VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jan. 26, 2021 - Moderna said on Monday it believes its COVID-19 vaccine protects against new variants found in Britain and South Africa, although it will test a new booster shot aimed at the South Africa variant after concluding that the antibody response could be diminished.

The company said in a press release that it found no reduction in the antibody response against the variant found in Britain. Against the variant found in South Africa, it found a reduced response but still believed its two-dose regimen would provide protection.

Moderna shares rose nearly 10%, or $12.40, to $143.85 in morning trading.

The emergence of new variants in Britain, South Africa and Brazil has created some concern that mutations in the virus may make vaccines less effective.

Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said in a research note that it was encouraging that the Moderna testing showed that even against the variant found in South Africa, the antibody response produced by its mRNA-1273 vaccine was still “above the levels” that provide protection.

Yee also said the speed with which Moderna was able to design a new booster shot candidate was proof of the flexibility of the new mRNA technology upon which it is based.

Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel said he was only mildly concerned that the vaccine would not be protective against the variants.

“It is a little worrisome that you see a lesser neutralizing antibody response, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are unprotected,” he said, noting that even these lower levels may still be enough to protect against serious infections.

“The goal of this vaccine is to keep you out of the hospital and to keep you out of the morgue. If you get a symptomatic infection or mildly symptomatic infection that is not a burden to the healthcare system,” Offit said.

Moderna said the new booster shot could be made available in future if evidence were to emerge that protection declined.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE have also said tests showed their vaccine is effective against the variant found in Britain, but have not yet disclosed results against the South Africa variant.

That variant first found in Britain has caused a massive surge in cases there and has also been found in more than a dozen U.S. states. U.S. public health officials expect it to be the dominant strain in the United States within 6 weeks.

Moderna said it plans to publish data from its tests against the variants on the website bioRxiv. (Reuters)

Jan. 26, 2021 - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has tasked the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) with executing extraordinary programs to lower Indonesia's stunting rate, from 27.9 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2024.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Muhadjir Effendy stated in Jakarta on Monday that Indonesia should work hard to attain its national prevalence level of 14 percent in 2024.

To this end, Indonesia should be able to reduce annually at least 2.7 percent of the number of children, with stunted growth, he remarked, adding that President Jokowi had formulated several requisite measures to achieve the targeted stunting rate.

One of the necessary measures to be adopted by the BKKBN is optimizing the handling of Indonesian children, with stunted growth, amid the fact that the funds for responding to the problem of stunting existed in 20 ministries and government agencies.

President Jokowi also instructed regional administrations to map out stunting cases in their respective areas since the central and regional governments use this mapping stage to prepare detailed and effective response measures, he revealed.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), children, with stunted growth, are those whose "height-for-age is more than two standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median."

ANTARA noted that during the course of the previous years, Indonesia had striven to reduce cases of stunting in different parts of the country since this endeavor is closely related to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sigi District in Central Sulawesi, for instance, is one of the regions that is striving to deal with children with stunted growth.

In 2019, the district had 1,199 cases of stunting in children up to 23 months of age and 3,580 stunting cases in children up to 59 months of age.

In dealing with cases of stunting, the Sigi district government has focused its preventive and mitigation efforts to eradicate childhood stunting in the 10 villages of Lemosiranindi, Pelempea, Morui, Marena, Siwongi, Rantewulu, Waturalele, Langko, Sibalaya Selatan, and Sibalaya Barat.

To handle cases of stunting, the district government has encouraged community members to participate and work towards improving the quality of local food crops.

President Jokowi has also vowed to focus on improving the quality of Indonesia's human resources amid fierce competition among nations in this digital era.

The head of state believes that the power of improved quality of human resources will enable Indonesia to actualize its vision to become a developed nation.

However, President Jokowi's noble goal is challenging to achieve since Indonesia is still struggling to save children, with stunted growth, coupled with the quality of its human resources that varies. (Antaranews)

Jan. 26, 2021 - President Joko Widodo has welcomed the inauguration of the Sharia Economic Brand to increase public awareness of sharia economic activities.

"I welcome the inauguration of the Sharia Economic Brand. This is very important to increase public awareness as support for sharia economic activities," the President remarked at the launch of the National Movement for Cash Waqf and Inauguration of the Sharia Economic Brand at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

The President, who is also chairman of the National Committee on Sharia Economics and Finance (KNEKS), said the Sharia Economic Brand will join forces to increase the added value of the sharia economy in Indonesia.

The President said that the sharia economy still has enormous potential to be developed.

Sharia economic development is not only being carried out by countries with a majority Muslim population, but also other countries such as Japan, Thailand, Britain, and the United States, he added.

