State-owned electricity firm PT PLN has recovered electric power to Balaraja Extra High Voltage substation in Banten Province, and furthermore it will be channeled to Suralaya steam-fueled power plant (PLTU) to gradually recover its operation to reach its capacity of 2800 MW of electricity.
In addition, power supply from Gandul Extra High Voltage substations in Depok, West Java Province, will be channeled to Muara Karang gas and steam power plant (PLTGU) to supply electricity to the Indonesian capital city, Jakarta.
Acting President Director of PLN Sripeni Inten Cahyani said here on Sunday that the power supply to Jakarta was expected to recover within three hours.
"We apologize for the inconvenience today, and currently all efforts have been made to recover the Java-Bali power system, especially in the area of West Java, Banten, and Jakarta," Cahyani said.
The company has focused on power supply to PLTGU Muara Karang and PLTGU Priok to recover the system in the capital city.
Previously, PLN has recovered the operation of hydro-generated power plant (PLTA) Saguling and PLTA Cirata which are functioned as power stabilizer, and, at the same time, supply the electricity to PLTU Suralaya through Cibinong, Depok, Gandul, Lengkok, Balaraja and Suralaya extra high voltage substations.
PLTU Suralaya is expected to return to its normal operation within six hours to normalize power system in West Java and Banten.
Blackout that affected thousands of homes and public facilities in West Java, Jakarta, and Banten was caused by several troubles in the extra high voltage 500 kV transmission of Ungaran - Pemalang.
"PLN has taken its best efforts and will have evaluation to prevent recurrence of today's incident," Cahyani said.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) clarified that inmates convicted in corruption cases were barred from being released as part of the measures to curtail the risk of mass coronavirus transmission in overcrowded detention facilities.
"I want to stress here that during our meetings, prisoners convicted for corruption never featured in the discussions. Hence, Government Regulation No. 99 of 2012 has not been revised," the president stated at the Bogor Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on Monday.
Jokowi made the statement at a virtual limited meeting held to discuss the report of the COVID-19 task force, in which the attendees comprised Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, cabinet ministers, and head of the Task Force for Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling Doni Monardo, concurrently head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
"Only prisoners convicted of general crimes can be released," he remarked.
Jokowi cited the example of some other countries that had also adopted the same approach to avoid mass transmission of coronavirus in their prisons. "I saw Iran has released 95 thousand prisoners; Brazil, 34 thousand; and other countries too have adopted the same measure," he pointed out.
He admitted that Indonesia's prisons were overcrowded, thereby raising the likelihood of mass COVID-19 transmission.
"Last week, I had agreed to release inmates over the high risk of further spread of COVID-19 in our overcrowded prisons," he stated.
However, only prisoners meeting certain requirements would be released. "There are some conditions, and they will be monitored," Jokowi added.
The justice and human rights minister passed a new decree that allows the release of 30 thousand prisoners, including juvenile delinquents, to avoid mass coronavirus infections in Indonesia's overcrowded jails. The move is also expected to save some Rp260 billion of the state budget.
The ministerial decree allows the release of only petty criminals and not inmates convicted for more grave crimes, including corruption, illegal logging, terrorism, drug crimes, gross human rights crimes, or transnational organized crimes.
People sentenced to five to 10 years for drug use and who have served at least two-thirds of their sentence will also be released. Drug kingpins sentenced for over 10 years are barred from being released. (ANTARA)
For West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, the consequences of letting people go to their hometowns during a pandemic are real. The governor posted on his Facebook wall on Thursday a news story about a 72-year-old stroke patient from Ciamis who tested positive for COVID-19 after having contact with his child from virus-stricken Jakarta.
“This story is one of many cases of parents in West Java who are COVID-19 positive after being visited by their children or relatives, who are unaware that they are carrying the virus to their hometowns,” he said. “Restrain yourselves and love your parents. Don’t go home now,” he pleaded.
The post is just another sign of growing apprehension among regional leaders over a possible explosion of coronavirus cases in their respective areas as millions of people from Greater Jakarta — largely deprived of their livelihood due to large-scale physical distancing policies — are set to travel to their hometowns for Idul Fitri early.
