VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Chief expert at the Presidential Staff Office (KSP), Fadjar Dwi Wishnuwardhani. (ANTARA/HO-Presidential Staff Office/KT) - 

Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) have thanked the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) for the help it extended in their safe and smooth repatriation from Hong Kong in accordance with the COVID-19 health protocols.

"We are grateful for the government's hard work, especially Mr. Moeldoko (Chief of KSP) and KSP that have paid attention to us in Hong Kong by handing out many masks since the pandemic began," said Nur Meliana, one of the Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong, according to a KSP press release received here on Friday.

Migrant workers who returned to the country were also provided free quarantine facilities, adequate food, and COVID-19 vaccines, Meliana noted.

However, Meliana, who is from Lampung, said she is worried that her colleagues, who returned home for annual leave, would not be able to go back to Hong Kong due to strict regulations there, especially the 21-day quarantine requirement.

"The problem is that the quarantine hotels are fully booked until the end of the year, even though many employers are willing to pay the hotel fees," she said.

In addition, according to her, Indonesian migrant workers planning to return to Hong Kong will also have to deal with constantly changing flight schedules. That is how the work visas of many migrant workers have expired, she explained.

Hence, she said she hopes that the Indonesian government can offer assistance to migrant workers who already hold Hong Kong identification cards.

KSP's chief expert, Fadjar Dwi Wishnuwardhani, said that KSP has coordinated with the Ministry of Manpower to provide assistance to PMI.

"We hope the Hong Kong government can give privilege to migrant workers," Wishnuwardhani said.

He also claimed that KSP has been intensively monitoring migrant workers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This effort is in accordance with President Joko Widodo's direction to provide protection and convenience for migrant workers, both those who have returned to the country and those who are still abroad," he added//ANT

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has signed Presidential Decree No. 19 of 2021 concerning the Determination of Indonesian Membership at the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM). (ANTARA PHOTO/HO/Presidential Secretariat's Press Bureau/Lukas/aww/KT) - 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has signed the Presidential Decree No. 19 of 2021 confirming  Indonesia's Membership at the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM).

There were four considerations for the issuance of the Presidential Decree, as stated in its digital copy uploaded on the State Secretariat Ministry's documentation and legal information webpage jdih.setneg.go.id on Friday.

The  first consideration was that Indonesia routinely and actively sends its military personnel including medical personnel to international missions as one of the National Defense Forces (TNI)'s  main tasks in military operation other than war. 

Second, on May 25, 2016, in Vientiane, Laos, Indonesia and other ASEAN member states signed the Joint Declaration of the ASEAN Defence Ministers on Promoting Defence Cooperation for a Dynamic ASEAN Community, which adopted the terms of reference of the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine, it said.

The third consideration was that Indonesia wants to increase its active role in international cooperation in the military medicine field with other ASEAN member states and between ASEAN member states and Plus countries.  Indonesia deems it necessary to be a member of  the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine. 

The fourth was based on the previous three considerations, thus, the President decided to issue a decree regarding the Determination of Indonesia's Membership at ACMM, the ministry said.

The Presidential decree determines Indonesia's membership, rights, and obligations as per the prevailing rules of ACMM and the provisions of law, it added.

All costs that are subject to Indonesia's determination as an ACMM member will be borne by the state budget (APBN) and other legitimate and non-binding sources that follow legal provisions.

The Presidential Decree No. 19 of 2021 was signed in Jakarta on November 9, 2021.

The ASEAN Center of Military Medicine has a mission to establish practical, effective, and sustainable cooperation in military medical services for ASEAN Plus countries, both in normal and crisis situations, according to its official website//ANT

Screenshot of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim at a national TV station as seen from Jakarta on Friday, November 26, 2021. (ANTARA/Prisca Triferna/my) - 

Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim will continue policies to improve the quality of Indonesian human resources, especially in education, by upscaling programs, including School as Driving Force and the Freedom Campus.

"In future, it is impossible for us to provide something regressive. We certainly always encourage progress. All things, such as the development and distribution of free technology platforms for schools, we will definitely improve and always improve," the minister stated while speaking on a national television program, as seen from here on Friday.

Makarim noted that in future, he will create various other programs, such as for coaxing more practitioners to become lecturers at campuses, which will start next year.

He also emphasized that the ministry will continue to expand the scale of the School as Driving Force Program, increase the number of students involved in the Merdeka Campus, and increase the supply of certified internship opportunities and independent study projects and the scope of Motivating Teachers.

"Hence, next year, there will be several extended programs that would be just starting, (but since) we found the formula, now we (can and) will expand it next year. Scaling up is one of the priorities for next year," the minister remarked.

He expected that this measure would better Indonesia's future, as it can contribute to the biggest and most rampant national innovation in terms of human resource system.

"My big hope is that in the next 10 years, people will see this era as an era where we do various things that will certainly cause some degree of discomfort for those who have to change," he added//ANT

Vice House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad. (ANTARA/Muhammad Jasuma Fadholi) - 

Vice House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad has urged the government to refuse entry to tourists from South Africa and other countries where the B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant has been detected to prevent imported cases.

The Health Ministry should promptly conduct research to find accurate information about the new variant of the coronavirus, Ahmad said in a statement released here on Friday.

“I think it is important (for the Health Ministry) to do that as part of prevention and mitigation efforts to protect the Indonesian people from the new variant of COVID-19,” he elaborated.

The Vice House Speaker said that based on the information he has received, the B.1.1.529 variant has twice as many mutations as the Delta variant.

“The government must take a firm step to prevent the entry of the B.1.1.529 variant, which is reportedly more severe than the Delta variant,” he added.

When the Delta variant spread in Indonesia, many hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, healthcare workers became exhausted, medicines and oxygen became difficult to find, and many patients succumbed to the infection, he noted.

Indonesian tourists who have just returned from other countries must undergo quarantine to ensure that they are not exposed to the new variant of COVID-19, he said//ANT