"We must seize this opportunity by pushing for the acceleration, accelerating the development of the national Islamic economy and finance. We must prepare ourselves as the center of the global Islamic economy," the President explained.

Meanwhile, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, as chairman of the KNEKS, said the Sharia Economic Brand is a logo or symbol belonging to the state, which will be used to unite togetherness in all activities related to sharia economics and finance in Indonesia.

The Sharia Economic Brand is also aimed at increasing literacy, education, and massive socialization of Islamic economics and finance with the aim of increasing public knowledge, skills, and confidence in Islamic economics and finance.

"I hope that the Islamic Economic Brand can be used by all ministries, institutions, and stakeholders engaged in sharia economics and finance, in every activity and product they have," the Vice President remarked.

Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, had earlier said the total cash waqf collected and deposited in banks as of December 20, 2020 stood at Rp328 billion.

"Meanwhile, the project based waqf has reached Rp597 billion," she said at the launch of the Sharia Economic Brand in Jakarta on Monday.

Sri Mulyani emphasized that the government is very committed to promoting the integrated Islamic economic and financial sector.

This is being done in order to accelerate, expand, and develop the economy and finance to support national economic resilience, she added.

The minister said in the sharia social fund sector, which includes zakat (alms), sodaqoh (simple alms), and infaq (disbursements), waqf is a part that has a very strategic potential to be developed.

The Islamic social fund sector has enormous potential in supporting efforts to overcome problems of development, poverty, and improving the welfare of the community, Sri Mulyani remarked. (Antaranews)

Jan. 26, 2021 - Indonesian presidential chief of staff office (KSP) deputy urged the National Police to act sternly against Ambroncius Nababan for his racist remark on his social media account, allegedly targeting a noted Papuan human rights defender.

The presidential chief of staff office is scrutinizing the racist remark posted by Nababan on his social media account that fueled massive protests from the public, especially Papuan communities, Jaleswari Pramodhawardani stated here on Monday.

"A discriminative response is not allowed for every different opinion on a specific issue since it violates notions stipulated in Indonesia's Anti-discrimination Law No. 40 of 2008," Pramodhawardani noted in a statement.

Nababan's racist remark on his social media account does not align with the principles of unity in diversity that respect differences based on races, tribes, religions, genders, disability, pluralism, and multiculturalism, she pointed out.

Hence, racist remarks over all forms of discriminative acts would have no place in Indonesia, Pramodhawardani emphasized, adding that the Indonesian State Constitution also guaranteed the nation's unity in diversity.

The notion of unity in diversity was then elaborated in various legal instruments, including the country's Human Rights Law No.39 of 1999, she noted.

"Based on this, the National Police must not hesitate to handle this case immediately and harshly," she affirmed.

Pramodhawardani appealed to all societal elements, at large, to not play with fire by abusing the issues of ethnicity, religion, and race (SARA) since the government will fiercely crackdown on those threatening the unity of the nation and state.

Meanwhile, Nababan disclosed to CNN Indonesia the reason behind him posting the photos of Natalius Pigai, a former commissioner of Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), and a gorilla on his Facebook account.

Nababan, general chairman of the Pro-Jokowi-Amin Volunteers (Projamin), was quoted by CNN Indonesia on Monday as saying that he did so to respond to Pigai's statement containing his rejection of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine.

As a volunteer of incumbent President Joko Widodo, Nababan voiced his discontent over Pigai's statement, according to CNN Indonesia.

In response to Nababan's racist remark, Pigai wrote a statement directed to Lloyd Austin, a retired army general, that US President Joe Biden had appointed him to be his defense secretary, on his Twitter account @NataliusPigai2.

Austin is the first African American to hold the top Pentagon position in US history.

"I am proud of you, mr@LloydAustin, black African American most powerful gentleman in the world. We have been on fire against Indonesian Collective (state) Racism against black African Melanesians (Papuan) for more than 50 years. Torture, killing & slow-motion genocide. We need attention," Pigai wrote.

In August and September 2019, Papua and West Papua had come under the radar of both Indonesian and foreign media after a spate of violence broke out in several parts of these two Indonesian provinces.

On August 28, 2019, violence erupted in Deiyai District, some 500 kilometers away from Jayapura, resulting in the deaths of an army soldier and two civilians.

The indigenous Papuan residents of Jayapura again held protests on August 29, 2019, as they vented their ire over the alleged racist behavior against their Papuan compatriots in Surabaya, but their rally then took a violent turn.

On September 23, 2019, a deadly riot had erupted in Wamena, the capital city of Jayawijaya District, Papua Province, killing 33 civilians, including a senior medical doctor, who had served the native Papuans for 15 years. (Antaranews)