VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that the family is the pillar of the nation's welfare.

This was conveyed by the Head of State, in his speech at the peak of the commemoration of the 29th National Family Day (harganas), at Merdeka Square, Medan, North Sumatra, Thursday (7/7/2022).

"I believe that the family is the pillar of the nation's welfare. The family is the first and foremost ecosystem in nurturing, in educating, in forming healthy humans, nutritious humans, quality humans," said the President.

Therefore, the President invites all parties to jointly reduce the stunting rate in Indonesia.

"In commemoration of the 29th National Harganas Family Day, I invite all national powers to move together, work together, synergize together to reduce stunting and all the root causes of the problem. In order to prepare human resources for our next generation who We really have to prepare quality," he said.

According to the Head of State, children are the determinants of the future face of the Indonesian nation. Therefore, children must be healthy and far from stunting.

"Because of our children today, this is the determination of the future face of Indonesia. If our children are smart, smart, intelligent, it's easy for us to compete with other countries," he continued.

"But if our child is stunted, his nutrition is not good, his nutrition is not sufficient. Well, in the future competing with other countries will be very difficult for us. This is what I always remind you. Therefore, what is called stunting, we must really work hard to reduce percentage," he said.

Furthermore, the President is targeting the stunting rate in 2024 to drop to 14 percent.

"I entered in 2014 the stunting rate was 37 percent, 37 percent. Today in 2021 the final figure is at 24.4 percent. The decline is very drastic. But our target in 2024 must reach 14 percent," he added.

On the same occasion, Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Hasto Wardoyo said, Harganas was a moment of reflection and appreciation of the state for the important role of the family in building quality Indonesian human resources. This year's Harganas commemoration has the theme "Let's Prevent Stunting So Families Are Stunting Free".

"This theme is related to the new task given by the President to the BKKBN as the coordinator of stunting management in accordance with Presidential Regulation Number 72 of 2021, with a stunting rate target of 14 percent in 2024," said Hasto.

To achieve this target, Hasto continued, serious efforts and hard work from all parties are needed. One of them is through cross-sectoral collaboration and also through an upstream to downstream approach.

"Through the approach of indirect factors such as sanitation, a clean environment, and also direct factors, such as nutrition, health and immunization and other health programs," he concluded. (RRI)

Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Bintang Puspayoga in a statement on Wednesday urged the National Police (Polri) to expedite the promotion of the Women and Child Service Unit (UPPA) institution into a directorate.

The minister pointed to a continued rise in the number of cases of violence against women and children on a day-to-day basis.

The handling of these cases is not yet optimal since the Women and Child Service is still only a unit within the police that results in limited human resources and budget, she remarked.

She expects that a special directorate for women and children service can be formed immediately in various regions to better handle these cases in future.

In addition, her side sought the police's continued support to the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection in handling cases of women and children and assisting in the implementation of the Sexual Crime Prevention Law.

The ministry and the police had built cooperation through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in effect for five years from 2019 to 2024 on Institutionalization of Gender Mainstreaming and Women and Children Protection, she remarked.

In connection with this, Puspayoga commended the synergy and collaboration by the ministry and the police.

Such collaboration is apparent from the continued intensive training of law enforcement authorities that is conducted, thereby enabling the ministry and police to share the same perspective when it comes to case handling.

In addition, she lauded the swift response from the Women and Child Service Unit when cases were reported in various regions.

This demonstrates the strong synergy and collaboration between the ministry and the police in handling cases of women and children.

In the statement, the minister also highlighted limitations in the form of women's capability to access technology that had become one of the problems faced by women-owned micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). (Antaranews)

The government and the House of Representatives (DPR) have agreed to work on the draft bill on personal data protection, the Communication and Information Technology Ministry has said.

“Thus, the government and the House of Representatives will conduct (many) meetings in order to pursue that (draft bill)" Director General of Informatics Application at the Communication and Information Technology Ministry Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan informed here on Wednesday.

The substantial aspects of the bill have been discussed, but some things still need adjustments, he said, without providing further details on the issues requiring adjustments.

"Once more, there are still some (things) which can be looked upon. Once (everything) has been adjusted, these (issues) would be more apparent, and it would be discussed again," he added.

On a separate occasion, a politics expert at Al Azhar University Indonesia, Ujang Komarudin, stressed the importance of the bill.

“The Draft Bill on Personal Data Protection is important because Indonesia is a modern country. The people are interconnected and see each other through gadgets. Through those gadgets, many can see and access personal data," Komarudin remarked.

The safety of people's personal data could be compromised if the state does not protect it. Should the condition persist, it would pose a terrible risk: data could be accessed freely by domestic or foreign vendors, he said.

The government and DPR must, therefore, prioritize the state and nation's interests and make them the basis for creating the draft bill, he said.

In the current era, it is vital to protect everyone's personal data, as it is deemed a necessity.

Personal data protection is everyone's right because if data becomes easily accessible to foreign entities, it would spell doom for Indonesia's security, he added. (Antaranews)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inspected the Nias National Ring Road and Idano Sibolou Bridge in West Nias District, North Sumatra, after reviewing infrastructure in North Nias on Wednesday.

According to a statement released by the Presidential Secretariat here on Wednesday, the development of connectivity infrastructure on Nias Island is aimed at opening up the isolated western and northern regions of Nias and reducing extreme poverty.

A number of districts on Nias Island have been designated as underdeveloped areas with extreme poverty, as per Presidential Regulation No. 63 of 2020.

Therefore, the government has issued Presidential Instruction No. 4 of 2022 on the Acceleration of Elimination of Extreme Poverty.

The infrastructure development in Nias is part of efforts to support the instruction, and is being carried out by the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing.

While observing infrastructure in West Nias, Widodo received an explanation from the head of the North Sumatra National Road Implementation Center, Brawijaya.

According to Brawijaya, the center will build a 24-kilometer road in 2023, which will be a part of the Nias Ring Road that connects cities and districts on Nias Island.

"In addition, we will also handle (road infrastructure) from Gunungsitoli city to West Nias, and Lahomi to Sirombu. It is actually a provincial road," he said.

Meanwhile, the 50-meter Idano Sibolou Bridge was completed in 2021, with a budget of Rp13.74 billion.

In North Nias, the President reviewed the project to improve the Laehuwa-Ombolata-Tumula-Faekhuna'a road infrastructure, which connects North Nias to Gunungsitoli city, on Wednesday.

A budget of Rp32.36 billion will be used for the upgrade of the Laehuwa-Ombulata-Tumula-Faekhuna'a road in 2022.

Widodo said he hopes that the project will boost economic growth on Nias Island, so that regional commodities such as coconut and fish can compete in markets.

Improved road infrastructure will also have a positive impact on the island's tourism, he added.

"Because in here, (surfing) is in great demand," he said.  (Antaranews)