VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) now meets the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The decision was taken at a meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland last week.

It means that the outbreak  is extraordinary events that threaten public health in many countries due to the global spread of epidemics. It also requires responsiveness and coordination from all over the world.

The same status was set when there were the outbreaks of Ebola, Zika and H1N1 some time ago.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, the number of cases continues to increase, and the existence of evidence of transmission from person to person outside of China is very worrying.

That concern has prompted several countries including Indonesia to evacuate its citizens from the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected. It is known that as many as 238 Indonesian citizens have been repatriated from Wuhan.

Not only that, there are many countries that have and will stop or temporarily close flights to and from China. The Indonesian government itself decided to close flights to and from China starting Wednesday this week (05/02/2020).

This condition will certainly affect the global economy, including Indonesia. For the moment, the direct impact on the Indonesian economy has not been felt, because there are no export-import restrictions. However, the spread of the corona virus can have an impact on domestic trade performance. This outbreak caused China's demand for exports from other countries, including Indonesia, not develop according to projections. According to Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, in the past, during the Chinese New Year period, demand from China for consumer goods products from around the world would increase. However, this year   the demand did not climb up significantly.

The corona virus outbreak is predicted to greatly affect the aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors. Sadly, those sectors are actually expected to provide a large income in the Indonesian state coffers as instructed by President Joko Widodo to Indonesian Ambassadors and Representatives abroad in the Working Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs last month.

Hopefully, the corona virus outbreak can be overcome soon, and things will be back to normal again.

Governments of Indonesia and Singapore agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in an effort to increase competitiveness and development of industrial sector, beginning from increasing the investment till the implementation of vocational education programs. This is believed to encourage economic growth in both countries.

Indonesian Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, after meeting Singaporean Minister of Trade and Industry, Chan Chun Sing at the Ministry of Industry, Jakarta on Tuesday (Jan28). as reported by Antara News Agency, said that the two countries had cooperated to encourage the application of 4.0 industry. This was stated at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Industrial Research and Development Agency, the Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Enterprise Singapore, at the Indonesia-Singapore Leaders Retreat event at the IMF Annual Meeting session in Bali, October 2018. 

In addition, the two countries have established cooperation aimed at increasing industrial human resources, especially in Indonesia, through vocational education programs. Since 2018, training has been conducted for 100 participants consisting of school principals, deputy principals and teachers in Indonesia. This year there will be the implementation of training of 4.0 industry for 120 participants, including management staffs and industrial polytechnic teachers.

During the first semester of 2019, Singapore remained one of biggest investors in Indonesia, with an investment of US$3.4 billion. Next cooperation opportunities include exploring the development of integrated industrial estates such as the Kendal Industrial Estate, and also in other areas of Indonesia outside Java, such as Tanah Kuning in North Kalimantan, Kuala Tanjung in North Sumatra, Bitung in North Sulawesi, Batanjung in Central Kalimantan, Palu in Central Sulawesi and Jambi. Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita also conveyed to the Singaporean Minister of Trade and Industry, to look for the country's investors who are interested to invest in the sectors.

Minister Agus Gumiwang added, his Ministry invited Singapore to participate in building maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of industrial area of the Bintan Islands at the location that had been prepared. In addition, the Minister also encouraged the acceleration of cooperation in logistics to build a network in ASEAN that will be centered in Batam. To support ASEAN economic activities in particular, Indonesia and Singapore agreed to prioritize digital economic development as well as food innovation and safety.

The Biomechanics Research Team, Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (FTMD) of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) developed a bionic hand for amputees. The development of bionic hands is aimed at helping the amputees in Indonesia have prosthetic or additional hands at affordable prices. Until now, the price of prosthetic hands on the market can reach hundreds of millions of rupiahs.

The bionic hand development process is approximately 8 months from January to August 2019, starting from the design stage till the prototype. In the prototype that has been made, the bionic hand is able to do seven different grip patterns. These seven grip patterns are made based on the needs of most human hand functions, so that they are used to lift objects, hold pencils, carry bags, point something, and so on. This bionic hand has 5 fingers with 6 motors. 2 motors on the thumb to facilitate additional movement and 1 motor on each finger.

This bionic hand is the result of the fourth development. The development of bionic hands is still being done in order to obtain more stable results in its operation. The material used will also be updated because it still feels slippery when handling objects.

