VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Strengthening customer protection is very important nowadays as the financial services industry has become more complex, dynamic, and vulnerable to many new risks, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.

"Hence, customer protection and financial literacy have become our concern in discussing financial inclusion," she remarked at the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK)-Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Conference here on Thursday.

Strengthening the customer protection system is crucial to improve customer empowerment, increase financial institutions’ awareness of the importance of customer protection, and boost public trust in the financial services sector, she explained.

Between 2018 and 2021, the OJK closed more than 3,500 illegal online lenders, the minister informed.

According to OJK, the high number of illegal financial activities in Indonesia was due to low financial literacy, which was only 38.03 percent in 2019, much lower than the financial inclusion index of 76.19 percent in 2019, she said.

"The figure shows that a lot of Indonesians use financial services without having adequate financial literacy," Indrawati noted.

Hence, she urged all stakeholders to improve public financial literacy so that customers can use financial products safely and effectively, as well as protect themselves from potential fraud and unfavorable mistakes.

G20 countries should develop financial literacy standards by evaluating the existing tools and developing strategies and programs to promote financial education targeting poor families, the elderly, people with low education levels, small- and medium-sized business owners, and women.

"Those are vulnerable groups who are usually ensnared by illegal financial activities," the minister remarked.

Hence, she suggested that all parties establish more effective approaches to increase financial inclusion, especially in the midst of a pandemic that has forced people to change and use digital technology, often without any customer protection or financial literacy. (Antaranews)

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated financial inclusion, with many Indonesian people receiving assistance in digital technology adoption, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati highlighted.

"With technology and collaboration, we have encouraged the acceleration of financial inclusion," she said here on Thursday

There has been a rise in financial inclusion as a result of the government's efforts to distribute social aid to the people so that they can survive the pandemic, the minister explained.

The social aid has so far reached almost all Indonesians, especially 40 percent of the people with the poorest social and economic circumstances who did not even have access to banks, she said.

According to Indrawati, the distribution of social aid under programs such as the Family Hope Program (PKH) to 10 million families led to the creation of banking accounts for those who did not have them.

"They never had any banking account. However, because of the transfer from the government, we carried out financial inclusion because the aid was transferred into (banking) accounts," the minister elaborated.

However, there were still regions that had not been reached by banks, so the social aid was given through post offices, she said.

Indrawati said she will ensure that the government continues to expand the development of digital technology infrastructure, primarily in 20 thousand villages that do not yet have access in order to maximize financial inclusion.

"This is a very Islamic justice, namely how the government conducts investment in the information technology sector in Indonesia's entire regions," she affirmed.

Earlier, the minister had said that digital transformation is crucial for the survival of micro, small, and medium enterprises and the acceleration of COVID-19 recovery. (Antaranews)

The implementation of disaster and climate resilience policies have faced several challenges, including less-than-optimal cross-sectoral and multi-party support, an official from the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) has said.

"There are at least four challenges to implementing disaster and climate resilience policies," Arifin Rudiyanto noted during a discussion themed 'Building the Resilience of Shoreline Community', organized by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) here on Thursday.

"The first one is the lack of cross-sectoral and multi-party support at the sub-national, national, and international level," he elaborated.

In addition, there are also other issues such as a lack of convergence between climate resilience construction and disaster risk reduction and the minimal stakeholder capacity in handling hydro-meteorological incidents triggered by climate change, he said.

The last issue concerns funding as there is no optimal support yet for alternative and innovative funding framework, both from inside the country and outside, he added.

Climate resilience development involves the realization of the National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, he noted.

"Climate resilience development is a combination of adaptation effort and resilience strengthening to bolster development systems in order to withstand the negative impact of climate danger in terms of social, economical, and ecological aspect," Rudiyanto explained.

He highlighted that 34 percent of 514 districts or cities in Indonesia, or 176 districts or cities, will be prioritized for climate change risk reduction efforts through climate resilience development.

These regions are vulnerable not just because of the rise in ocean surface levels as a result of global warming, he said.

There are several locations that could potentially experience land subsidence, both because of natural movement and exploitation of groundwater, he added. (Antaranews)

National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) Head Penny Kusumastuti Lukito encouraged all parties to synergize to optimize the discovery, development, and utilization of Indonesian natural ingredient medicine.

At a virtual event on traditional medicine on Thursday, Lukito noted that this could be accomplished by making the most of the developments in science and technology.

"What is important for us is to work together to utilize the potential that exists across Indonesia," she emphasized.

Exploring the potential of and documenting empirical data for natural ingredient medicine necessitates collective effort, she stressed.

This could provide additional value from the richness of the country's natural landscape through the discovery and development of natural ingredient medicine in Indonesia.

Development of science and technology could be tapped optimally to explore and improve the quality and competitiveness of Indonesian natural ingredient medicine.

However, empirical data and documented information regarding the efficacy and benefits of natural ingredient medicine is necessary, according to Lukito.

Advanced research and development could then be conducted based on that empirical data.

Such research and development could produce quality jamu (Indonesian traditional medicine) and standardized herbal medicine that had passed the pre-clinical trial and phytopharma that had cleared the clinical trial.

Several regions in Indonesia still have the potential for natural ingredient development that could be processed into quality and standardized herbal medicine, and phythopharma, the BPOM's head stated.

However, such areas of potential have to be discovered and developed in order to proffer the greatest benefits for the prosperity of the Indonesian people.

All stakeholders, including the BPOM, researchers, and entrepreneurs, have to collaborate to optimize the discovery, development, and utilization of natural ingredient medicine. (Antaranews)