VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 17 - The State-owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry is preparing to set up joint vaccination centers in several cities, such as Semarang, Surabaya, Bandung, and Banten, as part of efforts to build herd immunity against COVID-19.

"The plan is that next week we will open it (joint vaccination center) in Semarang, (and) at the end of March, we will open it in Surabaya,” spokesperson for the SOE Ministry, Arya Sinulingga, revealed here on Tuesday.

The ministry is also planning to expand its immunization capacity by extending the vaccination venue to the Tennis Indoor Senayan Building in the Gelora Bung Karno Senayan area, Jakarta, from just Istora Senayan previously, he added.

The vaccination capacity at Istora Senayan has reached five thousand to seven thousand people per day, Arya said.

With the addition of the Tennis Indoor Building, Arya said he hopes that COVID-19 vaccination coverage from the BUMN Ministry for the Jakarta area can be increased to 12 thousand to 14 thousand people per day.

The joint vaccination center set up by the ministry at Istora Senayan has been functional for the last nine days.

According to Arya, the public's enthusiasm for the vaccination program has been very high.

On Tuesday (March 16, 2021), 7,500 people were vaccinated at the joint vaccination center, Arya informed.

"The possibility is that the vaccination of the elderly plus public service officers on the 9th day has reached 50 thousand today," he added.

The SOE Ministry is planning to open joint vaccination centers in Bandung and Banten during the second phase of the national vaccination program in April, 2021.

Each center will target to vaccinate up to five thousand people every day, as part of efforts to expedite the COVID-19 vaccination program in Indonesia, Arya said.

So far, the government has vaccinated 4,468,951 Indonesians against the coronavirus. Of the total figure, 1,716,749 people have received their second vaccine dose as well. (Antaranews)

Mar. 17 - President Joko Widodo has predicted that Bali Island's tourism sector would begin to revive around the middle of this year, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister, Sandiaga Uno, said.

However, there are preconditions that Bali must fulfill in order to bring its tourism sector back on track, he added.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has highlighted the importance of managing the COVID-19 infection rate as it is important to Bali's tourism recovery, Uno said here on Tuesday.

He also underlined the importance of a successful vaccination program and public support for the implementation of health protocols, contact tracing, and self-isolation, he added.

"If all vaccine doses are distributed, President Jokowi expects that Bali's tourism sector could start reviving by June or July this year," the minister said.

Uno joined Widodo during his official trip to Bali to observe the mass COVID-19 inoculation program in Puri Agung Ubud Palace and Kuta Beach.

During the visit to Gianyar district and Denpasar city, the head of state was also accompanied by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin and Bali Governor Wayan Koster.

To ensure that the vaccination program is implemented properly, President Widodo spoke with local religious and community leaders as well as frontline public servants, Uno revealed.

The COVID-19 vaccination program is one of the preconditions that needs to be fulfilled before reopening Bali's tourism for travelers, especially foreign tourists, said Uno.

"The preparations for the reopening of Bali's tourism must be made carefully through a strict and disciplined implementation of health protocols," he added.

Any mistake that could trigger a rise in infection rate should be avoided, he said, adding that the President has urged the Balinese people to remain optimistic.

"Hope is on the way," he remarked.

Prior to President Widodo's official visit to Bali, Uno had met with the Bali Governor on February 11, 2021.

During the meeting, Uno had highlighted the importance of vaccinating 1.2 million workers in Bali's tourism sector to boost public trust in the resort island.

"We pray for Bali's immediate recovery. If the tourism sector revives, the economy will get back on track. Speaking of Indonesia's tourism, it will never be separated from Bali," he remarked.

Indonesia has been striving to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since the government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.

The government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program this year to arrest the spread of infections.

According to the Health Ministry, it would take 15 months to vaccinate around 181.5 million people under the national program.

Indonesia's COVID-19 infection rate crossed one million cases on January 26, 2021.

To attain herd immunity and free the nation from the clutches of the pandemic, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has stressed on the need for successfully administering the COVID-19 vaccine to the targeted population.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease has dragged Indonesia into serious public health and economic crises.

Tourism has been among the severely-affected economic sectors in the country, and Bali tourism has especially been badly battered by the pandemic. (Antaranews)

Mar. 17 - Technology and innovation must become the mainstay of the economy if national development has to be achieved, Minister of Research and Technology and head of the National Research and Innovation Agency, Bambang Brodjonegoro, has said.

“Science technology and innovation are no longer a sector, but must become the foundation of national development. In other words, I also want to emphasize that it is time for science and innovation to become mainstream in national economic development," the minister said during a webinar on ‘Enhancing Knowledge & Innovation Ecosystems for a Better Indonesia’ here on Tuesday.

The webinar was organized by the Knowledge Sector Initiative (KSI) and Kompas daily.

Without mainstreaming innovation, Indonesia would find it difficult to escape the middle-income trap, Brodjonegoro said.

"If I can say honestly, we could not even dream of escaping the middle-income trap, considering that our journey so far has focused more on natural resources-based economy," he explained.

By bringing science technology and innovation to the mainstream, Indonesia can automatically create an inclusive innovation-based economy, he said.

One of the countries implementing innovations, especially in technology, is China, he noted. China has become one of the countries with the largest GDPs (gross domestic product) in the world and it has almost reached the position of a high-income country, he remarked.

China has also succeeded in drastically reducing its poverty rate, while at the same time maintaining equal distribution of income between residents, the minister noted.

"This is perhaps a lesson we have to learn where an innovation-based economy is not only growth-oriented, but also rotates to alleviate poverty and maintain or improve equity," he said.

Brodjonegoro stressed the need to formulate regulations supporting innovation, and said there must be no regulation that hampers innovation.

At the webinar, Minister of National Development Planning, Suharso Monoarfa, said that his party is ready to support the implementation of the Knowledge and Innovation Ecosystem Blueprint.

He said the knowledge and innovation ecosystem approach would be integrated into the Government Work Plan (RKP) 2022 and the National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN) for 2026-2045. (Antaranews)

Mar. 16 - A total of 146,738 Indonesians received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, taking the total tally to 4,166,862 since the vaccination campaign was rolled out on January 13, 2021.

Of the 4,166,862 people, at least 1,572,786 have received their second vaccine shot, up 112,564 compared to the previous day, according to data from the COVID-19 Response Task Force.

The central government is aiming to inoculate 181,554,465 people, or 70 percent of the total Indonesian population, to build herd immunity against the coronavirus.

To achieve the target, the government is making efforts to increase the capacity of vaccination services.

The first phase of the vaccination program, which commenced on January 13, 2021, targeted healthcare workers.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the vaccination program began on February 17, 2021 and is seeking to cover 30 million people — 21 million senior citizens and 16 million public service officers, including state officials, government employees, religious figures, traders, teachers, lecturers, athletes, journalists, and tourism operators.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said he is optimistic that about 1.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine would be administered daily to the public in the second semester of 2021 to achieve the vaccination target.

"Nearly 75 percent of the vaccine will be ready starting from July (2021). If 181.5 million doses (of the vaccine) are to be offered over 365 days, then one million people need to be vaccinated everyday, if the quantity of vaccines is the same for each day. Much of the vaccines will be available in the second semester of 2021," he informed. (Antaranews)