VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Some 1.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine ordered from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd arrived at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday.

The vaccine doses, transported aboard a Garuda Indonesia aircraft, were the second batch of Sinovac's vaccine to have arrived in the country after the delivery of the first consignment of 1.2 million doses on December 6.

"Alhamdulillah (thank God), today, 1.8 million doses of the vaccine from Sinovac arrived in Indonesia, and this vaccine will be sent to Bio Farma in Bandung for safe storage in accordance with the WHO standards of vaccine storage," Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi noted at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Thursday.

The minister remarked that another 15 million doses of bulk vaccines from Sinovac will arrive in the near future and will be manufactured by state-run vaccine maker PT Bio Farma.

In addition to Sinovac, the government has searched for other sources of the vaccine.

"Indonesia has signed a commitment to supply 50 million doses of the vaccine from the US company Novavax that used the sub-recombinant protein platform and 50 million doses from British company AstraZeneca that used the viral factor platform," she revealed.

AstraZeneca's vaccine has received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Product Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

"This is good news for us because MHRA is a regulator that has in place a reliance mechanism with the BPOM, Indonesia's Food and Drug Control Agency. With this mechanism, EUA issuance for AstraZeneca will be easier, as it could be used as a basis and review to issue EUA in Indonesia," Marsudi elaborated.

Indonesia has ordered the COVID-19 vaccine from various sources: 125 million doses from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd; 100 million doses of US-Canada's Novavax; 100 million doses from British AstraZeneca; 100 million doses from Germany-US' Pfizer; and 16-100 million doses of free vaccine from Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) as part of a multilateral cooperation. (antaranews)

Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin formed a special team to accelerate the settlement of alleged gross human rights violations in Indonesia.

The formation of the special team is a concrete endeavor of the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to expedite the settlement of alleged gross human rights violations in accordance with President Joko Widodo's directives during the opening of the working meeting of the Attorney General's Office and the commemoration of World Human Rights Day in 2020.

Burhanuddin affirmed that creation of the special team reaffirmed the Attorney General's Office's commitment to law enforcement and support as a manifestation of its respect for, acknowledgement, and fulfilment of human rights.

"To that end, the handling of each human rights violation is mandatory to protect human dignity," he stated here on Wednesday.

Burhanuddin lauded the junior attorney general for special crimes and his staff for their hard work while performing their duties and functions in handling alleged gross human rights violations.

He was upbeat about the special team being able to work optimally to perform its duties and responsibilities to meet the public’s expectations for the settlement of gross human rights violations.

"I know that your competency, capability, and professionalism is no longer doubted. Hence, I believe the special team for human rights will be able to perform its duties well. You are the representation of the Attorney General's Office that plays a key role in settling gross human rights violations," he affirmed.

Burhanuddin is optimistic that the effort would positively correlate with the restoration of public trust in the Attorney General's Office.

The attorney general inaugurated and swore in 18 prosecutors as members of the special team for human rights in Jakarta on Wednesday (Dec 30), with Vice Attorney General Setia Untung Arimuladi as its chairman. (antaranews)

Indonesia and a unit of South Korean firm LG Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on a $9.8 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery investment deal, the head of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board said on Wednesday.

The deal was signed on Dec. 18 and includes investments across the EV supply chain, the board head, Bahlil Lahadalia, told a news conference.

An official at LG Energy Solution, a unit of LG Group, South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate, confirmed it had agreed an MOU but could not provide details or the deal’s value. LG Group in Seoul referred Reuters to its affiliate.

Bahlil said the agreement made Indonesia the first country in the world to integrate the electric battery industry from mining to producing electric car lithium batteries.

“We have signed an MOU for the construction of an integrated electric battery factory from upstream to downstream,” Bahlil said.

“Mines, smelters, precursors, cathodes, cars to recycling facilities will be built in Indonesia,” he said, adding that the project will be located in North Maluku and Central Java.

Under the MOU, at least 70% of the nickel ore used to produce the EV batteries must be processed in Indonesia, he said.

Indonesia aims to start processing its rich supplies of nickel laterite ore for use in lithium batteries as part of a bid to eventually become a global hub for producing and exporting EVs.

