VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 4 - The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) is encouraging Indonesian Muslims to use the services of Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), as part of efforts to develop sharia banking in the country.

"The number of sharia bank customers is still small. (Sharia compliant banks) currently hold an 8.5-percent share of the market, while the rest (of the people) have opted for conventional banks," chief of the MUI Office in Central Java, Ahmad Darodji, said while receiving a BSI delegation here on Wednesday.

The BSI delegation was led by Imam Hidayat Sunarto, BSI regional CEO for Semarang, Central Java.

The BSI should be encouraged to increase its market share since Muslims make up the majority group in the country, Darodji said.

He expressed the hope that BSI would be able to maximize financial literacy, disseminate products and educate the public about sharia compliant banking.

"In addition, it (BSI) needs to pick the ball and provide easy services," he stated.

He said the number of sharia bank customers in Central Java is still small since Muslims in the province still face difficulties in finding sharia bank ATMs, among other reasons.

Of course, this weakness has had an impact on the market share, he asserted. In order to increase the market share, BSI needs to provide easy services to sharia bank customers, he added.

“The public needs the BSI touch,” he remarked.

The government launched BSI after merging the sharia compliant subsidiaries of three state-owned lenders Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) early in February this year. (Antaranews)

Mar. 4 - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, launched a national mangrove rehabilitation program with the plantation of mangrove trees in Tanjung Pasir village, Tangerang district, Banten province on Wednesday.

Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, Minister of Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, Abdul Halim Iskandar, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency chief Hartono, and Banten Governor Wahidin Halim attended the event.

"The symbolic planting of mangrove trees shows that starting today, we must act swiftly to achieve the target of rehabilitating 150 thousand hectares of mangrove forests this year,” Pandjaitan said in a written statement released on Wednesday.

Mangrove forests currently cover an area of 3.31 million hectares in the country and account for 20 percent of the world's mangrove forests. Unfortunately, 600 thousand hectares of the 3.31 million hectares of Indonesian mangrove forests are in a critical condition, the minister noted.

This has prompted the government to set itself the target of rehabilitating 150 thousand hectares of mangrove forests per year in the next four years, he said.

The program is claimed to be the largest in the world.

Pandjaitan said mangroves provide many benefits to the Indonesian community, such as protecting the country from the impact of climate change. Mangroves can also act as barriers to large waves caused by strong winds and tsunamis, he added.

Mangroves also have the potential to store carbon in large quantities and can be traded, he pointed out.

Indonesia’s forests, including mangrove forests, can store carbon, and account for nearly 75 percent of the carbon stored globally on average, and this can be traded to raise state revenues if the mangroves are well-managed, he explained.

In addition, mangrove forests can be developed as tourism destinations and mangrove products can be processed for consumption or sale, thereby adding to the people's income, he added. (Antaranews)

Mar. 4 - With 169,489 Indonesians receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, the number of recipients has reached 2,104,967 so far, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported.

Based on the task force's data, received in Jakarta on Wednesday, of the 2,104,967 vaccine recipients, around 1,076,409 have received their second dose. A total of 29,121 people received their second shots on Wednesday.

The government is currently targeting to vaccinate 40,349,051 people against COVID-19.

The first phase of vaccination, which began on January 13, 2021, targeted health workers.

The second phase of vaccination, launched on February 17, 2021, is targeting 38 million people — 21 million elderly citizens and 16 million public servants, including state officials, government officials, religious leaders, market traders, teachers and lecturers, athletes, journalists, and those working in the tourism sector.

Earlier, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin had said that around 45 million Indonesians would get the COVID-19 vaccine by June 2021. To achieve the target, the government needs as many as 90 million vaccine doses.

Meanwhile, to achieve herd immunity, the Indonesian government is targeting to inoculate 70 percent of Indonesia's population or 181.5 million people.

Strengthening the immunity of individuals and groups is important to provide protection from infection and bring down the transmission rate of coronavirus, Sadikin said. (Antaranews)

Mar. 4 - With 9,053 Indonesians recovering from the coronavirus infection in a single day, the country's total COVID-19 recovery count reached 1,169,916 as of Wednesday, according to the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling.

Meanwhile, Indonesia added 6,808 fresh cases on Wednesday, pushing the total case tally to 1,353,834. With 203 deaths reported in 24 hours, the total death toll touched 36,721.

According to the task force, the number of COVID-19 active cases, or patients under treatment, reached 147,197.

Jakarta recorded the highest number of recoveries at 2,445, followed by West Java (2.233), Central Java (1,324), East Java (514), and East Kalimantan (459).

Jakarta also led in the cumulative COVID-19 case count at 343,807, followed by West Java (216,423), Central Java (155,217), East Java (130,642), and South Sulawesi (56,780).

Jakarta also recorded the highest tally of recoveries at 330,949, followed by West Java (178,213), East Java (118,207), Central Java (108,110), and South Sulawesi (52,364). (Antaranews)