VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Health has urged local governments to expedite the coverage for basic immunization for toddlers and school-aged children.

Data as of October 2021 showed that the national basic immunization coverage had only reached 58.4 percent.

Acting Director-General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Health Ministry, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, drew attention to a gap between several provinces with basic immunization rate above 60 percent and other provinces with immunization rates that had not reached 60 percent.

"There is an immunization gap in several provinces. If we look at it, several provinces, such as Banten, deserve to be lauded since even during a pandemic, they are able to reach 78.8 percent, slightly higher than the national target," Rondonuwu stated at an online press conference monitored here on Tuesday.

Other provinces with basic immunization coverage above 60 percent are South Sulawesi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Bali, Gorontalo, Lampung, Bangka Belitung, East Java, and Jambi.

"This achievement should be a lesson for other provinces to expedite their immunization coverage and meet the national standard," he added.

Rondonuwu explained that the impact of low and uneven immunization coverage in several areas would lead to an accumulation of populations prone to diseases that could actually be prevented by immunization.

In a worst-case scenarios, there will be an extraordinary outbreak (KLB) of disease from virus or bacterial infections that causes diseases, such as diphtheria or measles and rubella.

Rondonuwu has encouraged each region in Indonesia to increase its immunization coverage since the national immunization program is also implemented by local governments, starting from the village or sub-district level and up to the districts and cities.

He noted that currently, outbreaks of diphtheria, measles, and rubella had emerged in several regions of Indonesia. The emergence of outbreaks of this long-lost disease was due to the decline in immunization coverage in 2020 and 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.  (Antaranews)

Bank Indonesia (BI) is currently studying two approaches for the dissemination of digital rupiah in preparing for the implementation of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Indonesia.

"Bank Indonesia is exploring two methods for digital rupiah distribution either by using the direct way (one-tier) or the indirect (two-tier approach)," BI's head of Macroprudential Policy Department, Juda Agung, stated during the Fit and Proper Test for the BI Deputy Governor candidate with Commission XI of the House of Representatives here on Tuesday.

Agung explained that the one-tier or direct approach means that all households and corporations can obtain digital rupiah tokens directly from the Central Bank, he affirmed.

The two-tier or indirect approach is conducted through two stages, wherein Bank Indonesia will circulate digital rupiah through banks and the people can then purchase the tokens through banking, according to Agung.

"In our opinion, the second option is more appropriate because it is similar to the circulation of banknotes and coins," Agung added.

Furthermore, he deemed the issuance of digital rupiah as being important to maintain the sovereignty of a country's currency on account of an increase in the number of digital transactions.

The digital rupiah is able to manage the effectiveness of the Central Bank's monetary policy, stabilize the financial system, and encourage financial inclusion, he remarked.

Regarding the global data on digital currency distributions, he cited a survey in which 60 percent of the world's Central Banks are already considering implementing CBDCs and some 14 percent of them have already piloted their version of digital currencies.

Nevertheless, Agung emphasized that the use of digital rupiah will not fully replace the rupiah banknotes and coins, so the implementation of digital currency will be conducted gradually up to 20 percent of all forms of money being circulated.

"This avoids the risk that digital currency faces, such as power outages. If the currency is all digital, then the risk is also high. Hence, banknotes and coins must still exist, and its portion (of digital rupiah) will be done step-by-step," he concluded. (Antaranews)

Indonesian energy company PT Pertamina (Persero) has said it is aiming to become a world-class sustainability-driven energy player through the implementation of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) programs.

The company is running several ESG programs that are geared towards sustainability, according to a written statement issued by Pertamina's CEO and president director, Nicke Widyawati, and received here on Tuesday.

The state-owned enterprise will support the nation’s efforts toward achieving the target of 29-percent decarbonization before 2030, starting by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, she said.

"Our operational efficiency in the refinery and upstream facility, flare gas utilization, waste heat recovery, and increasing utilization of geothermal energy, all contribute greatly towards the reduction of emissions," she added.

As part of its environmental goals, Pertamina has reduced its energy consumption and intensity, thereby reducing its carbon footprint, Widyawati said adding, the company has cut its emissions by 27 percent in the last ten years.

Pertamina — as the largest Indonesian company that is involved mainly in oil, natural gas, and renewable energy sectors — plays an important role as the guardian of thenation's energy security, and its wide range of activities affect the lives of millions of people in the country, she observed.

Therefore, the company has also strived to realign its business strategies with a greater focus on sustainability, she said.

Pertamina's sustainability strategy has been translated into 10 sustainability focuses, each of which is aligned with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and has a primary target, she informed.

The 10 sustainability focuses are addressing climate change; reducing the environmental footprint; protecting biodiversity, health, and safety; preventing major accidents; recruiting, developing, and retaining employees; carrying out innovation and research; community engagement and impact; practicing cybersecurity; and corporate ethics, she elaborated.

Moreover, in its transition to greater use of clean energy, the company has set its sights on the development of geothermal as well as hydro-based and solar-based power generation, Widyawati disclosed.

"We will continue to support Indonesia’s energy transition by adopting climate-friendly business strategies such as realigning our energy mix to include 17-percent renewable energy by 2030, and providing clean energy for the country in the future," she affirmed.

In terms of social responsibility, the company is continuing to tighten and improve occupational health and safety policies, she said.

Furthermore, to improve corporate governance, the company has initiated the 'New Pertamina Clean Charter', as part of its anti-bribery management system, she added. (Antaranews)

Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah continues to strengthen mainstreaming of the fulfilment of employment rights for disabled workers as per Law Number 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities.

"The Ministry of Manpower continues to strengthen our efforts in involving and fulfilling the employment rights for workers with disabilities by encouraging the government, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Regional Owned Enterprises (BUMD), and private companies to employ people with disabilities," the minister stated at the national award ceremony for private companies and BUMN that employ people with disabilities, Tuesday.

Fauziyah explained that Article 53 of Law Number 8 of 2016 stipulates that the government, regional governments, BUMN, and BUMD were required to employ persons with disabilities constituting at least two percent of the total employee force.

Meanwhile, private companies are required to employ people with disabilities to comprise one percent of the total number of their employees.

Based on data from the Mandatory Employment Report in 2021, only 588 companies had employed 4,554 people with disabilities out of a total of 543 thousand employees registered in the system belonging to the Ministry of Manpower.

For state-owned companies, only 72 companies have employed 1,271 persons with disabilities.

In fact, based on the Ministry of Manpower's data on February 2022, disabled people constituted some 16.5 million of the working-age population.

Fauziyah also remarked that people with disabilities were one of the groups to have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The vulnerability of people with disabilities at work was caused by the low level of education, limited access to job vacancies, the high cost of living for various additional needs, such as hearing aids and health care, as well as low income and high poverty rates.

In particular, the minister highlighted about the gender perspective in the vulnerability of the disabled workforce, with women with disabilities facing greater barriers than men.

Fauziyah addressed that achieving the target of meeting the quota for people with disabilities at work requires effort and commitment from the government, regional governments, BUMN, BUMD, and private companies.

"We want this commitment to be supported by the government, regional governments, BUMN, BUMD, and the private sector," she added.  (Antaranews)