VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesia-Malaysia Border Security Task Force of the Infantry Battalion 407PK has tightened surveillance of illegal roads in anticipation of illegal activities ahead of New Year’s Eve in Kapuas Hulu district, West Kalimantan, bordering Malaysia.

"We have stepped up border patrol, particularly on illegal roads, and conducted a sweep along the border road to anticipate illegal activities," head of the task force, Lt Col. Catur, said here on Tuesday.

He said the road along the Indonesia-Malaysia border in Kapuas Hulu is prone to illegal activities, including smuggling of goods between Indonesia and Malaysia.

To prevent smuggling, the task force has stepped up patrols and sweeps to inspect goods carried by motorists along the border road, particularly ahead of New Year’s Eve, he said.

“We are also coordinating with several parties including police, customs agency, and other border officers," Catur informed.

He said the task force has foiled illegal activities several times since he was assigned to the Indonesia-Malaysia border in the eastern part of West Kalimantan three months ago.

Indonesia has decided to temporarily close its borders from January 1, 2021 to prevent the entry of foreign nationals in view of the spread of a new coronavirus strain in some parts of the world.

"[We are] Temporarily closing Indonesian borders, from January 1 to 14 of 2021, for foreign nationals from all countries," Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, said at an online media conference on Monday.

The regulation was made after a limited cabinet meeting earlier the same day, and will be officially enacted later through a new circular letter from the COVID-19 task force.

Foreign nationals arriving in Indonesia up to December 31, 2020 may be allowed to enter the country if they show negative results on a PCR test from their point of origin. The test should have been issued a maximum of 48 hours before departure. Visitors will also have to take an additional PCR test on arrival.

After the test, they will be required to undergo a five-day isolation and take another PCR test later, Marsudi informed.

"If the results are all negative, then the visitors would be allowed to continue their trip," she added. (antaranews)

Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo highlighted that the cases of forest and land fires (karhutla) decreased by 81 percent in November 2020 as compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

"This year's forest and land fires are reaching 300 thousand hectares. This figure is far less than 2019 when the area covered had reached nearly 1.6 million hectares," Monardo stated during a press conference held to discuss the 2020 disaster kaleidoscope, events related to natural disasters in Indonesia in 2020, and projections of phenomena and potential disasters in 2021 monitored virtually in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Monardo remarked that the data on forest and land fires for December 2020 was awaited and will be released by the Director of Forest and Land Fire Control, Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK).

A decline in the number of cases of forest and land fires generally occurred in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan.

Monardo noted that the success in reducing the incidents of forest and land fires in 2020 could not be separated from the cooperation between the central government, commanded by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), local governments, and other agencies.

Each institution has a different role to play. For instance, the BMKG, which always provides the latest data related to weather and the potential for drought, including the application of weather modification technology (TMC) for conducting cloud seeding.

"Weather modification technology can be applied for wetting part of the dry land, thereby reducing the risk of fires," he remarked.

The military also played a major role in suppressing cases of forest and land fires in the country, especially by readying several aircraft in collaboration with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BBPT).

"The role of the Manggala Agni team is also huge, especially in the field with the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD)," he added. (antaranews)

The Indonesian government will carry out the COVID-19 vaccination program in two phases, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin informed at an online press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The first phase will last from January to April, 2021, and the second from April, 2021 to March, 2022, he said adding, health workers, public service workers, and the elderly will be prioritized in the first phase of the program.

"The first stage of vaccination for health workers in Indonesia is [going to cover] 1.3 million people. The second stage is given to about 17.4 million public officers, then 22.5 million elderly people over 60 years," Sadikin said.

The priority status for frontline health workers is in line with what is being done in other countries, he added.

Furthermore, in the second phase of the program, vaccinations will be provided to 63.9 million vulnerable people in areas with a high risk of transmission and 77.4 million persons from other communities, using a cluster approach, depending on the availability of vaccines, the minister informed.

Sadikin said the government consulted the Indonesian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ITAGI), an independent agency, while mapping out the vaccination plan. The agency was tasked with providing recommendations to the Ministry of Health.

Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, had earlier assured regional readiness for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

"The central government has continued to work in coordination with local governments to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process runs well," Adisasmito noted in a statement issued here on Saturday.

The distribution of the vaccines will be conducted stage-wise, with priority accorded to regions with high transmission rates and dense populations, he informed.

The results of the clinical testing of the vaccine produced by China's Sinovac Biotech will be submitted to the Agency of Food and Drug Control (BPOM) before it issues an emergency-use authorization (EUA), Adisasmito said.

Padjajaran University and PT Bio Farma have conducted clinical tests to determine safe dosages and likely side-effects of the Sinovac vaccine.

Meanwhile, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology is also developing the Red and White vaccine, for which a distribution license is expected to be obtained in 2021 following pre-clinical and clinical tests, Adisasmito said.

"The Red and White vaccine will be handed over from the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology to PT Bio Farma in the first quarter of 2021," he informed.

The government has continued to disseminate information to the public on the importance of getting vaccinated against the novel coronavirus disease to build herd immunity.

"The government has also ensured that the vaccine is safe with minimum side-effects and halal certification," Adisasmito noted.

Local governments have instructed the authorities to impose sanctions on people refusing to get vaccinated, he added. (antaranews)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati drew attention to the fact that Islamic finance has grown positively and is more stable than conventional finance amid the ongoing pandemic.

"National banking intermediation has tended to decline, but the performance of sharia banking is actually stable and growing higher than conventional banking," Sri Mulyani stated while speaking at the 2020 Sharia Business and Academic Sinergy (SBAS) symposium held virtually here on Tuesday.

As of September 2020, the Islamic financial assets totaled Rp1,710.16 trillion, which was encouraging, according to the minister.

The total Islamic financial assets were spread across three instruments: Islamic banking financial assets amounting to Rp575.85 trillion; the Islamic non-bank financial industry (IKNB) worth Rp111.44 trillion, and the Islamic capital market amounting to Rp1,022.87 trillion.

The market share of Islamic finance in Indonesia reached 9.69 percent by the end of the third quarter of 2020.

The minister attributed the positive performance of the sharia financial industry chiefly to the performance of sharia banking.

The stability of the Islamic financial industry was indicated by the growth of Islamic bank assets reaching 10.97 percent in September 2020. The realization was higher than the growth of conventional bank assets, at 7.77 percent.

Other indicators included Islamic banks' third-party funds (DPK) that grew by 11.56 percent, while conventional ones were only 11.49 percent; Sharia financing growth reached 9.42 percent; while conventional bank credit growth was only 0.55 percent until last September; and Islamic bank capital adequacy ratio reached 23.5 percent; as well as the non-performing financing ratio of 3.31 percent.

Meanwhile, in terms of the Islamic capital market, the value of stock capitalization generally decreased, but an annual growth of 108 percent was recorded in the number of investors in Islamic stocks.

"In the last year until June 2020, Islamic stock investors have increased by 32 percent as compared to the earlier position in 2019," she stated.

Meanwhile, for the January-June 2020 period, Islamic stock transactions rose by 26 percent to reach 633 thousand transactions, from 501 thousand transactions recorded during the same period in 2019.

Meanwhile, the volume of transactions in the first semester of 2020 had reached 6.2 billion, an increase of 57 percent, from 3.9 billion during the corresponding period in 2019. (antaranews)