VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The European Union (EU) has provided 500,000 euros, or about Rp8.5 billion, in emergency aid for victims of the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck West Sulawesi province on January 15, 2021.

“The aid is a form of European Union’s solidarity to Indonesia over the large number of quake victims. Our close relations encourage us to lend a hand," European Union Ambassador to Indonesia, Vincent Pike, said in a written statement released on Thursday.

About 300,000 euros of the aid has been channeled through the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), and 200,000 euros through the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF).

The aid will be disbursed to around 24 thousand people in several quake-hit areas in the districts of Majene, Mauju, and Polewali Mandar to meet their needs.

The distribution of aid will involve the humanitarian institutions of Masehi Advent Hari Ketujuh Church, Adventis Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The aid will be dispensed in the form of cash, emergency home utensils, health equipment, clean water supplies, and other emergency needs.

The European Union will also provide training to local people about ways to rebuild earthquake-resistant homes. Special attention will also be given to the most vulnerable and marginalized groups including female-headed households and people with disabilities.

A 6.2-magnitude quake struck several areas in West Sulawesi early on January 15, 2021. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the quake was centered six kilometers northeast of Majene.

As of Thursday morning, 91 people have lost their lives and 9,910 others have taken refuge, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

The West Sulawesi provincial government has declared a 14-day emergency response status for the earthquake until January 28, 2021. (antaranews)

Deputy Minister of State Enterprises, Pahala Mansury, has said the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) could draw global funding for the development of national infrastructure.

"SWF (is meant) for optimization of state enterprises assets, to ensure that the firms not only use investment resources to build infrastructure, but also draw foreign funds while continuing to run priority programs," Mansury said at the 11th Kompas 100 CEO Forum here on Thursday.

According to Mansury, SWF is among the government's innovations to grab investment opportunities for economic recovery amid the pandemic.

"In future, with the COVID-19 pandemic, for business transformation we need to make innovation of business capital. In mineral and coal sector for instance, we are not producing the commodity for export, but also improving its downstream industry. Hence, it could boost other sectors in Indonesia," he said.

Indonesia could set up a supply chain for electric vehicle batteries, he pointed out.

"Indonesia is rich in nickel. How this wealth could be exported in the form of battery instead of nickel, from upstream to downstream and storage system (needs to be explored)," he stated.

He said he is optimistic that the SWF would help draw more foreign funds to the country.

"Investment (will help) to attract another investment and run the national strategic programs (PSN). We have a presidential decree on PSN, but we hope that we can also invite investment in the sectors," Mansury remarked. (antaranews)

Indonesia hopes that Myanmar can immediately create a conducive situation in Rakhine State to support the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingyas from refugee camps in Bangladesh, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

"So that voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation can be carried out immediately," Marsudi said at a media briefing after a virtual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers (AMM Retreat) on Thursday.

At the meeting, Indonesia also requested that the work preparation for a comprehensive needs assessment (CNA), which is a further step from the preliminary needs assessment (PNA), be started to prepare for repatriation.

Based on a report by the Secretary General of ASEAN, the implementation of the CNA is ongoing with two of the four priority projects having entered the implementation stage, while the other two projects are still under discussion.

Additional project proposals covering various fields, including road infrastructure, health, education and livestock, are also being followed up on by a support team from the ASEAN Secretariat and the Myanmar government.

Apart from preparing livelihood opportunities for the Rohingya once they return to Myanmar, the aim of the CNA is to assess the readiness of reception and transit centers, including potential relocation sites that have been identified by the local government.

"Indonesia emphasizes the importance of working harder so that implementation (PNA) can be more intensified," Marsudi said.

In a press statement released after the meeting by Brunei Darussalam, which is acting as chair of ASEAN this year, the ASEAN foreign ministers have reaffirmed their support for Myanmar's efforts to create peace and stability, promote harmony and reconciliation among various communities, and promote inclusive and sustainable development in Rakhine State.

"We also reaffirm ASEAN's readiness to play a more visible and enhanced role to support Myanmar in these efforts and, therefore, reiterate our appreciation to the Secretary General of ASEAN for his efforts in leading the implementation of recommendations from the PNA," according to the foreign ministers' statement on the AMM Retreat.

More than 730,000 ethnic Rohingya people fled Myanmar in 2017 due to military persecution in Rakhine, the state where they lived.

According to the United Nations (UN), the military operation was motivated by the intent of genocide, or mass killing.

Myanmar denied the accusation and said that its forces only targeted Rohingya extremist groups that attacked police headquarters.

Amid tough repatriation arrangements between Myanmar and Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingyas face the threat of being relocated to the remote and flood-prone island of Bhasan Char, Bay of Bengal.

Muslim Rohingya refugees have refused to return to Rakhine for fear of persecution and also since their citizenship status is not recognized under Myanmar law.

Some of them have become victims of human-trafficking while trying to seek a better living in neighboring countries, including Indonesia, by entering them illegally via the sea route. (antaranews)

The Home Affairs Ministry confirmed that Indonesia's population, as of December 2020, had totaled 271,349,889 people.

The latest population data is obtained on the basis of synchronization of the results of the 2020 Population Census and population administration data from the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"The total population of Indonesia in the Semester II of 2020 that was integrated with the population census data reached 271,349,889 people," Secretary General of the Ministry of Home Affairs Muhammad Hudori noted in a joint press release of the 2020 Population Census Data and 2020 Population Administration Data here on Thursday.

Of the total population, 134,229,988 are females and 137,119,901 are males, while there are 86,437,053 family cards (KK).

Based on the distribution of population, Java Island has the largest populace, at 55.94 percent; followed by Sumatra, at 21.73 percent; Sulawesi, 7.43 percent; Kalimantan, 6.13 percent; Bali and Nusa Tenggara, 5.57 percent; Papua, 2.02 percent; and Maluku, 1.17 percent.

West Java is the province, with the largest population, at 47.1 million, followed by 41.04 million in East Java, 37.10 million in Central Java, 15.14 million in North Sumatra, and 11.64 million in Banten.

Five provinces with the lowest population are North Kalimantan, with 0.68 million people; 1.15 million in West Papua, 1.19 million in Gorontalo, 1.30 million in North Maluku, and 1.43 million in the Bangka Belitung Islands.

Meanwhile, based on the results of the 2020 Population Census (SP2020) conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) until September 2020, Indonesia’s total population was recorded at 270,203,911 people.

BPS Head Suhariyanto explained that the count of the Indonesian population from SP2020 was obtained through a long-drawn process from the results of the Online Population Census and field data collection that was then synchronized with the Adminduk data. Thus, data from the 2020 Population Census and Adminduk data are currently integrated.

Indonesia recorded a population growth rate of 0.14 percent during the period from September to December 2020.

The results of SP2020 as compared to SP2010 showed an increase in the population of 32.56 million people, or an average of 3.26 million every year.

"As compared to the earlier population censuses, we can see that the number of Indonesians continues to increase from time to time," he stated. (Antaranews)