The central government still lacks a clear strategy on preventing that. Just hours before Ridwan made his plea, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced that he would not officially ban people from traveling for the Idul Fitri holidays, ignoring warnings from public health experts that the consequences of failing to prevent people from leaving Jakarta, the epicenter of the outbreak in the country, could be dire.
Annually, some 20 million people from Greater Jakarta travel to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri in a tradition called mudik (exodus). The tradition, public health experts say, could lead to massive COVID-19 contagion on Java, an island of 141 million people, where many regions have far worse healthcare systems than Jakarta.
“[The President] underlines that there is no official ban on people going on the mudik during the 2020 Idul Fitri holiday period. The travelers, however, must self-isolate for 14 days, will be given ‘people under observation’ [ODP] status, as per the World Health Organization health protocol, and will be monitored by the respective local administration,” presidential spokesman Fadjroel Rachman said in a statement on Thursday, shortly after a speech by the President on the matter.
State Secretary Pratikno, however, later clarified Fadjroel’s statement, saying that the President actually called on people to stay in the capital, though he did not categorically state that the President would ban the mudik.
A revised statement from Fadjroel was not redacted to retract the original one.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) highlighted the importance of stringently monitoring the entry of Indonesian migrant workers, particularly from Malaysia, and ship crew members, who had returned to their hometowns, to prevent imported cases of COVID-19.
During a teleconference meeting to discuss the movement of Indonesian migrant workers and foreigners held at the Bogor Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday, Jokowi emphasized the significance of taking precautionary measures to handle imported COVID-19 cases involving migrant workers.
"The inflows of migrant workers from various countries, especially from Malaysia, must be handled carefully, as it involves hundreds of thousands or millions of Indonesian migrant workers keen to return home," the president stated.
Jokowi confirmed receiving a report that in the past few days, over three thousand workers from Malaysia had returned to their hometowns on a daily basis.
Jokowi had also instructed to conduct strict monitoring of ship crew members, who had recently returned to the country.
"The number of ship crew is forecast to reach 10 to 11 thousand. We would need to conduct their health screening," the president stated.
The head of state has highlighted the importance of imposing stricter rules on the inflows of foreigners and Indonesians returning from overseas.
Some countries, including China, South Korea, and Singapore, faced the new challenge of imported COVID-19 cases.
The Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI) recorded that 32,192 migrant workers had returned from countries affected by COVID-19.
Of the 32,192 migrant workers, some 11,566 had returned home from Malaysia; 9,075 from Hong Kong; 5,487 from Taiwan; 2,799 from Singapore; 889 from Brunei Darussalam; 888 from Saudi Arabia; 756 from South Korea; 641 from Italy; 46 from Japan; and 45 from the United States. (ANTARA)
Indonesia’s House of Representatives opened its third session for 2019-2020 with a plenary meeting here on Monday amid a work-from-home guidance issued by the central and local authorities for the past two weeks.
The meeting was attended by 45 legislators, while 279 others participated in the session via video conferencing.
The legislature is located in Senayan, which is the epicenter of the current COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia. The House of Representatives had earlier extended its recess from March 22 to March 29 before finally deciding to open the third session.
"By saying Bismillahhhirahmanirrahim (in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful), I, as the Speaker of Indonesia's House of Representatives, announce to all Indonesian people that the third meeting session for the 2019 to 2020 period is officially starting today, March 30, 2020," House Speaker Puan Maharani said in her speech in Jakarta, Monday.
“Forty-five members of the House of Representatives are here in person, while 279 others are in their homes, attending the plenary meeting virtually," Maharani stated.
Though they were in the same room, the legislative members practiced social distancing by sitting far apart from each other.
The Jakarta Provincial Government had recorded a total of 720 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, with 48 people recovering from the viral infection and 76 succumbing to it.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Government on March 30 reported 1,414 confirmed cases, and said 75 patients had recovered from COVID-19. The death toll was recorded at 122. (ANTARA)
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo ordered Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung to draft a presidential instruction that obliges regional administrations to set a guideline for handling disaster emergency or contingency plan, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Doni Monardo.
