VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Japan's crown prince criticised the media on Tuesday for falsities and "terrible things" in its coverage of the engagement of his daughter, former princess Mako, who relinquished her royal status to marry a non-royal last month.

Mako, 30, postponed her marriage to Kei Komuro, 30, for roughly three years over opposition stemming from a scandal involving his mother. Mako was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder during that period.

In accordance with Japanese law, Mako relinquished her royal status when the two married by submitting paperwork at a local office and left to live in New York this month.

Crown Prince Akishino, the emperor's brother, made the remarks, unusually candid for a Japanese royal, at a news conference to mark his 56th birthday.

"If you read the tabloids, well - I'm not sure how to say this exactly - but there's a lot of things in there that are fabricated, although there are also some opinions we should listen to," Akishino said when asked about the connection between media coverage and his daughter's diagnosis.

Though Japan was captivated when Mako and Komuro, who works in a law office in New York, announced their engagement in 2017, revelations of the scandal touched off intense media scrutiny and criticism.

"As for articles on the internet, there are also lots of comments ... and some of them say really terrible things," Akishino added. "There are people who are deeply hurt by this slander."

Some royal watchers said the furore over Mako's marriage, which even sparked protests against the wedding, might have been toned down with more adept handling by the Imperial Household Agency (IHA), which runs the family's lives, pointing to how similar incidents are handled by royals overseas.

Akishino said the IHA does sometimes correct "mistaken" information on its website but implied more might be needed.

"If you are going to argue against an article, you have to set proper standards and then protest when those are exceeded," he said. "Negative coverage may continue, so I think it is necessary to consider setting such standards in consultation with the IHA."

Akishino also said that the decision to forego all ceremonies for the marriage had been his, as he felt the scandal - about money loaned to the Komuro family by Komuro's mother's former fiance - had not been adequately explained.

But, he added, "I think it would have been appropriate if they could have been carried out as usual."(Reuters)

Indonesian people's access to decent sanitation facilities climbed by an average of 2.35 percent in each of the past 10 years, according to an official of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).

“This is quite good. Unfortunately, the number of people practicing open defecation (BABS) has fallen slightly by 1.2 percent per year. Meanwhile, we hope that open defecation would no longer be practiced in Indonesia as of 2024,” Laisa Wahanudin , the Coordinator of the Sanitation Section of the Housing and Settlement Directorate at the National Development Planning Agency/National Development Planning Ministry, stated.


Nearly 6.19 percent of the Indonesian households still practice open defecation, she noted at a webinar held to mark World Toilet Day here on Monday.

She remarked that the people’s access to decent sanitation facilities in 17 provinces was also still below the national average.

The government has set itself a target of increasing the number of households having decent sanitation facilities to reach 90 percent of the total figure in 2024. Nearly 15 percent of the decent sanitation facilities will be safe.


“At the end of 2020, nearly 80 percent of the households had decent sanitation facilities, with 7.64 percent of them being safe,” she pointed out.

To achieve the target, the country requires 505 sewer treatment plants. “The number is not small. We need 1,153 dirt trucks nationwide to carry feces to be processed at sewer treatment plants,” she stated.

The government has projected 1.7 million households to be connected to sewer treatment plants until the end of 2021, she remarked.(ANTARA)

The government is providing financial support that is flexible and competitive to guarantee oil and gas investors in Indonesia get satisfying returns, Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Arifin Tasrif has said.



"In facing the current investment competency that has been getting stricter, the government will support the investors in the form of a financial system that is flexible and competitive, thus resulting in a great return," Tasrif remarked at the IOG 2021 International Convention here on Monday.



He also affirmed that global energy industry players have a great opportunity not only for participating in the country's oil and gas industry, but also for joining the push for energy transition business and development as well as carbon emission reduction.



The stimulus for investment will be continuously evaluated for Indonesia to win the competition and realize the production target, the minister said.




To support this aim, the ESDM Ministry has arranged a working agenda, initiative, and commitment in the sector of energy and mineral resources to bolster the progress of the oil and gas industry and new and renewable energy (EBT) in Indonesia, he informed.



"All input and initiatives from the stakeholders will help develop and benefit all parties," Tasrif explained.



From January to September 2021, the realization of oil and gas investment in Indonesia reached US$9.07 billion, or 56.67 percent of this year's target (US$16.81 billion), he noted.




The investment realization included the upstream sector of oil and gas (US$7.65 billion) and the downstream sector (US$1.42 billion)s.



Meanwhile, Investment Minister and Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairperson Bahlil Lahadalia informed that the government has been proactive in designing policies and regulations for enabling cooperation contract contractors (KKKS) or companies wishing to perform oil and gas well drilling to get closer to Indonesia.



"The formulation that we are currently building includes incentives. Thus, we target (investments in) the upstream oil and gas sector to reach around US$15 billion to US$16 billion," he expounded.(ANTARA)

The Indonesian government will never abandon the upstream oil and gas industry despite a global trend in renewable energy development,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif stated.

“The upstream oil and gas industry will not spontaneously be abandoned because this industry is one of the pillars of the Indonesian economy," the minister remarked at the International Convention on Indonesian Upstream Oil and Gas (IOG) 2021 in Bali on Monday.

As one of the supporters of low carbon emissions, Indonesia remains committed to achieving carbon neutrality in 2060 or earlier and is seeking to intensify the development and use of renewable energy, he noted.

During the energy transition period, several issues must be taken into account, including the reliability of new and renewable energy that necessitates the use of technology to maintain intermittency, he stated.


The low carbon upstream oil and gas industry is expected to play its role during the energy transition, according to the minister.

Tasrif noted that the low carbon upstream oil and gas industry constitutes the vision of the fossil-based industry in energy transition in the future.

The upstream oil and gas industry has a double impact that was felt in the supporting sectors, he noted.

“I observe that the use of national capacity in the upstream oil and gas sector is quite large, in terms of both percentage and value. For instance, the use of national capacity had reached 57 percent, with the procurement value touching an estimated US$2.54 billion,” he stated.

According to the results of a study conducted by the University of Indonesia (UI) on the impact of upstream oil and gas businesses in the 2003-2017 period, the multiplier effect of the upstream oil and gas industry had continued to increase.

The upstream oil and gas industry, which was initially designed to offer maximum contribution to state revenue, had emerged as one of the drivers of supporting activities, such as banking and hotel industries.

Minister Tasrif remarked that any single US dollar investment contributes US$1.6 to supporting industries.


In addition, the upstream oil and gas industry, particularly natural gas, will support energy transition in the country, he stated.

The government is seeking to develop gas as a substitute for coal that produces more carbon and significantly increase natural gas consumption in the future, he remarked.

“Oil and gas fields need to be developed. The existing potentials must be explored to ensure energy supplies in future. Likewise, the potentials of non-conventional oil and gas fields must also be explored in order to meet gas requirements in future,” he stated.(ANTARA)