VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

People walk along the transit hall at Changi Airport, Singapore on Jan 7, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)

Singapore will suspend reciprocal green lane (RGL) arrangements with Malaysia, Germany, South Korea for three months from Monday (Feb 1).

In a statement released on Saturday morning (Jan 30), Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said: "The Government of Singapore regularly reviews its border measures to manage the risk of importation and onward local transmission of COVID-19 from travellers.

"Given the resurgence of COVID-19 cases worldwide, the Government of Singapore will be suspending the Reciprocal Green Lane arrangements with Germany, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea, for a period of three months beginning from Monday, 1 February 2021, 0001hrs. 

"The Government of Singapore will review the Reciprocal Green Lane arrangements at the end of the suspension period. Travellers who have already been approved to enter Singapore under these Reciprocal Green Lanes can continue to do so," the statement added.

MFA added that the Singapore Government will continue to monitor the global situation and adjust border measures to manage the risk of importation and transmission to the community. 

"Any changes to border measures will be updated on the safe travel website. Travellers are advised to visit the website to check for the most updated border measures," it said.

Singapore still has ongoing RGL schemes with Brunei and selected cities in mainland China -Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhejiang. 

Singapore earlier suspended RGL arrangements with Indonesia and Japan in December when the two countries announced temporary bans on the entry of foreign nationals (Indonesia) and non-resident foreign nationals (Japan). 

Given the reciprocal nature of the arrangement, travellers from Indonesia and Japan are also not allowed to apply for travel to Singapore under the RGL.

The RGL arrangement allow residents of countries in the scheme to conduct short-term travel for essential business and official purposes in Singapore for up to 14 days.

Travellers must test negative for COVID-19 before they travel and undergo another test on arrival. They must remain isolated until test results are released and are required to follow a controlled itinerary for the duration of their stay//CNA

Papuan children and TNI members (ANTARA News Papua/HO-Pendam XVII/Cenderawasih)

Population in the Indonesian province of Papua currently reached 4.30 million, or rose by some 1.47 million, from that in 2010, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

The current figure of the province's total population was based on the outcome of the 2020 Population Census, Head of the BPS-Papua Office Adriana Helena Carolina stated here on Saturday.

The province's annual population growth rate is recorded at around 4.13, or still exceeds Indonesia's average population growth rate that stands at 1.25 percent, she stated.

Some 92.83 percent of Papua's total population, or equal to 3.99 million people, have residential address as stipulated in their Family Cards (KK) and Identity Cards (KTP), Carolina pointed out.Meanwhile, the remaining 7.17 percent, or 308 thousand residents, live in places whose addresses do not match with those mentioned on their KK and KTP, she remarked, adding that this fact revealed that the migration rate was high enough.

The result of last year's population census also demonstrated that members of the so-called Millennial and Z generations constituted the vast majority of Papua's population, she remarked.

The millennials comprise 32.09 percent of Papua's total population, while those from the Z generation constitute 30.38 percent of the province's total populace.

The 1.37 million millennials are all categorized as those from the productive age group, while 1.30 million members of the Z generation are from the unproductive and productive age brackets.Some seven years after 2021, those belonging to the Z generation will all have reached the productive age group.

This reality would present opportunities and challenges since they would potentially become the actors of Papua's future development, she remarked.

The BPS recorded that 54.1 million Indonesians had registered for last year's population census conducted online from February 15, 2020, to May 29, 2020.

"This number is very large since it is equivalent to almost twice as much as Australia's population. It is a very encouraging achievement, bearing in mind that this is the first population census conducted online in Indonesia," BPS Head Suhariyanto stated on August 31, 2020//ANT

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) installed Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as chief concurrently member and four other members of the Supervisory Board of Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) or Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday (Jan 27, 2021) ANTARA/BMI-Setpres/pri. (ANTARA/BMI-Setpres)

The Indonesian government is determined to continue infrastructure development across the country despite the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic that has severely impacted the economy.

Since the start of his first term in October, 2014, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has prioritized national infrastructure development to strengthen connectivity, economic growth, and national unity.

With the nation facing economic difficulty owing to the pandemic, a gap has emerged between development demand and the availability of funding resources. Hence, the Widodo administration has been exploring ways to attract foreign investment to finance infrastructure development projects, as well as support economic recovery efforts.

