VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The United Nations calls for a global ban on wildlife markets. This is important to be implemented to prevent the emergence of a pandemic in the future. Acting Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention for Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema said countries must prevent future pandemics by banning "wet markets" that sell wild and dead wild animals for human consumption. Mrema when interviewed by the Guardian recently said it would be good to ban the live animal market as did China and several countries. But banning the wild animal market can also open up the possibility of illegal wildlife trade. Some species are on the verge of extinction due to this practice. Mrema believes that there really needs to be an alternative solution to overcome this situation//REP

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought several countries to a near standstill, as activities involving the congregation of public, including music concerts, sports games, conferences, tourism bourses, and festivals, are either postponed or cancelled. The fourth simultaneous regional head elections (pilkada), earlier scheduled for September this year, was another major event that was postponed owing to the coronavirus outbreak. The simultaneous pilkada was planned to be held in 270 regions across the country to elect governors in nine provinces, district heads in 224 districts, and mayors in 37 cities on September 23, 2020. The number of eligible voters in the fourth pilkada reached at least 105 million. The decision to postpone pilkada was made during a hearing of Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR), with attendees comprising officials of the Home Affairs Ministry, Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU), General Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and the Code of Ethic Council for the Implementation of Elections (DKPP) in Jakarta on March 30, 2020//Ant

Indonesia's official reserve assets stood at US$121 billion, as of March-end 2020, $9.4 billion lower, from the position of $130.4 billion recorded at the end of February 2020. Executive Director of the Bank Indonesia (BI) Communication Department Onny Widjanarko noted in a statement in Jakarta, Tuesday that the position of official reserve assets was equivalent to finance 7.2 months of imports or seven months of imports and servicing government’s external debt, which is well above the international adequacy standard of three months of imports. According to BI, the official reserve assets are sufficient to finance import and debt service payments as well as the need to stabilize the rupiah exchange rate.The decline in official reserve assets in March 2020 was influenced by factors including the government external debt payments and stabilization of the rupiah exchange rate amid extraordinary conditions owing to panic in global financial markets triggered by the rapid and widespread effect of the COVID-19 pandemic globally. The fear has induced capital outflow and augmented exchange rate pressures on the rupiah, especially in the second and third week of March 2020. Stabilization measures and policy mix reinforcement by BI as well as close coordination with the government and Financial Services Authority (OJK) have facilitated market conditions to gradually recover, and market mechanisms have resumed since the last week of March 2020//Ant

President Joko Widodo emphasized that social assistance to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic should be disbursed swiftly and precisely to the people in dire need. The President remarked while opening a limited teleconference meeting at the Bogor Presidential Palace, Tuesday that the implementation should be right on target. Data of the beneficiary groups is also by name and address, so that it is precise and accurate. Neighborhood units and community unit heads, village heads, and local governments should be involved in the disbursement of social assistance. The head of state also requested that assistance through social safety net intervention should be disbursed quickly, by circumventing difficult bureaucratic processes. The President urged ministries to ensure that benefits from the social assistance program should also be felt by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); groceries traders at traditional markets; and motorbike transportation businesses//Ant