VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin. ANTARA/Vice Presidential Secretariat

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said digital technology has helped Indonesia pass through the difficult time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, economic, government, educational, and social communication activities continued to run thanks to digital technology, he said in a written statement released on Sunday.

"Innovations in the use of digital technology have actually been ongoing since some time ago and have been accelerated globally due to the pandemic. The pandemic has compelled us to adapt (to the existing condition) and spur literacy and technology use," he said while addressing the digital business forum of Nahdliyin Business Association (HPN) held virtually in Bali on March 26-28, 2021.

He said the "forced" process of adapting to the current condition and increasing literacy and technology use has eliminated all hindrances related to age, gender, geography, and educational level.

"Now we are part of global digital community," he said.

The vice president further highlighted the development of sharia economy.The government is strongly committed to developing sharia economy, focusing on developing halal industry, sharia financial industry, sharia social fund, and developing and expanding sharia business.

All these will drive micro small businesses to become stronger as part of global value chain.

He further encouraged HPN to build inclusive cooperation with various stakeholders, including regional government, industry, technology supplier, small and large businesses to boost the growth of sharia business centers across Indonesia.

"I call on all sides to develop incubation centers to help would-be businessmen at all levels in many regions," he said//ANT

A tectonic quake struck Balige, capital of Toba district, on Saturday (March 27, 2021). (ANTARA/HO)

A 5.0-magnitude earthquake rattled Toba district, North Sumatra at 3.46 p.m. Western Indonesia Time (WIB) on Saturday, according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

Judging by the epicenter and hypocenter depth, the quake was caused by subduction activity, chief of BMKG's Earthquake and Tsunami Center, Bambang Setiyo Prayitno, said in a written statement received on Saturday.

The epicenter of the quake was located on land 11 kilometers northwest of Balige, capital of Toba district, at a depth of 137 kilometers.The quake could likely have been felt by people on a Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale I-II in Samosir, he said. A quake of MMI-II was felt by some people and caused light hanging articles to shake, he added.

A quake of 5.0 magnitude is considered moderate and capable of causing considerable damage.

Indonesia sits on the geographically active Pacific Ring of Fire and holds about 40 percent of the world's geothermal reserves.

The Ring of Fire, or the Circum-Pacific belt, is the world’s biggest earthquake belt owing to fault lines running from Chile to Japan and Southeast Asia, according to Live Science//ANT

Army personnel and local residents in Papua work together to create a simple water purification device. (ANTARA News Papua/HO-Pendam XVII/Cenderawasih)

Several Indonesian army personnel recently shared and transferred knowledge on building a simple water purification device with residents of Kurima Sub-district, Yahukimo District, Papua Province, to enable them to get easy access to clean water.

With the water purification device, locals residing in the sub-district's mountainous area will no longer encounter difficulties in finding clean water, according to a military officer.

This simple device was made by using materials that the locals could easily find around them, Kurima Sub-district Security Post Second Lieutenant Denis Akbar stated here on Saturday.

"Materials used for this simple water purification device include sand, gravel, and charcoal," Akbar remarked.

Army personnel involved in this community service are part of the task force unit of the Army Strategic Reserves Command's (Kostrad's) Para Raider 432 Infantry Battalion.Speaking in connection with this community service, the Kurima community leader, Elius, 65, expressed gratitude to the army personnel for the transfer of knowledge on making the water purification device.

Local community members often encounter difficulties in finding sources of clean water for their daily consumption, but the water purification device has brought about changes, he pointed out.

"We no longer faced problems in getting clean water, and we can practice leading a healthier and cleaner lifestyle," Elius remarked.

ANTARA noted that Indonesian soldiers in Papua and West Papua are necessitated to multitask, as the government works incessantly to address the issue of regional disparities in development between them and other provinces.To this end, soldiers deployed in these two eastern provinces are mandated to be responsive in seeking solutions to problems and challenges faced by Papuan communities in their daily lives.

The soldiers are required to play the role of problem solvers for the local communities amid their central task to defend the country's territorial integrity and guard the safety of all Indonesians.

Sharing land and sea borders with Papua New Guinea (PNG), Papua and West Papua's geopolitical and geostrategic positions are indubitably important for Indonesia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The development of human resources in Papua and West Papua remains a tricky challenge, as the Human Development Index scores of these provinces remains lower than that of other provinces in Indonesia.Referring to Indonesia's 2019 Human Development Index, Papua and West Papua recorded scores of 64.7 and 60.84 respectively.

The literacy-related community services offered by Indonesian soldiers since several years have contributed notably to the regional and central government's endeavors to enhance the quality of human capital in Papua and West Papua//ANT

President Joko Widodo, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo observed the vaccination of inter-faith figures at Central Java Grand Mosque in Semarang, Central Java(ANTARA/HO- Humas Pemprov Jateng)

Micro-scale Public Activity Restrictions (PPKM) and the national vaccination program are the key to containing the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto stated.

"The declining curve of national active cases, both in terms of the number and percentage, as well as the increasing number of recoveries are the positive outcomes of the implementation of micro-scale PPKM in the past 10 weeks," Hartarto noted in an official statement released on Saturday.

As of March 25, 2021, Indonesia had registered 1,482,559 COVID-19 cases, with a positivity rate of 11.49 percent and the number of national active cases at 8.45 percent, far below the global active cases at 17.06 percent.

The nation’s fatality rate was recorded at 2.7 percent and recovery rate at 88.85 percent. The global fatality rate was recorded at 2.2 percent and recovery rate at 8074 percent.The implementation of PPKM was expanded to the five provinces of South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Nusa Tenggara from March 23 to April 5.

"Looking ahead, it (the implementation of micro PPKM) will surely be stepped up and its criteria will be further tightened in accordance with the directives of President Joko Widodo. In addition, micro-scale PPKM will be expanded to five provinces after April 5 based on the existing data," he noted.

In the meantime, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin remarked that the number of Indonesian COVID-19 vaccine recipients would soon reach 10 million. The number of people inoculated against COVID-19 has currently reached 500 thousand per day.

The minister noted that 15 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available from the end of March to April 2021.Based on the pandemic analysis using regression in the past three weeks, 77,193,705 doses of vaccine will be administered until the end of June 2021, while the total vaccine supplies being projected to reach 92,734,971 doses, he remarked.

The Sinopharm vaccine could be administered under the self-funded vaccination program in April 2021, and the health minister will soon issue a regulation on technical guidance for the use of the vaccine.

The government had earlier extended the micro-scale PPKM from March 23 through April 5 and expanded its implementation to five provinces: South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Nusa Tenggara.

"The implementation of micro-scale PPKM was expanded from March 23 to April 5 to the areas of South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Nusa Tenggara," Hartarto affirmed.The 10 provinces of North Sumatra, Banten, West Java, Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, East Kalimantan, and South Sulawesi already enforce the PPKM//ANT