VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Secretary-General of the Manpower Ministry Anwar Sanusi underscored the government's commitment to implementing the Job Loss Insurance (JKP) Program to commence in 2022.

"We remain committed to implementing this JKP. The regulations, from the government and the Manpower Ministry and Finance Ministry, have been completed," Sanusi noted during a discussion on job market access in JKP on Monday.

The secretary general remarked that based on the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the Job Creation Act, with the JKP program in it, the law is still valid until it is revised within two years.

The JKP aims to accommodate every employment issue, including termination of employment (PHK) with the government's assistance, he noted.

Sanusi informed that the JKP program provides three key benefits to workers: cash benefits to be offered for a maximum of six months, job training to help beneficiaries start working in new companies, and access to labor market information.

Specifically for labor market information, access was provided for JKP beneficiaries to get the actual and required information on ideas about new jobs or companies, he noted.

The job market information provided is not only for domestic jobs but also for job opportunities abroad, Sanusi remarked.

For job training, the government aims to provide training in an effort to help JKP beneficiaries to have competencies in the jobs they pursue.

However, Sanusi stated that the training will also offer provisions and directions to function as independent workers or entrepreneurs.

"The Ministry of Manpower has made several preparations, including those for building a system, which we know as Ready to Work (Siap Kerja)," he noted.

JKP is part of the social security assistance received by workers affected by layoffs that will receive various benefits. The government is preparing to start providing such assistance for workers in 2022. (Antaranews)

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's Geological Agency raised the alert status of Mount Awu in North Sulawesi, from normal or level 1 to level 2, following increased volcanic activity observed since October 2021.

"The increased activity of Mt Awu was marked by an increase in volcanic seismicity that indicates an increase in magma pressure in the volcano," the agency's secretary, Ediar Usman, noted in a statement, Monday.

According to Usman, the volcano's surface activity has yet to show significant changes.

However, there is an increased likelihood of Mt Awu erupting, although the time of the eruption cannot be ascertained. The volcano could spew incandescent lava as well as pyroclastic material.

"Other likely threats are the emission of toxic gases around the crater area. If an eruption occurs and the material falls on the slopes of the volcano, then there is a likely threat of cold lava when it rains," he pointed out.

The 1,320-metre-high volcano is located on Sangihe Island in Sangihe Islands District, North Sulawesi Province.

The Geological Agency has notified the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), North Sulawesi Governor, and Sangihe Islands District Head regarding the increased activity of Mt Awu.

"Mt Awu's eruption characteristics can be magmatic explosive, effusive, or phreatic. Its last eruption in June 2004 produced an eruption column as high as two kilometers above the peak and left a lava dome in the crater about 370 meters in diameter and 30 meters in height," Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) head Andiani stated.

Volcanic earthquakes have been observed to increase since October. Shallow volcanic earthquakes were recorded in the range of seven to 26 events per day, whereas earlier, the maximum recorded events per day had reached five.

"Deep volcanic earthquakes have also been observed to increase. In addition, the seismic amplitude (RSAM) has increased progressively from November up to now," she remarked.

The agency has advised the residents, visitors, and tourists to refrain from any activities within a one-kilometer radius of Mt Awu's crater.

It also called on people to remain calm and not be provoked by false information regarding the activities of Mt Awu. (Antaranews)

House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IV member I Made Urip said that forest management in various regions should be people-based on account of the fact that public involvement in conservation is not yet optimal.

"People's involvement should still be supported by managers and workers in providing education on conservation, raising awareness, promotion, publication, and dissemination of information on conservation," Urip noted in a release here on Monday.

The problems that often emerged during conservation activity are the clash with the people's interest and their lack of knowledge on the importance of conservation.

"To this end, to minimize potential conflict on the field, forestry management should be people-based that provides space to accommodate the public's interest," Urip affirmed.

In addition, a restriction should be in place on the people’s access in terms of entering and utilizing conservation areas in order to prevent conflicts between them and conservation managers, he remarked.

The House commission member also pressed for a paradigm shift in forest management in Indonesia that prioritizes people as the subject of development.

Earlier, Indonesia Center for Environmental Law's (ICEL's) Forestry and Land Division Head, Adrianus Eryan, at a workshop on Thursday, said that land-based business permit violations often occurred on the field.

There is also a violation of the law, he said.

The forms of violation involving permits include not conducting plantation partnership, not conducting reclamation and disregarding the regulation concerning waste disposal after mining, and not reporting periodically the implementation of Environmental permit.

Meanwhile, examples of violation of the law are clearing away forest area without permit, planning crops outside the controlled plantation areas, and causing B3 waste pollution that affects the environment. (Antaranews)

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno discussed the post-pandemic challenges in tourism and creative economy sector with former tourism minister Arief Yahya, and former head of creative economy agency Triawan Munaf.

In a talkshow at the 2021 Appreciation of Indonesian Creation (AKI) event, Uno told Yahya and Munaf about the program that have been conducted in 16 cities and involved best micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the respective cities.

“We create the program to revive Indonesia’s economy amid the pandemic by enhancing the capacity and publicity of the creative economy players. Among the sectors took part in the program are culinary, craft, fashion, digital (animation, games, applications), film, and music. This is in line with the National Mid-term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024,” Uno said in a statement here on Sunday.

The 2021 AKI is one of the ministry’s programs expected to be right on target, benefits, and time, he informed.

"The program is expected to boost the economy and create jobs. We expect that (the job creation) will touch the baseline this year and job creation in creative economy will recover and be on the same level with the pre-pandemic figures next year," he said.

Meanwhile, former tourism minister Arief Yahya explained that tourism sector is the easiest and cheapest way to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), foreign exchange, and employment as compared to the high cost for investment in oil and gas sector.

"President Jokowi at the time asked me about our nation’s core economy. I firmly and consistently answered that our core economy was tourism and creative economy,” he said.

Indonesia's competitiveness index in tourism ranked 42nd in 2017 out of 135 countries assessed by the World Economic Forum.

Former head of creative economy agency Triawan Munaf noted that the creative economy sector to date has experienced the hardest period since the state budget had to be refocused for COVID-19 handling while transportation and people's mobility were restricted during the pandemic.

"The creative economy law is necessitated to bolster the creative economy industry, especially post-pandemic since the law will help facilitate the creative economy players to keep their business on track in the future," he remarked. (Antaranews)