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Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan (right), and Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin at the 2021 Health Business Gathering event in Nusa Dua, Badung district, Bali, on Friday (December 3, 2021) - 

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has confirmed that COVID-19 booster vaccines will be offered simultaneously in all Indonesian provinces from January 2022.

"We will not designate priority provinces for the booster vaccine as we will offer the vaccine simultaneously in all provinces," the coordinating minister said after opening the 2021 Health Business Gathering event in Nusa Dua, Badung District, Bali, on Friday.

The COVID-19 booster vaccines will be offered free of cost to eligible residents, and other residents will need to purchase them, he informed.

"We will facilitate around 100 million low-income residents with free booster vaccine doses, and other residents who are not included in the benefit recipients list can purchase the booster dose on their own," Pandjaitan said while adding that he will pay for his booster shot.

The Health Ministry is yet to determine the price of the booster vaccine for residents not included on the recipient list, he added.

"We suggest everyone get their COVID-19 booster vaccine jab," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin confirmed the booster dose will be affordable and that its price would not exceed Rp300 thousand (around US$21).

"We will first offer the booster vaccine to residents in the same age range as Mr. Pandjaitan (currently 74 years old)," Sadikin said.

At the same event, Bali Province's Health Office head Ketut Suarjaya expressed the hope that residents not included on the recipient list would purchase the booster vaccine on their own.

"The free booster vaccine would be offered to those who received the BPJS Kesehatan benefit, which would mainly target low-income residents. Despite the planned arrangement, we are currently waiting for the technical instruction before determining our next step," the health office head said.

According to Suarjaya, based on the technical instruction from the central authority, the provincial health office will prioritize regions or population groups for the booster vaccine jab in Bali//ANT

A screenshot of people evacuating due to a 5.9-magnitude tectonic earthquake that struck Central Maluku and was felt in Ambon on November 4, 2021. (ANTARA/Daniel Leonard/am/FR) - 

Earthquake activities in Indonesia increased in November compared to October this year, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG).

"BMKG's monitoring result shows that throughout November 2021, there were 980 earthquake activities in Indonesia with varying levels of magnitude and depth," BMKG's earthquake and tsunami mitigation coordinator, Daryono, noted in a statement issued here on Friday.

There was an increase in earthquake activities compared to October, when 844 quakes were recorded, he said.

The quake activities in November were dominated by small earthquakes of less than 5.0 magnitude and they happened 969 times, he explained. Meanwhile, in October, the number of small earthquakes was 831, he added.

"Significant earthquakes with a magnitude of above 5.0 occurred 11 times, which was less frequent than in October, when they occurred 13 times," he informed.

Active earthquake zones were located in 10 seismic clusters in November 2021, he said.

They were Aceh-Nias, Bengkulu-Lampung-Sunda Strait, South Banten-West Java, South Yogyakarta-East Java, Lombok-Bima-Sumba, Sigi-East Luwu, South-North Minahasa, Maluku Sea, Ambon-Seram, and North Papua, he added.

Meanwhile, there were 49 earthquakes that were strong enough for the public to feel, a decline compared to October, when they were recorded at 71, the official said.

He also highlighted that throughout November destructive earthquake incidents only occurred once. The quake was reported in Wahai, North Seram, Central Maluku, he informed.

The 5.7-magnitude earthquake that struck on November 4, 2021, was centered on a beach 16 km west off Wahai and it destroyed more than 26 buildings, he added.

BMKG has forecast that there will be an increase in extreme weather events in the next week in several regions in Indonesia.

According to the agency, several provinces will experience an increase in the growth of rain clouds triggered by extreme weather and atmospheric wave phenomena//ANT

A screenshot of Consul General of Indonesia at Jeddah (KJRI), Eko Hartono, speaking at a virtual discussion on umrah implementation, as seen from Jakarta on Friday (December 3, 2021). (ANTARA/Asep Firmansyah/KT) - 

Prospective Umrah pilgrims from Indonesia are facing problems in getting their electronic visas (e-visas) registered and recognized by Saudi Arabia's Tawakalna application, which is similar to the PeduliLindungi app.

Consul General of Indonesia at Jeddah (KJRI), Eko Hartono, made the remarks while speaking to ANTARA here on Friday.

"Even though this e-visa has been enabled by Saudi Arabia, travel agencies still cannot register the pilgrims when they choose the vaccine (option)," Hartono explained.

However, the Tawakalna application does not recognize vaccines from China, such as Sinovac or Sinopharm, as there are only four types of vaccines that have been approved by Saudi Arabia—Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Johnson and Johnson, he said.

Thus, the Saudi Arabian system is rendering the e-visas "unreadable", he added.

The same problem is being encountered during e-visa registration, he informed. E-visas for Umrah have not been integrated with the pilgrims' data on PeduliLindungi, so Tawakalna is not able to read vaccine certificates, he said.

E-visas are mandatory for Umrah worship, Hartono pointed out.

"Without an e-visa, they can not do Umrah," he added.

A few days ago, the Indonesian and Saudi health authorities had held a meeting to integrate Tawakalna and PeduliLindungi applications so e-visas can be issued to Umrah pilgrims, he informed.

He said he hoped that there will be good news in the near future so that prospective Indonesian Umrah pilgrims can fly to Saudi Arabia without delay.

Earlier, the government of Saudi Arabia had relaxed the rules for Umrah pilgrims who have obtained the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines, making them eligible to enter the Holy Land, with the condition they undergo a three-day quarantine.

"Both parties are working hard, but (the two apps) are not able to be integrated yet. I hope there is a solution," Hartono remarked//ANT

Screenshot of Commissioner for National Commission on Violence Against Women Bahrul Fuad at a seminar as seen from Jakarta on Friday, December 3, 2021. (ANTARA/Putu Indah Savitri/my) - 

Commissioner for National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) Bahrul Fuad believes that increasing digital interaction necessitates people to acquire digital literacy about gender-based cyber violence to protect themselves and others.

"The community and young people are not equipped with a sound understanding of how to protect personal data and themselves from the threat of gender-based cyber violence. This is a concern for us at the commission (Komnas Perempuan)," he stated at an online seminar on sexual violence on Friday.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increased public interactions in the cyber world. However, people are not equipped with proper digital literacy regarding gender-based cyber violence, thereby resulting in an increase in such cases.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, in 2019, the commission had recorded 87 cases of gender-based cyber violence. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of reports increased by 300 percent, as the commission had received as many as 383 reports.

Hence, various stakeholders, including the government, must educate the public about digital literacy, particularly gender-based cyber violence, to reduce such incidents in the cyber world, he said.

"We hope that these young people and various parties would work together to make efforts to prevent violence against women during this pandemic in various forms," Fuad remarked.

Fuad also noted that based on their annual records in 2021, as many as 6,480 cases of violence occurred in households, ranking the highest in terms of the number of cases, thereby constituting 79 percent of the total number of reports handled by the anti-violence commission.

The impacts of sexual violence against women ranges from physical to psychological and social impact as well as financial impact.

"Often, these victims of sexual violence lost their economic resources, as they experienced social exclusion," he remarked//ANT