Indonesia said earlier this month that U.S. automaker Tesla, will send delegations to Indonesia in January to discuss potential investment in a supply chain for its electric vehicles. (reuters)

Indonesia and a unit of South Korean firm LG Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on a $9.8 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery investment deal, the head of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board said on Wednesday.

The deal was signed on Dec. 18 and includes investments across the EV supply chain, the board head, Bahlil Lahadalia, told a news conference.

An official at LG Energy Solution, a unit of LG Group, South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate, confirmed it had agreed an MOU but could not provide details or the deal’s value. LG Group in Seoul referred Reuters to its affiliate.

Bahlil said the agreement made Indonesia the first country in the world to integrate the electric battery industry from mining to producing electric car lithium batteries.

“We have signed an MOU for the construction of an integrated electric battery factory from upstream to downstream,” Bahlil said.

“Mines, smelters, precursors, cathodes, cars to recycling facilities will be built in Indonesia,” he said, adding that the project will be located in North Maluku and Central Java.

Under the MOU, at least 70% of the nickel ore used to produce the EV batteries must be processed in Indonesia, he said.

Indonesia aims to start processing its rich supplies of nickel laterite ore for use in lithium batteries as part of a bid to eventually become a global hub for producing and exporting EVs.

Indonesia said earlier this month that U.S. automaker Tesla, will send delegations to Indonesia in January to discuss potential investment in a supply chain for its electric vehicles.

China approved its first COVID-19 vaccine for general public use on Thursday, a shot developed by an affiliate of state-backed pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm, as it braces for greater transmission risks over the winter.

No detailed efficacy data of the vaccine has been publicly released but its developer, Beijing Biological Products Institute, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), said on Wednesday its vaccine was 79.34% effective in preventing people from developing the disease based on interim data.

The approval, announced by the National Medical Products Administration, comes after the United Arab Emirates this month became the first country to roll out the vaccine to the public, and as Pakistan announced a 1.2 million dose purchase deal with Sinopharm.

While China has been slower than several other countries in approving COVID-19 vaccines, it has been inoculating some citizens for months with three different shots still undergoing late-stage trials.

China launched an emergency use programme in July aimed at essential workers and others at high risk of infection, had administered more than 4.5 million doses as of Dec. 15 using at least three different products - two developed by CNBG and one by Sinovac Biotech.

While the efficacy of the Sinopharm shot trails the more than 90% success rate of rival vaccines from Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc, it points to progress China has made in the global race to develop successful COVID-19 vaccines.

China has at least five vaccines, developed by Sinovac, CNBG units, CanSino Biologics and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in late stage trials, underscoring its efforts to develop a homegrown vaccine to challenge Western rivals.

President Xi Jinping has pledged to make China’s vaccines a global public good and it has won several large supply deals with countries including Indonesia and Brazil - the most populous countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America respectively.

WATCHING THE DATA

The efficacy and safety data of China-made vaccines is being closely watched by many developing countries as they have limited early access to shots developed by Western drug makers and are looking for alternatives from China and Russia.

“China’s approval could boost the credibility of the vaccine,” said Dong-yan Jin, a professor at the University of Hong Kong.

“But if the vaccine wants to take a share in the global market, especially in developed countries, more data is necessary.”

A Sinopharm executive told a briefing detailed data would be released later and published in scientific journals at home and abroad.

While China has kept new outbreaks of the coronavirus under control, it is ramping up the emergency programme to contain the risks over the winter. The virus emerged a year ago in a market in the central city of Wuhan.

The South China Morning Post newspaper reported that China would vaccinate as many as 50 million people from high-priority groups before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

“We call on people ... to take an active part in vaccination to protect themselves, family members and others, which is also contributing to global epidemic control,” Zeng Yixin, an official with National Health Commission, told a briefing on Thursday.

The price of the vaccine would depend on the scale of use, but the “premise” was that it would be free for the public in China, he said.

The approval comes as Britain on Wednesday approved a second COVID-19 vaccine, a shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, as it battles a major winter surge driven by a new variant of the virus. (Reuters)