VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

photo : cendananews

Chairman of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI), Atal S. Depari, emphasized that coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic by the mass media, should be informative and comforting to the people. As quoted by Antara News, he stated at a press conference of the Task Force for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Handling, broadcasted through the BNPB YouTube account in Jakarta, Friday that the Association will continue to tirelessly remind our fellow journalists to not be coquettish in their reporting. Depari noted that some media platforms came up with headlines that differed from the content of the reported news, with the sole intention to grab the public’s attention. Such practice of journalism is worrisome, as it could mislead people, especially those only skimming through headlines without reading the news content//ANT

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Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Erick Thohir, on Friday said all state-owned companies are ready to implement the new normal protocols. As quoted by Antara, the minister said during a virtual discussion in Jakarta, that the government target to have the protocols prepared for SOEs was May 25, 2020, but the government ended up completing the task on May 27. The government can only imagine the scenario if it implements the new normal on June 5, but the government is not ready, that is why did designing of protocols first. He further said state-owned enterprises would need to anticipate the new normal, considering they account for a third of the national economy//ANT

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Some 104,000 Indonesians have returned from abroad in the wake of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, according to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. The number rose by 4,676 as compared to a week earlier, Marsudi noted during a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday as quoted by Antara. Meanwhile, 8,256 Indonesian crew members of foreign-registered ships returned from 23 nations via Jakarta and Bali, increasing by 1,302 from the previous week, she pointed out. Marsudi stated that the number of Indonesians returning from 33 countries apart from crew members of foreign-registered ships and those from Malaysia rose by 864 to reach 6,472 as compared to the week ago. The government will continue to extend humanitarian assistance to Indonesian citizens impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic abroad//ANT

photo : the jakarta post

Indonesia has started cloud seeding to induce rain, as the archipelago moves to head off annual forest fires blamed for blanketing swathes of Southeast Asia in toxic haze. Authorities deployed tens of thousands of personnel and water-bombing aircraft to tackle the fires, which are intentionally set to clear land for agriculture -- including on palm oil and pulp plantations. Over the past two weeks, Indonesia has started cloud seeding -- a technique that uses chemicals to induce rain -- in hotspot Riau province on Sumatra, with plans to roll it out in other parts of the island and in Borneo. The operations were to last throughout the dry season, which is expected to end around September. Tri Handoko Seto at the government-backed Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) said that they are taking this step before the forest fires start. The initial focus would be on swampy, carbon-rich peatlands which become highly flammable when they are drained of water to grow crops//JP/AFP