VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Feb. 18 - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) departed for a working visit to South Kalimantan Province on Thursday morning to inaugurate Tapin Dam.

The president and his limited entourage departed from the Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase in East Jakarta aboard presidential aircraft Indonesia-1 at 7:30 Western Indonesia Time (WIB).

Shortly after arriving at the Syamsudin Noor Airbase in Banjarbaru City, South Kalimantan, the head of state is scheduled to continue his trip to Tapin District by an Indonesian Air Force Super Puma helicopter.

The dam is located in Pipitak Jaya Village in Tapin District, South Kalimantan.

During the visit, the president is also scheduled to inspect the resettlement of people affected by the construction of the dam.

The president's entourage included Public Works and People's Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Chief of the Presidential Staff Moeldoko, Chief of the Presidential Secretariat Heru Budi Hartono, and President's Military Secretary Rear Marshal Tonny Harjono.

Other members of the entourage comprised Presidential Security Detail (Paspampres) Commander Major General Agus Subiyanto and Presidential Secretariat's Deputy for Protocol, Press, and Media Affairs Bey Machmudin.  (Antaranews)

Feb. 18 - Malaysia deported another 160 Indonesian migrant workers through the Entikong integrated border checkpoint in Sanggau District, West Kalimantan Province, on Thursday.

"Today, the Malaysian government deported 160 Indonesian migrant workers comprising 77 from West Kalimantan and 83 from outside West Kalimantan," Chief of the Protection and Empowerment Section of the Migrant Workers Placement, Protection, and Monitoring Agency (BP3TKI) in Pontianak, Andi Kusuma Irfandi, stated on Tuesday.

The migrant workers were deported to Indonesia over their involvement in various cases, he remarked.

"The workers were deported because they had problems. Some of them had immigration problems because they have no permits or passports, while others violated the law through acts including consuming drugs, getting involved in brawls, and violating the Recovery Movement Control Order (PKPP) or commonly known as large-scale social restriction (PSBB) in handling the COVID-19 pandemic," he noted.

Irfandi remarked that 87 of the 160 Indonesian migrant workers had no passports, 56 had no permits, two were involved in online gambling, six consumed drugs, two violated Recovery Movement Control Order, three lived with their parents, and four were involved in other crimes.

The migrant workers comprised 131 men and 29 women, he stated.

"The migrant workers hailing from outside West Kalimantan will soon be returned to their hometowns with adherence to the health protocols," he remarked. (Antaranews)

Feb. 18 - A survey conducted by Indometer found that 70.1 percent of the public was satisfied with President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) performance amid the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn.

"The very high level of satisfaction shows that the public still trusts Jokowi," Indometer Executive Director Leonard S. B. noted during a press release here on Thursday.

According to Leonard, the public believes that the Jokowi administration's policies in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic impact are still worthy of support.

"Jokowi's decision to not apply a lockdown provides an opportunity for economic actors to keep striving despite the imposition of several restrictions," he noted.

The government is currently imposing micro-scale restrictions on community activities (PPKM).

On the other hand, public dissatisfaction, which reached 25.2 percent, was influenced by the high number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the economic downturn.

"For instance, the low number of testing and tracing as well as the contraction of the 2020 economic growth throughout 2020," he stated.

Meanwhile, 4.7 percent of those surveyed said they did not know or did not answer.

The public continues to watch how the vaccination can be extended further and the economic recovery that currently relies on the policies of the Job Creation Law and the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), Leonard noted.

The Indometer survey, conducted telephonically on February 1-10, 2021, involved 1,200 respondents from all provinces randomly selected from the earlier survey since 2019. The margin of error is 2.98 percent at the 95-percent confidence level. (Antaranews)

Feb. 18 -  The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment expects state revenues from Indonesian sailors employed abroad to reach Rp151.2 trillion a year.

The figure is based on the average monthly salaries of 1.2 million Indonesian sailors serving on foreign ships and earning US$750 (Rp10.5 million) for a period of 12 months, deputy for maritime and energy sovereignty coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Basilio D. Araujo, said during an online press conference here on Wednesday.

"In general, our sailors work for commercial ships where they earn good salaries of above US$500, US$3,000, up to US$5,000. If the average monthly salary of sailors working for commercial ships and fishing ships is US$750, then the contributions from our 1.2 million maritime workers or sailors for 12 months will be an estimated Rp150 trillion," he said.

Indonesia is a member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council. It is the world's third largest supplier of sailors next to China and the Philippines.

In addition, Indonesia is the world's fourth largest supplier of officers. In terms of crew (other than skippers and officers), Indonesia is ranked third in the world.

In the fishery sector, Indonesia is listed as the world's largest supplier of fishery workers, including those employed at high seas and those employed in other countries as resident sailors, Araujo said.

"With the potential, I think our country has no reason not to pay special attention to our sailors working abroad," he remarked.  (Antaranews)