VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Head of the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) Research Felippa Ann Amanta encourages the government to provide incentives for innovative business entities in creating environmentally friendly packaging to improve food safety.

"Provide incentives for the private sector to encourage alternative innovations from plastics that are suitable for food, through subsidies for research and a reduction in the tax value for companies that innovate," Felippa said in a webinar, on Thursday.

She said this is in line with local regulations on reducing plastic bags in shopping centers, shops, supermarkets, and public markets or traditional markets, therefore, the government needs to consider the readiness of food vendors and online delivery food to adapt.

She said that efforts by the private sector to provide reusable airtight bags for online food delivery drivers/couriers are still lacking.

"The central and local governments must provide incentives to the private sector, including MSMEs, to encourage sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging," she said.

Felippa said that public consumption, especially during a pandemic has shifted to processed and ultra-processed products, especially in urban communities.

In the period 2020-2024, there is an estimated 11.5 percent increase in online food delivery, especially because people are increasingly concerned with efficiency and safety.

Felippa reminded that based on existing regulations, business actors, or third parties such as delivery partners have to guarantee the condition of processed product packaging during delivery is intact and undamaged.

"We need options that are more environmentally friendly and more weather resistant, and we need options that are affordable for MSMEs so that they can also contribute to this eco-friendly movement," she added.

She recommends environmentally friendly biodegradable packaging, such as from cassava or seaweed.

Rahmawati, head of waste management in Jakarta Environment Agency, stated that her party was drafting a regulation that would provide incentives so that business actors and the public were more enthusiastic about not using single-use plastic bags anymore.

Jakarta Government has required the use of Environmentally Friendly Bags starting July 1, 2020. Rahmawati stated that her party will continue to supervise its implementation as well as continuous education in every mass media.

"The challenges we face in this regard are that it takes time, paradigm, and continuous collaboration," she said.

Rahmawati reminded that in 2019, 7,702 tons per day were recorded to be transported to the Bantargebang landfill, of which about 30 percent was plastic. (Antaranews)

The Ministry of Communication and Information said that the Satellite of the Republic of Indonesia (Satria), which is targeted to operate in 2023, will strengthen the transformation of the digital economy, including digitization of payment systems, especially in areas not yet reached by internet networks.

"The acceleration of digital transformation, directly and indirectly, supports the digital payment ecosystem during the pandemic and post-pandemic," Dedi Permadi, Special Staff to the Minister of Communication and Information said in a webinar in Jakarta, on Thursday.

He said this effort was carried out partly because of the great potential of digital economic growth, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which encourages humans to adapt more quickly to the digital ecosystem.

During the pandemic or only in April 2020, he said, the total number of purchase using the digital payment system reached 4.3 million, with total transactions reaching Rp. 17.6 trillion.

This potential is driving the acceleration of digital transformation which is also expected to support the performance of small and medium businesses since only around 14.8 percent or 9.4 million small and medium businesses are utilizing digital transactions and businesses.

Even so, he admitted that telecommunications technology infrastructure in Indonesia still needs to be boosted considering that there are still areas that are not covered by the fourth generation of the internet or 4G networks in the country.

"There are 479 thousand Base Transceiver Station across Indonesia, but that is not enough because Indonesia's area is so large," he said.

He detailed that out of 83,218 villages and sub-districts, there were 12,548 villages that had not been reached by adequate 4G signals, so that it became homework that needed to be completed until 2022.

Then, he continued, there were 150 thousand public service points where there were no adequate internet facilities such as health, banking, and government services.

"This is what we hope the completion of telecommunication infrastructure can be completed and we hope that Satria Satellite can operate in the third quarter of 2023," he added.

Dedi said that on Sep. 3, the cooperation between the ministry and US-based space company SpaceX will be signed on the deployment of the Satria Satellite. The satellite is planned to launch in 2023 with the Elon Musk's space transportation company as the manufacturer for the satellite shuttle. (Antaranews)

Jakarta (VOI News) - The Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, on Wednesday (2/9), summoned the Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia to clarify the news about the prohibition of long term pass holders from the Philippines, Indonesia, and India.

Malaysian Government stated on Monday that the country will prohibit long term pass holders of the three countries from entering the country's territory to prevent imported cases of Covid-19. The policy will take effect from September 7, 2020.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Teuku Faizasyah said that his party was aware of this policy from reports in the media in Jakarta via short messages on Wednesday (2/9).

Teuku said the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned the Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia, Zainal Abidin Bakar, to clarify the news.

"For this reason, today (Wednesday), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia to provide clarification and has summoned him to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask for clarification on the news," Teuku said.

Teuku added that the Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Zainal Abidin Bakar would convey the results of the talks to the Malaysian government and inform them that the policy was temporary and would be reviewed every week.

Responding to the Malaysian government's policy that prohibits holders of long-term residence permits (long term pass) from Indonesia from entering Malaysian territory, Teuku said the government urged Indonesian citizens not to make overseas visits except for very urgent needs.

"Indonesia again urges Indonesian citizens not to travel abroad, except for very, very urgent and unavoidable needs. But we will see the developments in Malaysia, and we will certainly provide some kind of notification through the travel advisory mechanism owned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Teuku said.

Teuku Faizasyah further said that overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic requires good cooperation and communication between countries.

According to Teuku Faizasyah, Indonesia and Malaysia are ASEAN member countries, even the founders of ASEAN, so that the spirit of ASEAN must be manifested in cooperation in handling COVID-19. (VOI / AHM)

Minister of Research and Technology (Menristek) Bambang PS Brodjonegoro said that the D614G mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus type that causes Covid-19 will not interfere with efforts to develop a vaccine to ward off the disease.

"The effect of D614G, in essence, will not interfere with vaccine development efforts because this mutation does not cause changes in the structure or function of the RBD, the receptor-binding domain, which is part of the spike virus that is the target of the vaccine," said Bambang at the Covid-19 Task Force virtual press conference, in Jakarta, Wednesday.

"So, it means that efforts to develop the Red and White vaccine and other vaccines will not be disturbed by the presence of this D614G mutation," he added.

Head of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology Amin Soebandrio said that mutations cause changes in the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, but did not interfere with the RBD virus that was the target of the vaccine.

"Changes caused by this mutation, however, occur in spike proteins but at different locations so that the receptor-binding domain is not disturbed and as long as the vaccine is aimed at RBD, it will not interfere with the performance of the vaccine," he said.

Bambang reminded the public not to over-panic because of information about the mutations that occur in the coronavirus, but to remain vigilant with discipline in implementing health protocols to prevent transmission of COVID-19. (Antaranews)