VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) is striving to ensure the fulfillment of children's basic rights to information and adequate spaces for participation through the Children's Friends Information Center (PISA) and Children's Forum.

"Some of the programs that we continue to intensify to fulfill children's basic rights to information and child-friendly participation spaces are PISA and the Children's Forum," PPPA Minister Bintang Puspayoga said in a statement on Monday.

PISA is a center where children can access books, storytelling, competitions, and play activities to support their growth and development.

Meanwhile, the Children's Forum is a platform for children to express their aspirations, ideas, and concerns about the development planning and implementation process.

Puspayoga said that amid the rapid development of the information technology, children have wider access to various forms of information through the digital devices that they use. This poses a serious threat to children.

Data and research have shown that almost all children and adolescents are vulnerable to exposure to online predators, cyberbullying, exploitation, harassment, and exposure to radical content.

"Children are the spearheads that will determine the continuity and success of Indonesia in the future," she stressed.

She said that ensuring that children get the appropriate information easily and quickly is a mandate of the Child Protection Law.

In this regard, the minister called for the strengthening of Child-Friendly Provinces by strengthening coordination and synchronization of efforts to fulfill the rights of children, especially the rights to appropriate information and participation, in all districts and cities.

"To ensure the effective implementation of the two programs (PISA and Children's Forum) and achieve their intended benefits, we must continue to promote collaboration," Puspayoga said. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Indonesian Government is preparing a strategy to address the decline in the country's position among the world's most prominent producers of halal pharmaceutical products, Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has said.

According to The State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2022, the global rank of Indonesia's halal pharmaceutical sector dove to ninth in 2022 from sixth in 2021, he noted.

"We surely need to pay close attention to this decline. We need to identify which countries overtook us, especially in the pharmacy sector, and how they could do so. It is necessary to map them out," Minister Kartasasmita said during the 2023 Indonesia Halal Industry Awards in Jakarta on Monday.

He also informed that he has instructed the head of the ministry's Center for Halal Industry's Empowerment (PPIH) to conduct due diligence.

"We need to carry out due diligence, so we have a benchmark and can launch a 'counter-attack' in the hopes of bringing back our position at least to the top six. Hopefully, in the future, we will ascend to the top five," he said.

The minister cited the report's findings that in terms of the halal food sector, Indonesia rose to second place in 2022 from the fourth position in 2021.

In the modest fashion sector, Indonesia remained in the third position during the 2021–2022 period, he noted.

However, in terms of the Islamic economy indicator, Indonesia still ranked fourth in the world during the period, the minister pointed out.

"Personally, I am not satisfied with (Indonesia) being in fourth place," he said.

He further said he expects that all relevant stakeholders will strengthen their collaboration and synergy to create an ecosystem that supports the growth of the national halal industry.

Indonesia is aiming to become the world's center for halal industry by achieving the target of certifying as many as 10 million products as halal by next year, he added. (Antaranews)

VOInews, Jakarta – Acting Minister of Agriculture Arief Prasetyo Adi said to avoid rice imports, the Indonesian government aims to increase rice production to 35 million tons by 2024.

"Next year, I am asking the director general of the Ministry of Agriculture to prepare 35 million tons of rice equivalent," Arief Prasetyo Adi was quoted as saying by ANTARA on Tuesday (24/10/2023).

He said that the production target for 2024 was higher than the 2023 target of 31 million tons. This increase is to ensure that Indonesia does not need to import rice to meet domestic demands.

According to the Area Sample Frame Survey (ASF) by Statistics Indonesia, the estimated rice harvest area in 2023 is 10.20 million hectares, with production projected to reach 53.63 million tons of grain, or equivalent to 30.90 million tons of rice. Meanwhile, rice consumption is estimated at 30.62 million tons, resulting in a surplus of 0.28 million tons of rice.

Acting Minister Arief said to achieve the target by increasing rice productivity from 5.2 tons per hectare to 5.4, 5.5, or even 5.7 tons per hectare.

He also noted that in order to meet the 2024 production target, the ministry, together with agriculture offices across Indonesia, needs to ensure the successful implementation of the first planting season of 2023-2024, which runs from November to March next year.

To achieve this, the guaranteed availability of seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, pest control, and agricultural extension workers has been identified as crucial.

"What is very important to achieve the rice production target is to build a strong food ecosystem," he said.

He also mentioned other efforts to pursue the target by providing agricultural insurance for farmers and agribusiness actors. As well as ensuring the readiness of regional leaders to address problems in the field and awarding agricultural agencies in provinces and districts that have succeeded in increasing production.

"We at the Ministry of Agriculture have also appointed regional focal points so that problems in the field and those faced by rice farmers can be addressed immediately. Therefore, optimizing the role of extension workers is also an important step," he added.

VOI, Jakarta - Pre-discharge test results released by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) show the third batch of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima to be discharged in the third round of Japan's nuclear wastewater disposal process to the sea contains carbon-14, cobalt 60, strontium-90, and several other types of radionuclides. TEPCO said that preparations for the third round in the process of discharging wastewater into the sea will begin after the second round is completed, and that relevant maintenance and confirmation operations have been carried out. This is despite growing concerns and resistance among local fishermen and from other countries.

After passing through the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) must enter measurement and confirmation facilities and await the results of pre-discharge testing before being discharged into the sea. The measurement and confirmation facility is divided into three groups of 10 tanks with each group used on a rotational basis as receiving tanks, measurement and confirmation tanks, and discharge tanks. Currently, the 10 tanks in Group B have been emptied in the first round of wastewater discharge that started on August 24.

Meanwhile, 10 tanks in Group C were confirmed to have met the discharge standards on September 21, and their discharge began on October 5. Sampling of nuclear wastewater stored in Group A tanks for the third round of disposal was completed on July 10. According to TEPCO's report on Thursday (Oct 19), the analysis results showed that the wastewater contained trace amounts of carbon-14, cobalt 60, strontium-90, iodine-129, and cesium-137, with strontium-90 not detected in the second round of discharge on Oct 5.

TEPCO claims that its ALPS facility, a multinuclide removal system, can remove 62 radioactive substances except tritium. However, it was found that about 70 percent of the water in the waste storage tanks contained non-tritium radionuclides at concentrations exceeding regulatory standards for discharge into the natural environment. (VOI)