VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Protesters holding National League for Democracy (NLD) flags raise three-finger salutes during flash protests against the military coup at Bahan township in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 25, 2021. (AP Photo) - 

The Biden administration on Friday (Jul 3) hit 22 senior Myanmar officials and family members with sanctions over the government’s crackdown on democracy protests after the coup. 

The action was accompanied by the removal of sanctions on three Iranian industrial executives whom the Trump administration penalised for supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program.

“The military’s suppression of democracy and campaign of brutal violence against the people of Burma are unacceptable,” it said. 

"The United States will continue to impose increasing costs on Burma’s military and promote accountability for those responsible for the military coup and ongoing violence, including by targeting sources of revenue for the military and its leaders.”

Among the officials targeted are Minister for Information Chit Naing, Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Aung Naing Oo, Minister for Labor, Immigration and Population Myint Kyaing, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Thet Thet Khine and three members of the State Administrative Council that the military set up after the coup.

The sanctions freeze any assets they or any companies they own may have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them.Treasury offered no explanation for the lifting of sanctions on the three Iranians, but administration officials have said previous similar removals were based solely on the targets no longer meeting the criteria for the penalties and were unrelated to indirect negotiations on salvaging the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.

Also Friday, Treasury issued a final rule revoking Trump-era sanctions against International Criminal Court prosecutors and staff. The rule, which will take effect on July 6 after its publication in the Federal Register, completes President Joe Biden's Apr 1 revocation of Trump's authorisation to impose sanctions on ICC officials involved in war crimes investigations into US citizens//CNA

Canadian warship HMCS Calgary by esquimalt mfrc - 

Canadian warship Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Calgary is making a visit to Jakarta from July 1-3 as it sails through the Indo-Pacific on Operation PROJECTION. 

In a release received by VOI RRI from the Canadian Embassy in Jakarta, Friday, the ship will conduct a cooperative deployment with the Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Bung Tomo on July 3 before heading to the coast of Australia where it will practice interoperability with Australian, American, and other regional partners during Exercise TALISMAN-SABRE. 

Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia, Cameron MacKay, accompanied by Canadian Ambassador to ASEAN, Diedrah Kelly, visited the ship at the Port of Tanjung Priok on Friday where they were both warmly welcomed by the ship’s crew who remained onboard the ship.

“The visit of the HMCS Calgary to Jakarta is a concrete demonstration of Canada’s growing partnership with Indonesia, and our joint commitment to peace, security, sustainability, and prosperity at home and abroad,” said Ambassador MacKay.  

“HMCS Calgary is very glad to have the opportunity to work with our Indonesian partners as we sail through the Indo-Pacific on Operation PROJECTION. Maintaining interoperability between our nations is important to ensuring regional peace and maritime security,” said Commander Mark O’Donohue, Commanding Officer HMCS Calgary.

HMCS Calgary has been deployed since February. On Operation PROJECTION they have so far visited Brunei, Vietnam, and Singapore and in the spring they travelled to Middle Eastern waters for the counter terrorism mission Operation ARTEMIS where they conducted maritime interdiction and security operations with the 34-nation coalition Combined Maritime Forces and Canadian-led Combined Task Force 150.

On Operation ARTEMIS, HMCS Calgary was incredibly successful and broke the record for largest heroin seizure, most amount of seizures, and most amount of illicit narcotics seized by any ship on a rotation in the history of the deployment. With the ending of Operation ARTEMIS, the ship is again on Operation PROJECTION.

HMCS Calgary’s deployment on Operation PROJECTION is a demonstration of Canada’s commitment to global peace and security and an opportunity to build ties and improve interoperability with partner nations. After Australia, the ship is scheduled to visit New Zealand and Fiji before returning to Canada in September//Release-VOI

A screenshot of BPOM head Penny K Lukito (left) making a virtual statement to reporters in Jakarta, Friday (July 2, 2021). (ANTARA/Andi Firdaus) - 

Moderna vaccines, secured by Indonesia under the Covax facility, will require special storage technology, head of the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM), Penny K Lukito, has said.

"Because Moderna will be the first messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine to be received in Indonesia, it will require special storage technology, including during the distribution process," she explained during a virtual press conference originating from Jakarta on Friday.

The Moderna vaccines will certainly require different handling compared to other vaccines such as AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Sinopharm, Lukito noted.

“(The) AstraZeneca (vaccine) is stored in a cold chain at a temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius, but this time (for Moderna), the technology is slightly different," she informed.

Indonesia has obtained the vaccines produced by ModernaTX in the United States through the Covax facility, a multilateral channel for distributing COVID-19 vaccines globally, she said.

Lukito assured that the special storage technology and distribution guidelines for the vaccine will be shared with Indonesia once the vaccines arrive

"Because these vaccines will be received from Covax, they will provide the vaccines along with the storage and distribution technology," she said.

According to Lukito, Moderna’s mRNA vaccines would have to be stored in a cold chain storage room at a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius in special containers.

"This technology will come together with the vaccine. This is a new treatment. With Moderna in Indonesia, there will be more other vaccines, such as Pfizer, that will also come to Indonesia in the near future," she said//ANT

BLT disbursal for eight million beneficiaries - 

The Indonesian government is expediting the disbursal of village fund cash transfers (BLT) for eight million beneficiaries to support them during the implementation of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM).

The distribution of village fund cash transfers will be critical during the emergency PPKM enforcement, particularly in the red zones with a high risk of COVID-19 transmission, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.

“(The village fund cash transfers) will be disbursed to poor or underprivileged residents in the villages, with the amount of money Rp300 thousand per beneficiary group per month; so it is projected to reach eight million beneficiary groups, with the total budget of Rp28.8 trillion,” Indrawati informed during an online press conference, originating from here on Friday.

Village funds to the tune of Rp72 trillion will be prioritized for the village fund transfers to assist poor residents in villages hit hard by COVID-19, she said. As of July 1, 2021, the village fund disbursal had reached 38.1 percent, or Rp27.41 trillion, of the total allocation, she explained.

Meanwhile, the realization of village funds allocated for village fund cash transfers stood at just Rp5.05 trillion, or 15.5 percent, of the target, while the number of family beneficiaries (KPM) receiving the funds stood at 5.02 million, the minister disclosed.

“It means, of the village funds, there is still a very adequate budget since only five million (people) have received (the monetary assistance) and only Rp5 trillion that has been spent,” Indrawati highlighted.

Of the total beneficiaries, 49.2 percent, or 2.46 million, will be farm workers; 4.32 percent, or 216.05 thousand, will be merchants and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); 3.31 percent, or 165.503 thousand, will be fishermen and fishing workers; 1.94 percent, or 96.99 thousand, will be factory workers; 0.9 percent, or 9.38 thousand, will be teachers; and, 31 percent, or 1.55 million, will belong to other groups, Indrawati informed.

To accelerate the disbursal of village fund cash transfers, the government will relax its receipt through beneficiary confirmation by reviewing poor residents in the villages based on beneficiary data collected in 2020 and allowing village committees the flexibility to add beneficiaries.

“The village fund cash transfers can also be disbursed on a quarterly basis and we will announce this new policy this month, so during the emergency PPKM, the public is able to receive the assistance on time,” Indrawati remarked//ANT