Belitung (7.77 percent), Riau (7.04 percent), and Aceh (6.97 percent). (Antaranews)

The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has called for national and international cooperation and research to realize the goal of making oceans around small islands clean, healthy, resilient, and productive.

"The research team is targeting a short-term goal, which is the establishment of multidisciplinary research networks and cooperation, both nationally and internationally," a researcher at BRIN's Community and Culture Research Center, Agus Heri Purnomo, informed during a workshop on the "Study of Small Islands" here on Thursday.

Researchers will also push for ensuring the availability of scientific information, which can be used as the basis for formulating policies on the sustainable use of marine resources within the framework of the blue economy, and as Indonesian researchers' contribution to the “Decade of Ocean Science,” he said.

The “International Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development or the Decade” seeks seven outcomes by 2030, namely oceans that are clean, healthy, resilient, productive, predicted, safe, accessible, inspiring, and engaging.

BRIN held the workshop on the study of small islands as part of the Decade agenda.

The workshop sought to build partnerships between governments, entrepreneurs, and researchers or academicians to design collaborations to make oceans clean, healthy, and productive.

He said that currently, cooperation with several parties is being planned, including state-owned publisher Balai Pustaka and the Indonesian Maritime Foundation, for ocean literacy.

The funding proposal submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and local governments is also under process.

In addition, engagement efforts are being intensified with regional research partners, such as the Korea Indonesia Marine Technology Office.

An island is considered small if its area is no more than or equal to two thousand square kilometers. In Indonesia, the number of small islands is higher than large islands.

"Various efforts are needed to answer the existing challenges to achieve clean, healthy, and productive oceans around small islands," Purnomo said. (Antaranews)