Indonesian representatives Hafiz Faizal / Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja won second place in the mixed doubles at the Thailand Masters 2020 tournament held at the Huamark Indoor Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand. In the final round match which took place on Sunday (1/26), Hafiz / Gloria had to recognize the toughness of English couple Marcus Ellis / Lauren Smith in three games lasting 64 minutes with the acquisition of 16-21, 21-13, 16-21.

In the first game, their opponents continued to collect points, while Hafiz / Gloria lagged behind. Unable to catch up, finally Hafiz / Gloria lost with a score of 16-21. In the second game, Hafiz / Gloria were able to score and surpass the English couple with a score of 21-13.

In the last game, the competition between the two couples ran tight. Both of them were playing aggressively to get points. Unfortunately, Hafiz / Gloria finally had to admit the toughness of the British couple, Ellis / Smith with a closing score of 16-21. Hafiz / Gloria and Ellis / Smith had previously met at the 2019 Japan Open tournament. At that time, Hafiz / Gloria won in three games with a score of 21-23, 21-13, 21-13 over the English couple. Based on the BWF ranking, Hafiz / Gloria is superior to Ellis / Smith.

Related to Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship plan, President of the Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship (F1H2O Racing), Nicolo Di San Germano reviewed the location of the world's highest class motorboat racing competition in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province which is to be held in July 2020.

Governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands, Erzaldi Rosman Djohan in Pangkalpinang on Monday said the President and the F1H2O Racing Team had conducted a survey of the location of this world-class boat racing at the Terentang Beach in Central Bangka Regency, Jembatan Emas, Jembatan Baturusa 2, Pangkal Balam Port, and the dock of PT DAK.

According to the Governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands, based on the results of the location survey, the F1H2O Racing Team was interested in holding the event in the Baturusa River area with various considerations and other technical aspects. He appreciates and fully supports the boat racing championship which will be participated by 300 participants from all over the world, because it can promote tourism and increase foreign tourist arrivals to Bangka Belitung.

According to the agenda, this event is planned to be held in July or August 2020, which will be attended by teams from all over the world who will show their abilities in F1 and F4 H2O racing classes.

Regarding the Coronavirus outbreak, Indonesian sprinter Lalu Muhammad Zohri feels that he will not try a trial match abroad before competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Short-distance running head coach Eni Nuraeni revealed the All Indonesia Athletics Association - PASI has yet to find a replacement tournament for Zohri. Initially, Zohri planned to take part in at least two indoor athletics championships which took place in February and March before appearing at the Olympics. PASI Executive Board also, according to Eni, is confused about finding another championship for Zohri. In fact, the trial match was considered very important as a place to train mentally before going down at the Olympics later.

The indoor athletics world championship, which was originally held in Nanjing, China, was postponed in March until 2021 amid the threat of a coronavirus that is raging in the country. As quoted by Reuters on Thursday morning, after obtaining a WHO recommendation, the main world athletics organization named World Athletics, formerly called the IAAF, has been monitoring the situation ahead of the event that should be held March 13-15 and decided to move it to next year. In addition, the Asian Athletics Association has also canceled the regional indoor championship which was supposed to be held on February 12-13 in Hangzhou, 600 km from Wuhan. According to the agenda, Lalu Muhammad Zohri will participate in the two events held in China.

President of Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique(FIG) Morinari Watanabe said he would support the development of gymnastics in Indonesia in order to excel at the international level, especially at the Olympics.

Indonesia is one of the strongest countries in the field of sports. If Indonesia can make good gymnastic facilities, it will provide equipment support. This was said by Watanabe during his visit to the Office of the Indonesian Olympic Committee in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Watanabe stressed that gymnastics is one of the fundamental sports providing the most gold medals at the Olympics. He said if the exercise is fundamentally strong then other sports can be developed faster. As many as 90 percent of the Olympic sports, according to Watanabe has the basics of gymnastics in it.

To achieve this, Watanabe said that the Japanese Government was willing to provide opportunities for five Indonesian gymnastics athletes to participate in training camps in Japan for 10 days. Chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee Raja Sapta Oktohari also expressed his gratitude for the willingness of the President of the FIG who took the time to visit Indonesia. He hopes that the arrival of Watanabe can have a better positive impact on the development of Gymnastics in Indonesia.