According to Doni, the President made the request during a meeting on the flood control on Friday, January 3, 2020.
"The Presidential Instruction [Inpres] will require governors, regents, mayors to arrange contingency plan," said Doni at the Presidential Office on Friday, January 3, 2020.
Doni explained that natural disasters in the country were relatively the same. During the dry season, several regions will suffer drought or forest fires, while other regions in the rainy season will experience floods or landslides.
Further, Donni explained that through the Inpres, regional heads can prepare strategies based on the potential disaster in their respective areas. So they will know what steps to take when disaster strikes.
"With the Inpres, all stakeholders can also remind regional administration to take preparation and mitigation steps," Doni remarked. (TEMPO.CO)
The number of COVID-19 positive cases in Indonesia has continued to increase and reached 1,285 as of Sunday, with 64 patients recovered and 114 died of the disease, the government spokesman for COVID019 handling Achmad Yurianto said.
"There are 130 new cases, bringing the total case count to 1,285. The increased number of confirmed cases illustrates transmission has continued among the public," Yurianto said in Jakarta on Sunday.
The Task Force for Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling recorded five cases in Aceh, 10 cases in Bali, Banten 106, Yogyakarta 22, Jakarta 675, West Java 149, Central Java 63, East Java 90, West Kalimantan 8, East Kalimantan 17, Central Kalimantan 7, North Kalimantan 2, South Kalimantan and Jambi one case respectively.
Other cases recorded in Riau Islands (5), West Nusa Tenggara (2), South Sumatera (2), West Sumatera (5), North Sulawesi (2), North Sumatera (8), Southeast Sulawesi (3), South Sulawesi (47), Central Sulawesi (2), Lampung (4), Riau (2), North Maluku and Maluku one case respectively, West Papua (2) and Papua (9). (ANTARA)
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Thursday urged G20 leaders to fight the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak and check the global economic slowdown triggered by the pandemic.
"First, we must strengthen cooperation against COVID-19," President Jokowi said while participating in the G20 Extraordinary Sherpa Meeting from the Bogor Palace, West Java via video conference on Thursday evening.
According to Jokowi, the world's 20 major economies must encourage global solidarity in handling COVID-19. He said G20 leaders need to initiate efforts so that the pandemic does not interfere with partnerships and cooperation between countries that have been built over years.
"For this reason, the G20 must actively lead efforts to find the anti-virus and medication for COVID-19, of course, hand in hand with the WHO," he said.
Jokowi also encouraged G20 countries to work together and synergize economic policies and instruments to fight the slowdown in the world economy due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"We must prevent a global economic recession through coordinated fiscal and monetary policies, and expand and strengthen social safety nets, especially for MSMEs," Jokowi said.
The President also encouraged the G20 to maintain financial sector stability, including maintaining liquidity and providing relief to the business community, which has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"With the high global financial turmoil, foreign exchange support is very important. I also support widening of the global and regional financial safety net, including through (mechanisms such as) the SDR swap line and currency swap facility, such as the Chiang Mai Initiative," the President stated.
He also asserted the importance of G20 member countries preventing production disruption, and maintaining smooth distribution of goods, “mainly staple food and health goods”.
Jokowi ended his statement by emphasizing the need for G20 countries to build global confidence that the world would win the war against COVID-19 and overcome the crisis caused by the pandemic. (ANTARA)
Jakarta - President Joko Widodo has asked the Minister of Health to implement the necessary norms, standards, and procedures for providing health insurance coverage to patients diagnosed with COVID-19, or the coronavirus disease.
The President made the statement during a limited meeting on healthcare and social security agency funding, held via video conference on Tuesday from the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.
"To the Minister of Health: implement the norms, standards, and procedures necessary for providing health insurance services to COVID-19 (patients),” he said.
The President said the norms must cover information on health facilities, service costs, and data collection from health facilities providing services to COVID-19 patients.
Jokowi said he would like to remind all parties involved that it is the nation’s duty to ensure the National Health Insurance system is functioning properly and sustainably for the people of Indonesia in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. (ANTARA)