VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi, said he hoped the newly inaugurated Yogyakarta International Airport (YAI) would attract domestic and foreign tourists, thereby helping aid economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new airport is located about 60 kilometers from the Borobudur Temple, one of Indonesia's five super-priority tourist destinations.

The means of transportation connecting YIA and Borobudur Temple must be improved by paying attention to and prioritizing health protocols to prevent COVID-19 transmission, the minister said in a statement here on Friday.

The government has made provisions for the operation of Damri shuttle buses, SetelQu, airport taxis, online taxis, and trains via Wojo station (about 10 minutes from the airport) to connect the airport with Borobudur, he added.

In future, the train line will directly enter the airport area, he continued.

"With this intermodal connectivity, we hope to restore the national economy by attracting more tourists to Yogyakarta. We are optimistic that in future, Yogyakarta International Airport will be able to have a positive impact on the national economy as well as improve the welfare of the community, especially in the surrounding Yogyakarta region and Indonesia in general," Sumadi stated.

He lauded state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I for providing a tenant area measuring 1,500 square meters at a YIA terminal, which can accommodate 300 MSMEs, and an area of 880 square meters in the Liaison Building, which can accommodate 170 MSMEs. The tenant area is named Kotagede Market.

As a substitute for the old Adisutipto Airport, YIA has built a Passenger Terminal with an area of 219,000 square meters, which can serve 20 million passengers per year, with an investment of Rp10.08 trillion.

For air-side facilities, the airport runway has dimensions of 3,250 meters x 45 meters with a PCN value of 93 F / C / X /, so it can serve even the heaviest and largest aircraft such as the Boeing B-777 and the Airbus A380.

The Yogyakarta International Airport currently serves 20 domestic routes and two international routes, namely Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and has great potential to add domestic routes (Manado, Kupang, Labuan Bajo) and international routes, such as Jeddah, Medina, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Bangkok, the minister said.

For flight navigation services, the airport has an ATC tower building, administration building, and operational building, built on an area of 15,651 square meters with an investment of Rp87.1 billion.

The eight-floor ATC tower building is 39.5 meters tall and is equipped with facilities such as tower set, radar monitoring, VHF radio, direct speech telephone, and ATIS.

The airport has been structurally designed to withstand earthquakes, tsunamis, liquefaction, volcanic ash eruptions, and floods. Its design has involved a panel of experts from Japan and an Academic Expert Team from the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the Surabaya Institute of Technology (ITS), and the University of Diponegoro (UNDIP). The airport is also equipped with a Crisis Center building.

Parts of the airport feature local traditional art works and local wisdoms, represented by the Jasmine flower and Wijayakusuma (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), designed by 46 local artists from Yogyakarta. (ANTARA)

Tensions between  Israel and  Palestine in the West Bank have escalated coinciding with  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Israel. Using military troops, Israel attacked Palestinian settlements in the eastern part of Ramallah on the West Bank, Tuesday, August 25. This aggressive action was carried out on the grounds that Palestinians built housing without permission. Reports say the attack was carried out before sunrise. 200 Palestinians have indeed built settlements in Wadi Al Siq, the East Ramalah area, which is in area C.

In 1995 Palestine and Israel through an agreement in Oslo, Norway agreed that the West Bank is divided into three areas namely Area A, B, and C. The Palestinian Authority controls Area A which covers 18 percent of the territory of the West Bank, Area B which covers about 21 percent is under the Israeli and Palestinian civil security administrations. The remainder is included in Area C, which represents 61 percent of the territory under Israeli control.

Almost simultaneously with the attacks on Palestinians in area C, the Israeli military also bombed militia groups' positions in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army argued that  the reason was because Palestinians had launched incendiary balloons at southern Israeli farms the day before. The bomb attack, which was intended to retaliate for the incendiary balloon launch, was carried out for two consecutive days.

The actions of Israeli military  in both area C and the Gaza strip were carried out in conjunction with the visit of the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. It should be noted, this visit was carried out not long after an agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalizing diplomatic relations was signed.

It seems,  that apart from security reasons, the Israeli authorities' aggressive actions by means of their troops may have political aims. To its staunch ally, Israel wants to show its strength and power. Namely by carrying out military attacks, arguing that there were acts of provocation by Palestinians. Israel continues to try to convince the United States, its ally, that its position in the dispute with Palestine is getting stronger. (kbl/art)

President Joko Widodo launched the productive presidential assistance (banpres) program  for micro businesses at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday (24/8). This assistance is aimed at providing additional working capital for micro and small entrepreneurs in Indonesia. The target is that there are 12 million micro and small businesses that will receive the assistance worth Rp 2.4 million. Handing over the assistance symbolically, President Joko Widodo emphasized that the assistance provided is a grant.

The criteria to receive this productive assistance are micro and small businesses, banking customers or financial institutions with deposits below Rp 2 million. Another criterion is that they do not have credit in banks or other financial institutions. For them, this productive program is certainly a refreshing injection, and it is hoped that it can make them stronger in doing their businesses.

Facts reveal that since Covid-19 hit Indonesia, micro and small businesses in Indonesia have become one of the forefronts affected by the impact. Large-Scale Social Restrictions –PSSB causes the income they get to be increasingly limited. Of the approximately 63 million micro and small enterprises, it is estimated that 50 percent would be directly affected. The steps taken by the government are expected to increase the capital of micro and small businesses so that they rise from the impact.

The micro and small entrepreneurs are indeed the first to be saved so that they can revive much strongly to support the Indonesian economy. Lookingback two decades ago, when Indonesia faced economic crises in 1998 and 2008, The micro and small entrepreneurs actually became one of the sectors that supported and contributed to the stability of the Indonesian economy.

The revival of the micro and small entrepreneurs cannot rely only on the government. The involvement of other stakeholders is certainly needed, including e-commerce players or market places. They can provide technical guidance to the micro and small businesses by using technology to market their products. The hope is that their business products can dominate the marketplace to replace imported products. Of course, the most important thing is the business players. They must develop themselves and make innovations to respond to the challenges they are facing.

Hopefully, this productive presidential assistance will be the right vaccine for the micro and small businesses not only to rise from hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but to have a positive impact in the long term. (rhm)

Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA) - Bali Governor Wayan Koster has postponed the reopening of the resort island to foreign tourists, which was planned for September 11, 2020, due to the continued spread of coronavirus infections.

"We have considered this, we are postponing (the reopening of Bali to international tourists) until the situation in Bali and worldwide is conducive," Koster told the press here on Wednesday.

Bali authorities had originally planned to reopen the island for tourism in three phases, starting with the decision to allow local residents to visit tourist sites in the area from July 9. The island was reopened for domestic travelers residing across Indonesia from July 31.

As part of the third phase of reopening, the authorities intended to allow international travelers back on the island from September 11.

The decision to postpone the entry of foreign tourists to the island has been driven by the increased number of COVID-19 cases and public indiscipline in observing the health protocols, Koster informed.

Koster said he has met with representatives of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (IHRA) and asked the association to impose sanctions or revoke the licenses of members who fail to comply with the health protocols.

"The key is that we have to be disciplined and implement the health protocols for an effective handling of COVID-19," he stated.

Koster has issued a gubernatorial regulation (no. 46/2020) on law enforcement on health protocols, urging the public and tourism operators to remain disciplined in the implementation of health protocols.