VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has reminded that the simultaneous regional head elections (pilkada), scheduled on December 9, 2020, must be held safely to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

"As the elections will be held in the midst of the pandemic, we hope it will remain democratic, 'luber' (direct, public, free, confidential), 'jurdil' (fair and just), and most importantly safe from COVID-19," President Jokowi remarked at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday while chairing a limited cabinet meeting on "Preparations for Simultaneous Regional Head Elections."

The elections must be held safely and in a better manner to safeguard against the spread of COVID-19, and to this end, the health and safety of election officers and voters must be prioritized, he remarked.

"The two main areas of focus are notably, better quality 2020 elections and also be safe from COVID-19. Hence, the health and safety of officers, participants, and of course, voters must be a priority," the president remarked.

The head of state instructed to habituate oneself to applying health protocols at every stage of the elections.

"This is to ensure that it will not create new clusters or new waves of COVID-19, which could be counterproductive," he emphasized.

Reflecting on other countries -- Singapore, Germany, France, and South Korea -- that had also held local and national elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, President Jokowi stated that the most important aspect was to convince voters that public health and safety remained the top priority and concern of the KPU and the government.

"Thus, the implementation of strict health protocols will proffer a sense of security that we expect will boost the level of voter participation," the president remarked.

Jokowi is also optimistic that the organizers and participants of the elections would make innovations at various stages of the elections to adapt to the pandemic.

The 2020 simultaneous local elections will be organized in 270 regions in 32 provinces, except Aceh and Jakarta, to elect governors in nine provinces, district heads in 224 districts, and mayors in 37 cities.

Based on the June 9 data, the number of eligible voters in the 2020 local elections reaches 106,774,112.

The pilkada campaign will be conducted for 71 days, from September 26 until December 5, 2020. (ANTARA)

Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah in her office, Monday, July 13, 2020. (ANTARA/kemnaker.go.id/pri)

Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, on Tuesday underlined the need for more vocational training to build a skilled workforce and strengthen Indonesia's human resources (HR) to help the country benefit from the demographic bonus.

"Indonesia has entered a period of demographic bonus which will peak in 2030, with the (proportion of) population in the productive age (group) more than that in the unproductive age (group),” Ida Fauziyah said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The minister stressed that the period of demographic bonus is a golden opportunity that needs to be utilized properly through human capital development.

At the moment, the minister noted, even though Indonesia has the largest population in ASEAN, it still lags in terms of development of HR capabilities compared to other countries in the region.

The main challenge Indonesian faces in the employment sector is that the majority of its workers have only had a high school education or less. About 56 percent of Indonesian workers are engaged in the informal sector. Meanwhile, workers aged 15-24 years, who are mostly high school or vocational school graduates, make up the largest number of the unemployed.

Low levels of ability would affect productivity and thereby, how well Indonesia utilizes its demographic bonus, Ida pointed out. Therefore, steps to build the nation’s human resource need to be taken so that the demographic bonus can aid national development, she explained.

One way to build human resource would be to strengthen vocational education and training programs, which are under the authority of the Ministry of Manpower, by revamping vocational training centers (BLK) owned by ministries and local governments.

The Ministry of Manpower has set up BLKs in 15 provinces and efforts are being made to expand their presence across Indonesia.

As part of this push, the Ministry of Manpower plans to add 1,000 more the community vocational training centers (BLK) this year, Ida said. (ANTARA)

Indonesia, on Tuesday, registered 1,922 new confirmed cases, thereby bringing the tally to 115,056, while the total number of people recovering from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) reached 72,050, with 1,813 new recoveries.

The death toll has reached 5,388, with 86 people additionally succumbing to COVID-19, the Indonesian Task Force for COVID-19 response stated in Jakarta on Tuesday.

A total of 22,902 specimens from 13,456 people were examined by 320 laboratories across Indonesia on Tuesday, thereby bringing the total count of specimens examined to 1,575,043 from 907,987 people so far.

East Java emerged as the province with the highest number of confirmed cases reaching 430; followed by 410 cases in Jakarta; 119 cases in South Kalimantan; 117 cases in South Sulawesi; and 94 cases in West Java.

Coincidentally, East Jakarta also ranked first in terms of the number of recoveries, reaching 343; followed by 216 people recovering in Jakarta, 213 people in North Maluku, 170 people in West Java, and 141 people in South Sulawesi.

No new cases were reported on Tuesday in the six provinces of Bangka Belitung, West Kalimantan, Riau Islands, Central Sulawesi, Lampung, and East Nusa Tenggara.

The number of suspects yet under monitoring reached 68,131, while the number of confirmed cases being monitored reached 115,056.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic began in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Jokowi has ordered his relevant ministers to conduct a two-week "wear face mask" campaign on a massive scale throughout Indonesia to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

"I just want to focus. It might be in two weeks. We will focus on the campaign on wearing face masks," Jokowi stated while chairing a limited cabinet meeting on COVID-19 handling and national economic recovery at the Merdeka Palace here on Monday.

The head of state cited the latest COVID-19 data that the recovery rate of such cases in Indonesia had reached 61.9 percent, which he believes was an improvement, and the figure was expected to continue to increase. (ANTARA)

Jakarta (VOI News) - The Embassy of Pakistan Jakarta organized a Media Briefing Tuesday (05/08), which was attended by senior journalists from several prominent media houses in Indonesia.The Charge’ d’ Affaires of Pakistan, Sajjad Haider Khan briefly covering the Foreign Policy of Pakistan and Pakistan-Indonesia Relations, gave a detailed account of Peace & Security situation in South Asia. Khan also urged Indonesian people and media to express solidarity with the innocent people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Highlighting the historical as well as legal position on Jammu & Kashmir Dispute, Mr. Khan reiterated that Jammu & Kashmir remains an Internationally recognized dispute and the longest dispute ever at the United Nations Security Council Agenda, with almost a dozen UNSC resolutions seeking plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiris for a final settlement.

In his media briefing, Sajjad Haider Khan pointed out that government of India repealed articles 35A and 370 of its Constitution on 05 August 2019, revoking special status granted to the Jammu & Kashmir, in clear violation of International law and UN Security Councils Resolutions. He briefed the journalists on various aspects of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute including gross Human Rights Violations, Sexual abuse, violence against women & children and underscored the Indian illegal actions of bringing demographic changes in the region.

The Media Briefing marked the first anniversary of the India’s decision to change the special status of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), a move rejected by the Kashmiris. The Government of Pakistan is observing 05 August as Yom-e-Istehsaal (day of Exploitation) as a mark of solidarity with the Kashmiri people. (VOI/Release Embassy of Pakistan/AHM)