VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government has expressed its hopes that the ongoing evaluation of Timor Leste will result in its becoming a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"The process (East Timorese membership) has been going on for a long time, since 2011 to the present, and is still ongoing, so we hope that there will be positive movement and activities towards determining this outcome," the Foreign Ministry's Director General of ASEAN Cooperation, Jose Tavares, said here on Wednesday

Jose took note of the process that must be undertaken by Timor Leste to become a member of ASEAN.

"At this stage there is a process to send a team to look closely at East Timor's readiness, so that when this issue is discussed at the level of ASEAN heads of state, they can make political decisions to determine whether Timor Leste is eligible to become a member of ASEAN," he said.

The readiness assessment was carried out through independent studies of the conditions of Timor Leste in three main areas: security, socio-culture and economy.

"From this study, in general, positive recommendations were given for East Timor to become a member of ASEAN," he said.

However, Jose also said that the question of membership for Timor Leste would not be discussed this year, and there is still no target time for such a discussion. (ant) 

The Government of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) hopes that countries members of the Southeast Asian Nations Association (ASEAN) have a shared views in dealing with economic problems, especially trade war between the United States (US) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), because after all war trade has an impact on the economy in the ASEAN region.

"We should show a joint attitude and position so that it does not harm ASEAN member countries," said the Deputy Foreign Minister (Indonesian Foreign Minister) A.M. Fachir answered reporters after attending the Limited Meeting, at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (6/19) afternoon.

Earlier in his introduction to the limited meeting, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that in the ASEAN Summit, in Bangkok, Thailand, June 22-23, he would invite ASEAN countries to unite in anticipation of a trade war between the United States and China, so that economic stability in ASEAN is maintained.

"It is very important that we invite ASEAN countries to unite," said President Jokowi.

The Deputy Foreign Minister acknowledged, that the current ASEAN Summit was, among others, colored by rivalry, whether it was rivalry in the region or included in trade wars. Therefore, the Deputy Foreign Minister considered, the Indonesian Government's attempt to pass ASEAN Indo-Pacific Outlook was very strategic.

Meanwhile, concerning the resolution of problems in Myanmar, Vice Minister A.M. Fachir said the government would encourage ASEAN to help Myanmar prepare to receive the repatriation. Therefore, the Government of Indonesia hopes that later they will be able to adopt or agree on what has been done, including receiving an assessment that has been carried out by ASEAN.

Plastic waste

Regarding the problem of plastic waste, Foreign Minister A.M. Fachir believes that later there will be a document that contains an agreement so that ASEAN countries have the same attitude, cooperation to mitigate plastic waste.

Indonesia itself, explained the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, assessing the urgency of plastic waste to be appointed to the ASEAN Summit because it saw that Indonesia was a country with large seas, and had also felt its impact. (setkab) 

On 15th June 2019, in Bali, Indonesia, the representatives of the Governments of Timor-Leste, Indonesia, and Japan held the Second Working Level Meeting on TIJ Trilateral Cooperation in order to share the experience of Indonesia and Japan in formulating comprehensive ocean policy and to identify capacity building programs which are beneficial for Timor-Leste in various fields.

In the first session of the meeting, the representatives of Indonesia and Japan described their countries’ organizational structure to promote ocean policies and introduced the contents and the formulation process of the respective country’s ocean policies. Likewise, Timor-Leste presented its own draft of national ocean policy, which focusses on the principles, objective and implementation mechanism of the policy.

In the second session, the representatives of Indonesia and Japan described their possible cooperation programs which contribute to capacity building of Timor-Leste. The representative of Timor-Leste acknowledged with gratitude for the possibility of cooperation programs presented by both countries and briefed on the human resources development program of the country and made reference to the capacity building needs identified in its draft national ocean policy. Each session was followed by fruitful discussion among the three countries.

In addition, the representatives of the three countries concurred to follow up the result of this meeting and to hold the next meeting in due course. (kemenlu)

The debate on the government allowing foreign airlines to serve domestic flight routes still sparks controversy, particularly among tourism operators.

"Of course, the association of Indonesian dive tourism businesses warmly welcomes the step to curb high flight ticket costs," chief of the association's business section, Andi Makmur Ajie, said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The higher priced flight tickets has led to a significant drop in the number of dive tourists in several areas in Java, he said.

"When flight tickets were low, the round trip ticket (form Jakarta) to Biak was Rp7 million. This year the one-way ticket from Jakarta to Biak is Rp8 million," he said.

Due to ticket costs, the dive tourism industry suffered losses of 20 percent, he said. However, tour operator Rainier H Daulay did not share Andi's views.

"I doubt that foreign airlines will enter Indonesia. It will take years for them to make profits," said Dauly, who is also Deputy Chief of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI).

Higher flight tickets also resulted in hotels and restaurants suffering losses throughout the country, he said. 
However, he agreed that the government could lower taxes on domestic airlines, as part of efforts to lower ticket costs.

"Airline companies need high costs, though their profits are small. Instead of inviting foreign airlines, (the government) had better reduce their taxes for a certain period of time, until there is normal tariff," he said. (ant)