VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The death toll from a suicide bombing in Pakistan that targeted a hard-line religious group's political rally and raised security concern for a general election due by November has risen to 56, a government official said on Tuesday.

The attack was the deadliest on a political party since campaigning for the last election, in 2018, in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation of the 220 million people.

Militant violence also marred preparations of a 2013 general election.

The toll from Sunday's attack in the northwestern district of Bajaur, on the border with Afghanistan, could rise, said Anwar-ul-Haq, the region's deputy commissioner.

The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the blast at a gathering of the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, which is known for its links to hardline Islamists but which condemns militants seeking to overthrow the government.

The JUI-F believes in a democratic, parliamentary system while also being a strong supporter of the Afghan Taliban who are ideological opponents of the Islamic State group.

The firebrand cleric leader of the JUI-F, which is allied with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's ruling coalition, condemned the attack. "The JUI is a proven force on the political front," the party leader, Fazl-ur-Rehman, said in a video statement.

"Such violence can't stop us," he said, adding that leaders had to come together to find a way to end the violence.

Prime Minister Sharif denounced the blast, which came after months of political tension and an economic crisis, as an attack on the democratic process.

Islamic State's Amaq news agency said in a claim for the attack on its Telegram channel that democracy was hostile to Islam.

"The attack comes in the natural context of the ongoing war waged by the Islamic State against 'democracy' as a regime hostile to true Islam and in conflict with its divine law," the news agency said. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - The European Union (EU) has been inconsistent with its policies on environmental protection, especially those devised within the European Green Deal (EGD) framework, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the "Food Agri Insight on Location" seminar here, he highlighted that the EU considers coffee damaging to the environment, but is still buying coal.

"The EU is inconsistent; it says coffee damages the environment, but at the same time, it buys coal from us. How is coffee more damaging to the environment than coal? Inconsistent," he remarked.

Another instance, he said, is the 20-percent tax on tuna exports from Indonesia.

"But they (EU countries) also accept our tunas in illegal containers. As long as it is their interests, it is fine to them," he added.

The Trade Minister reaffirmed his strong rejection of the European Union Deforestation-Free Regulations (EUDR).

Almost all Indonesian products, such as cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, cloves, timber, and other derivative products, are targeted by the regulation, he said.

He added that the EUDR policy could potentially hinder trade and inflict losses on Indonesian farmers.

"In 2022, exports to the EU of palm oil, cocoa, rubber, coffee, and timber were worth almost US$7.2 billion, with nearly 8 million small-scale farmers. We realize that the struggle is not easy, but the Trade Ministry is striving to protect our national interests, including protecting smallholders," he informed.

Hasan said that he will continue to voice his objections to the EUDR policy, including at the upcoming 16th round of the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (I-EU CEPA) negotiations.

He expressed the hope that the EU will still open its market to Indonesia.

Currently, he said, the total trade volume between Indonesia and the EU is only US$30 billion, far below the EU's trade with Thailand and Vietnam, which has been recorded at US$80 billion.

"That's why there should be a win-win solution," Hasan added. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, stated that the government will evaluate the granting of visa-free entry based on reciprocity, usefulness, and security.

"We had visa-free entry for 159 countries plus 10 ASEAN countries. This will be evaluated due to the reciprocity, usefulness, and security," Uno noted after attending a limited meeting chaired by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday.

According to the minister, the government will conduct an evaluation for the next month to develop quality and sustainable growth of Indonesian tourism.

The minister believes there are numerous opportunities for the Indonesian tourism sector to grow in a quality and sustainable manner.

In addition, the government is keen to ensure that foreign tourists visiting Indonesia bring an impact on the economy, such as by opening up businesses and employment opportunities, he remarked.

"We want the economy to grow and also an increase in the number of jobs in the tourism sector and the creative economy," he noted.

In future, Uno stated that the government is targeting a visit duration of more than seven days and US$1,000 spending per tourist.

Regarding the Golden Visa policy, the minister remarked that currently, the policy is still in the finalization stage.

"The government regulations regarding Golden Visa will be finalized soon after obtaining approval from the president," he revealed.

Earlier, the government had temporarily suspended visa-free entry for 159 countries through Decree of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Number M.HH-01.GR.01.07 of 2023. According to information on the official website of the Directorate General of Immigration, the implementation of visa-free entry has impacts on the state.

The impacts include disturbance of public order and the spread of diseases from countries that have not been declared clean or free of certain diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO). (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chose Bantul District in Yogyakarta Province to host the ASEAN Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX) on Aug 1-4 since the region has a high risk of earthquake threat.

"In 2023, Yogyakarta Province was chosen to host ARDEX since the region has a high level of risk of earthquake threats," Head of BNPB, Lieutenant General Suharyanto, stated at the opening of the 2023 ARDEX in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

The agency head said the province had experienced a 6.5-magnitude earthquake centered in Bantul District in 2006 that resulted in 5,578 people being killed and was one of the worst earthquakes in Indonesia.

"From the experience of this incident, Yogyakarta, as a cultural center, certainly has local wisdom in dealing with disasters that we need to introduce to countries in the Southeast Asian region," Suharyanto remarked.

Hence, in line with Bali's agenda for resilience, which is the result of the 7th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) in 2022, Indonesia, as the host of ARDEX 2023, invites Southeast Asian countries to socialize disaster risk reduction based on sustainable development.

"ARDEX is one of the efforts to mitigate disaster risk reduction by involving cross-sectors, cross-systems, across scales and boundaries through emergency simulation exercises in disaster mitigation," he noted.

Moreover, he noted that disasters caused by natural and human factors are one of the non-military threats in the current fifth generation of war. Hence, related parties should consider technology innovation in dealing with disaster threats.

"However, the application of technology must go hand in hand with an understanding of local wisdom and culture. Thus, technology utilization can bring a real impact in the people's daily lives and bring changes in sustainable disaster awareness behavior," Suharyanto remarked.

Hence, the ARDEX activity is expected to help ASEAN countries share and transfer knowledge and technology in the field of disaster and local culture in disaster mitigation, he affirmed.

"I also hope that there will be civil and military cooperation in disaster mitigation in order to build solidarity among ASEAN countries towards (realizing the declaration of) One ASEAN, One Response," he concluded. (Antaranews)