Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) announced that it suffered a tremendous loss in the passing of its senior spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, who died of lung cancer while being treated at an hospital in Guangzhou, China, on early Sunday.

The BNPB received the sad news from Sutopo's wife and his son's Twitter account, the agency's public relations division revealed in its press statement that ANTARA received here on Sunday.

Sutopo who was confirmed by doctors to get lung cancer in December 2017 passed away at around 02:20 a.m. Guangzhou's time or 01:20 a.m. Jakarta's time after being treated at the Chinese city's St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital since June 15.

The cancer that he suffered had spread to his body's bones and several other vital internal organs. However, despite his serious illness, Sutopo remained committed to his professional work as the agency's spokesperson.

Amid his ongoing endeavor to receive medical treatment, he still held regular press briefings to update information on the impact and mitigation efforts of such catastrophic disasters as the Lombok and Palu earthquakes and tsunamis, BNPB said.

"We all suffer a tremendous loss in the passing of Mr.Sutopo. May the Almighty, Allah Subhana Wa Taala accepts his good deeds, and enable the mourning families to cope with this loss and grief patiently," the BNPB said. (ANTARA)

The Head of Data Information and Public Relations Center for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, has passed away on Sunday, July 7, 2019, at around 01:00 Western Indonesia Time (WIB) at 49 years old. The Head of the TU Pusdatinmas Division of BNPB, Yahya, confirmed this when contacted by Tempo on Sunday morning (7/7) . Even so, Yahya had not been able to ascertain when Sutopo’s body will be brought back to Indonesia. He said Sutopo's family is still communicating with the Indonesian Embassy in China.

Sutopo was known to have departed for Guangzhou, China, to treat his lung cancer which was getting worse. He announced his departure from Soekarno Hatta Airport to China through a vlog (video blog recording) and uploaded it on his Instagram account on June 15, 2019. At that time, Sutopo also said that the cancer cells had spread to many other bones and organs inside of him. (tempo)

South Kalimantan hosted the peak of the 26th National Family Day 2019. The 2019 National Family Day which was held in the South Kalimantan Provincial Office complex, Banjarbaru, Saturday (06/07) was attended by Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Puan Maharani and Indonesian Health Minister Nila Moeloek. Puan Maharani who represented President Joko Widodo opened the annual event. In her remarks, Puan Maharani said that National Family Day was an annual commemoration that could strengthen the relationship between family and mutual cooperation for Indonesian families.

“Families play an important role in building character, ethics, and norms in socialization, and in strengthening Pancasila in the life of nation and state. Every Indonesian family must also understand that Indonesia is a large and diverse nation. There are 714 ethnic groups, 1100 regional languages, 17 thousand islands. Therefore, the family must be a place to build attitudes in respecting differences and of course prioritizing a sense of unity as a big family, Indonesia,” said Puan Maharani.

The peak of the 26th National Family Day Commemoration in 2019 was enlivened by the awarding of the Satya Lencana Pembangunan and Satya Lancana Wira Karya awards from President Joko Widodo to governors, regents and mayors throughout Indonesia who succeeded in the fields of population, family planning and family development.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Indonesian National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Hasto Wardoyo as Chair of the organizing committee said that he would further develop the Family Planning Village in each region in Indonesia through community empowerment to create a prosperous and quality family. (KBRN/trans by PUTRI)

The Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, was designated as a world cultural heritage during the 43rd session of UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan.

"Ombilin was designated as a world cultural heritage today," Education and Culture Ministry's Director of Cultural Heritage and Diplomacy Nadjamuddin Ramly told Antara on Saturday.

It is the fifth world cultural heritage in Indonesia after the Borobudur Temple (1991), Prambanan Temple (1991), Sangiran Site (1996), and Subak system in Bali (2012).

The country also has four world natural heritage sites: Komodo National Park (1991), Lorentz National Park (1999), Sumatra Tropical Forest (2004), and Ujung Kulon National Park (1991).

In 2015, Sawahlunto City was included on the temporary list of world cultural heritage. Since then, the process of data collection, preparation of supporting documents, and protracted discussions with experts and academics from within and outside the country have been intensified.

Finally, a proposal emerged to expand the nomination theme to strengthen Outstanding Universal Value.

The expansion of the nomination theme certainly has implications for the expansion of the nomination area by combining several cities or districts, specifically, Padang City, Padang Panjang City, Solok City, Solok Regency, Padang Pariaman Regency, and Tanah Datar District in West Sumatra into one nominated region: "Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto."

"The site of the Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto was of outstanding universal value, as it met the criteria two and four," Ramly explained.

Criteria two is that it should exhibit an important interchange of humanitarian values over a period of time or within the scope of cultural areas, in the development of architecture and technology, monumental arts, urban planning, and landscape design.

In connection with criteria two, the uniqueness of the Ombilin mine is reflected in the exchange of information and local technology with European technology related to coal exploitation in the late 19th century to the start of the 20th century in the world, especially in Southeast Asia.

Under criteria four, the site should be an exemplary example of a building type, architectural work, and combination of technologies or landscapes that elucidate crucial stages in human history.

"In this case, the uniqueness of the Ombilin coal mine site in Sawahlunto exemplifies a series of technological combinations in a mining city landscape designed for efficiency in the coal extraction, processing, and transportation phases, as demonstrated in the company organizations, division of labor, mining schools, and structuring a mining city inhabited by around seven thousand residents," Ramly further elaborated.

He revealed that the submission of the initial draft nomination document, carrying the proposed name change to "Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto" to the UNESCO World Heritage Center was conducted on September 30, 2016, followed by repeated revisions, until the final nomination text was sent at the end of January 2018.

The manuscript was finally declared complete and subsequently evaluated its feasibility to become a world heritage by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which is the Advisory Board of the UNESCO World Heritage Center cultural category.

This evaluation phase encompasses the stages of conducting field evaluation, requesting the first additional information document, conducting teleconference interview, and requesting the second additional information document.

After the ICOMOS evaluation results were published, a new request emerged, so the Indonesian government examined the ICOMOS recommendations and sent factual error information from the recommendations to UNESCO.

Non-technical efforts to encourage the Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlun to became a world heritage were conducted jointly by the Education and Culture Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry during a day-long public diplomacy meeting.

"Several records must be completed before the deadline of December 1, 2021. After the designation by UNESCO, all parties involved in the Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto are expected to maintain its status as a world cultural heritage," Ramly concluded. (ANTARA)