VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto remained sanguine about Indonesia clocking a five-percent economic growth despite large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) being imposed in Jakarta and 23 districts and cities in six provinces on Jan 11-25.

"We are optimistic, and the economic growth is projected at five percent by the end of the year," Hartarto stated at a virtual press conference here on Thursday.

Among the indicators of the country's economic growth is the Jakarta Composite Index (IHSG) that rose to 6,128 points after declining during Wednesday's opening session.

Indonesia’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) increased and reach 51.3 points, while the price of some commodities, such as crude palm oil, coal, and nickel, braced the highest level.

The government has planned to start COVID-19 vaccination in mid-January of 2021 to regain public confidence amid the pandemic.

"The government has first focused on the issues of public health, and second, on the social and economy aspects," he stated.

The country's economic growth contracted 5.32 percent in the second quarter of 2020 and 3.49 percent in the third quarter.

Growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 was projected to improve further and contracted 2.2 percent to 0.9 percent.

The improvement was partly owing to the government's fiscal and monetary stimulus, including through the 2020 state budget expenditure.

The 2020 state budget expenditure had reached Rp2,589.9 trillion, or up 12.2 percent, from the previous year's expenditure at Rp2,309.3 trillion, with a budget deficit of 6.09 percent, or lower than the targeted 6.34 percent outlined in Presidential Decree No. 72 of 2020. (antaranews)

Indonesian pharmaceutical company Bio Farma has been authorized by the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) to produce 100 million doses of China-based Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine.

"We have received a BPOM certification for 100 million doses, thus the production process is now aligned with BPOM standards, which is also internationally standardized," Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, said during his visit to Bio Farma in Bandung on Thursday.

Thus, Thohir added, Bio Farma is awaiting bulk vaccines to arrive in Indonesia, and the Chinese company is expected to make its shipment soon.

"Once the bulk [shipment] arrives, the vaccine would be produced by Bio Farma, and people shall not feel worried as it is standardized," Thohir remarked.

Bio Farma is now capable of producing up to 250 million doses of the vaccine, but for the production for the other 150 million doses, it will have to obtain another BPOM's certification, he said.

Thohir also emphasized that Bio Farma is currently still managing coordination with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) on the vaccine's halal status.

"The halal issue would be on MUI; hence, we will not claim whether this vaccine is halal or not. [...] and we are talking to MUI regarding this matter," he said. (antaranews)

Deputy chair of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Committee (KPC-PEN), Erick Thohir, has appealed to all regional leaders to store vaccines at 2-8 degrees Celsius to prevent their degradation.

"I appeal to all regional leaders to store the vaccine vials at 2-8 degrees Celsius. Please, do not fail to store the vaccine at the required temperature," Thohir, who is concurrently the state-owned enterprises minister, said.

Failing to keep the vaccine vials at the desired temperature would degrade their quality, he told local journalists in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, on Thursday.

"Alhamdulillah (Thank God), I have just been given an opportunity to check Bio Farma's 10 cold-storage units, which are storing the vaccine at 2-8 degrees Celsius," he remarked.

Each of the state-owned pharmaceutical holding company's cold-storage units can store eight million vials of the COVID-19 vaccine, he said, adding that Bio Farma also has four cold-storages that can store other vaccines at minus 20 degrees C.

To support the government's national COVID-19 vaccination program, Bio Farma has been distributing three million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine to 34 provinces across Indonesia.

Bali province, for instance, has so far received 51 thousand vaccine vials, following the arrival of another 20 thousand vials of China's Sinovac vaccine on Thursday.

Bali received the first batch of 31 thousand vaccine vials on Tuesday, head of the Bali provincial government's health office, Ketut Suarjaya, said.

The vaccine packages are being stored in the Bali health office's cold-storage rooms while officials await an appropriate time to distribute them to all districts and cities in Bali, Suarjaya said.

Bali will prioritize 30,320 frontline medical workers as well as the governor, provincial police chief and military commander, district heads, and city mayors in the vaccine program, he informed.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry revealed earlier that it would take 15 months to vaccinate about 181.5 million people under the national COVID-19 vaccination program.

"We need 15 months to accomplish it. The time-frame for conducting the vaccination is counted from January, 2021 to March, 2022," the Health Ministry's spokesperson for the vaccination program, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated on Sunday.

During the period, the government is targeting to inoculate about 181.5 million people, including 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces, she informed.

The first phase of the government's immunization program will be divided into two periods — January-April, 2021 and April, 2021-March, 2022, according to Tarmizi. (antaranews)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said that the renovation of Istiqlal Grand Mosque has not been undertaken just for show.

"The renovation of the Istiqlal mosque is to make it more magnificent, and not for show off," Jokowi said while inaugurating the completion of the mosque's renovation at the Istiqlal mosque complex here on Thursday.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, Minister of Religious Affairs, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Minister of Public Works and Public Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono, Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque, Nazaruddin Umar, and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan also attended the inauguration ceremony.

"It (the mosque) is not only the pride of Muslims, but also the pride of all Indonesian people, the pride of our nation, Indonesia," he remarked.

The President also reminded that the Istiqlal mosque was founded 42 years ago as an expression of gratitude for Allah's grace after the Indonesian nation gained independence.

"This spirit was clearly recorded in 1953 when Muslim leaders gathered and sparked the idea of establishing a mosque as a symbol of the independence of the Republic of Indonesia and it was agreed to name it Istiqlal, which, in Arabic, means independence," he recalled.

President Jokowi said he hopes that the Istiqlal mosque will not only be physically magnificent “but beyond that, it should become a means to increase faith and piety in Allah SWT, towards the empowerment of the ummah and as a pioneer of preaching the moderation of the world's Muslims”.

As a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia, through the Istiqlal mosque, should serve as an example for mosques in other countries, according to the President.

"To be an example in developing soothing Islamic symbols, which build tolerance and promote peace," he added.

President Jokowi reminded visitors coming to the Istiqlal mosque to continue to apply strict health protocols.

"Lastly, considering that the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is still happening here, I invite Muslims who use the Istiqlal mosque for both worship and other activities to adhere to strict health protocols," the President said.

According to the Grand Imam of the Istiqlal Mosque, Nazaruddin Umuar, the renovation of the largest mosque in Indonesia took 14 months and involved around one thousand workers.

The renovations also included building an underground tunnel connecting Istiqlal mosque and the Jakarta Cathedral Church. (Antaranews)