VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Speaker of the House of Representatives Puan Maharani. ANTARA/HO-Indonesian House of Representatives/aa - 

House of Representatives speaker Puan Maharani ensured that the parliament had consistently fought for labor interests by pushing the government to involve labor groups in discussing regulations derived from the Job Creation Law.

These regulations include those regarding wage, work relations, and job loss insurance, as well as foreign manpower.

"It is the House's commitment to consistently fight for labor interests. We are keen to see the Indonesian economy recover and the welfare for the Indonesian labor improve," according to a press statement made by Maharani at the commemoration of International Labor Day received here, Saturday.

The politician urged employers to fulfil the rights of their employees, particularly in connection with the holiday employee benefits, popularly called THR, in line with the implemented government regulation that this year's benefit around the Eid Al-Fitr holiday be paid in full and on time.

The policy on the benefit this year is slightly different from that of last year when leeways were granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The government should conduct active surveillance to ensure that companies are paying holiday benefits to their employees," she affirmed.

Maharani is also optimistic of the economy bouncing back and of job vacancies opening up wider and for higher absorption of manpower.

The speaker admitted to being concerned after finding out that the wages and workload of several workers were reduced, and some were also dismissed and their work contract terminated owing to the difficult times faced by companies reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Happy Labor Day. I hope this year would be the year of our awakening towards a more prosperous and advanced Indonesia," she remarked//ANT

Broken undersea cables disrupt PT Telkom's services in Jayapura - 

The services offered by state-owned telecommunication enterprise PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) to its customers in Jayapura City and the districts of Jayapura and Sarmi, Papua Province, got disrupted since Friday after its undersea cables broke.

"We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers,” Head of the PT Telkom-Papua Office Sugeng Widodo told ANTARA in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Saturday.

This state-owned telecommunication giant's undersea fiber optic cables, located between Sarmi and Biak, reportedly broke since Friday evening.

Consequently, PT Telkom's services for Jayapura and the districts of Jayapura and Sarmi got disrupted, though customers in other areas were not affected, Widodo remarked, adding that the company would require a month’s time to solve the problem.

To handle this technical problem, the company's affected customers were partly served through satellite-based services, though they were not optimally served//ANT

Eurozone suffers double-dip recession as pandemic impact continues - 

The eurozone's economy has fallen back into recession as the impact of the pandemic continues to hit activity. Europe's economies have been set back by a renewed surge in infections this year and Covid-related restrictions.

The eurozone shrank by 0.6% in the January-to-March period - the second consecutive contraction, which is a widely-used definition of a recession.

It is the second such episode, a so-called double-dip recession, since the onset of the pandemic.

However, among the national economies that have reported data so far, that pattern was repeated only by Italy.

Other countries reported some growth in one or other of the last two quarters.

The French economy did grow in the first three months of this year, by 0.4%, after a decline at the end of 2020, although the rebound was described by the national statistical agency as "limited".

In Germany it was the other way around, with some growth in the fourth quarter of last year and a sharp decline - of 1.7% - revealed by the latest figures.

Claus Vistesen of Pantheon Macroeconomics says the economy was stung by a value added tax (VAT) hike which led to a fall in spending and construction.

A temporary VAT cut in Germany - intended to support the economy during the pandemic - came to an end at the turn of the year.

Andrew Kenningham of Capital Economics also pointed to supply disruptions hitting Germany's large manufacturing sector, especially the motor industry.

Looking ahead, this weak performance is expected to improve as vaccination programmes allow further easing of restrictions and support consumer confidence. That will be especially important in southern Europe where many businesses need to see a recovery in tourism//BBC

PT Angkasa Pura I's employees. ANTARA/Angkasa Pura I - 

A total of 7,206 employees at 15 airports under PT Angkasa Pura I and the headquarters of this state-owned airport operator had been administered the COVID-19 vaccine as of April 29, 2021.

"Until the end of this April, more employees of PT Angkasa Pura I will have received the shots of the COVID-19 vaccine," the aiport operator's president director, Faik Fahmi, remarked.

The vaccine recipients comprise the company's front liners, including those serving airport customers, Fahmi noted in a statement that ANTARA quoted here Saturday.

PT Angkasa Pura I manages the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Juanda International Airport, Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport, Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman International Airport, and Frans Kaisiepo International Airport.

Sam Ratulangi International Airport, Syamsudin Noor International Airport, Achmad Yani International Airport, Adisucipto International Airport, Adisumarmo International Airport, Lombok International Airport, Pattimura International Airport, El Tari International Airport, Yogyakarta International Airport, and Sentani International Airport are also managed by PT Angkasa Pura I.

Fahmi noted that his employees' participation in the government's national vaccination program had demonstrated the company's seriousness in aiding to expedite the implementation of the program and restore public confidence in its airport services.

The company, so far, has 9,456 employees of which 76 percent were inoculated, he confirmed.

Indonesia has been making all-out efforts to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since March last year.

To contain the spread of the lethal virus, the government has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program since January 13 this year.

The Health Ministry pegs the vaccination of 181.5 million people under the national program to take 15 months.

The time frame for conducting the vaccination extends from January 2021 to March 2022.

During that period, the government is targeting to inoculate some 181.5 million people, comprising 1.3 million paramedics and 17.4 million public sector workers in 34 provinces.

The first phase of the government's immunization program is segregated into two periods: January-April 2021 and April 2021-March 2022. 

As of April 30, 2021, the number of COVID-19 vaccine recipients for the second shots had reached 7,629,859, while 12,385,886 had received the first shots, according to the health ministry’s data.

Even amid vaccine rollouts, Indonesia has been grappling from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic that has crippled nations worldwide.

Indonesia’s public health and economy have been dealt a major blow from the coronavirus disease crisis, with some sectors, including travel and tourism, been battered by the pandemic.

To revive the tourism sector, the Indonesian government is eyeing to apply a travel bubble scheme with some countries.

In the first stage of its implementation, the Indonesia-Singapore travel corridor will officially open to enable travel for people between Singapore and Bintan, Riau Islands//ANT