According to Widodo, a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) would serve as a breakthrough in these endeavors and help the nation attract funding.On January 27, 2021, Widodo installed the Finance Minister as chairman and appointed four other members of the Supervisory Board of SWF, termed the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), based on Presidential Decree Number 6/P of 2021 on the appointment of membership of the Investment Authority Supervisory Board.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has been appointed as chairman and member of the INA. The other members are Minister of State-owned Enterprises (SOEs / BUMN) Erick Thohir, Darwin Cyril Noerhadi, Yozua Makes, and Haryanto Sahari.

On December 15, 2020, the President had issued three governmental regulations on the establishment of Indonesia’s SWF, as mandated in the country’s first omnibus law, Law No. 11 Year 2020 on Job Creation.The objective of INA will be to increase and optimize long-term investment to support sustainable development, according to Article 5 of the Law. INA will serve as a legal entity answerable to the President and have special authority to represent the sovereign Indonesian government.

The INA is expected to grab investment opportunities and become an alternative solution for development financing.

To kick-start the fund, the INA will channel an initial US$5 billion in cash and stocks in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The additional capital will be in the form of state enterprises' assets, and the INA will cooperate with strategic foreign investor partners that facilitate the entry of overseas funds into the country as equity, and not as debt.The advantages include the fact that INA will focus on capital maximization; its management will follow international business practices; its economic objectives will be in balance with its commercial benefits; it will have a strong legal basis and flexibility in carrying out investment; it will have the capability to capture the appetite of foreign investors; and, lastly, professional and independent management.

As for its objectives, the INA is expected to optimize the central government’s investment value and increase foreign direct investment (FDI).In the meantime, Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara has said Indonesia's SWF is different from those established in other countries.

"The main logic of Indonesia's SWF is different from the SWFs in other countries. The logic of Indonesia's SWF is that we want to invite foreign direct investment (FDI), or foreign funds, if I call it," he said during the BRI Group Outlook 2021 webinar on January 28, 2021.

The influx of foreign funds into Indonesia, through the INA, would not be considered as debt, but as equity, so Indonesia would offer a form of stimulus to investors, he noted.

"Foreign funds (would) enter Indonesia not as debt, but as equity. Hence, to attract the entry of funds as equity, Indonesia provides a kind of bait," he explained.

Nazara said he is optimistic that the later portfolio as equity would not be short-term, but long-term.

"This is what has been thought that how the SWF will design which projects to be offered as joint venture and which projects that can really become a game-changer from long-term development funding," he expounded//ANT

PT DI’s Super Puma NAS332 C1+ was handed over to the Indonesian Air Force at PT DI's Rotary Wing Hangar in Bandung, West Java, on Friday (January 29, 2021). (ANTARA/HO-Humas PT DI )

State-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) on Friday delivered a Super Puma NAS332 C1+ helicopter, ordered by the Defense Ministry in 2019, to the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU).

PT DI commercial director Ade Yuyu Wahyuna saw off the helicopter's ferry flight from the company's Rotary Wing Hangar in Bandung, West Java, to Air Squadron 6 of the Atang Sendjaja Airbase in Bogor, West Java.

“With the ferry flight, we hope (the helicopter) will assist the TNI AU in implementing and accomplishing its duties smoothly to maintain the strength of the Indonesian Air Force,” Wahyuna said in a written statement.

PT DI and the Defense Ministry inked a contract for the procurement of the helicopter on April 12, 2019, with TNI AU as the end user.

PT DI's Super Puma NAS332 C1+ helicopter is equipped with an avionic glass cockpit, an attitude heading and reference system (AHRS), optic sensors, and a flight management system (FMS).PT DI's Super Puma NAS332 C1+ helicopter is equipped with an avionic glass cockpit, an attitude heading and reference system (AHRS), optic sensors, and a flight management system (FMS).

It comes with instruments that can be used by pilots to control the flight plan — an SAR direction finder to catch emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal, compatible night flight capability with night vision goggles (NVG), a weather radar, and emergency floatation to allow emergency landing above water.

Wahyuna said the Super Puma NAS-332 C1+ is capable of flying for four hours, with a maximum speed of 306 km/hour.

It can carry 18 soldiers and three crew members (a pilot, a co-pilot, and an air navigator). It is a multipurpose helicopter which can be used for military, cargo, and paratroop transport, medical evacuation, as well as VIP service.The helicopter is equipped with a hoist on its right door side to pull or evacuate victims. It also has a sling for carrying goods or tactical vehicles, with a maximum weight of 4.5 tons//ANT