VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The weakening of the rupiah against the US dollar which has penetrated the level of Rp 14,000 per US dollar must be carefully monitored by the government of Indonesia and Bank Indonesia -BI. The pressure is predicted to continue and will have a negative impact on the economic sector in Indonesia. Therefore, BI has set up some second line defense options for rupiah. One of the options that can be used is the Chiang Mai Initiative Multi-lateralization (CMIM), which is a multilateral currency exchange arrangement between ASEAN + 3 members. This was stated by Head of Center for Economics and Public Policy Studies of Gadjah Mada University  (UGM), Yogyakarta, Tony Prasetiantono in a recent discussion held by a private radio in Jakarta.

 “BI still has a second line defense; we have right to withdraw by three countries of East Asia, namely China plus Hongkong, Japan, and South Korea.  But, we have a question.  They are countries with a large foreign exchange reserve and Chiang Mai Initiative has been established since 2000. But, the initiative has never been activated. Because for 18 years, the ASEAN countries are fine, including in the 2008 crisis,” Tony Prasetiantono said.

However, Tony Prasetiantono also remarked that the injection of funds through the CMIM scheme to Indonesia will not necessarily have a positive impact on the Indonesian economy. He is worried that the market response will get worse after the funds totaling 240 billion US dollars are injected into Indonesia. Because, probably the market will assume that the funds are only entrusted to Indonesia in a short time. (VOI/Rezha/RHM)

Indonesian state-owned Electricity Company, PT PLN will complete the construction of Java 2 gas steam power plant (PLTGU) immediately. The power plant is located inside the complex of PT Indonesia Power in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta. It is planned to start its commercial operation or Commercial Operation Date (COD) on June 10th and to support the supply of electrical energy in Java and Bali, especially Jakarta. This was stated by Director of West Java Regional Business of PT PLN, Haryanto W.S to the media in Jakarta more recently.

“So, we expect on June 10^th, the first unit will start the operation or COD, and then the second unit will start COD on July 20th. Those two power plants will enter the system and support the electrical system of Jakarta and Java-Bali,” Haryanto W.S said.

Haryanto further said that the power plant was built by Mitsubishi Corporation and PT Wasa Mitra Engineering. It will produce 800 megawatt (MW) energy. The energy comes from gas turbine (2 x 300 MW) and steam turbine (1 x 200 MW). The development of this power plant is under supervision of PT PLN West Java Development Main Unit and implemented by PLN Implementing Unit of West Java Power Plant Project 2. The project development contract has been effective since November 23, 2016 with a value of Rp 6.1 trillion. This project is a manifestation of a 35 thousand MW electricity infrastructure development program with a new transmission line with 46 thousand kilometers of circuits (kms). (VOI/Rezha/RHM)

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno LP Marsudi and her Brazilian counterpart, Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira in a bilateral meeting held in Bogor, West Java on Friday (May 11^th) said that they will boost cooperation between Indonesia and Brazil in agriculture sector, especially palm oil. She also said that she will make serious effort to facilitate export and import goods entry from Indonesia to Brazil, and vice versa.

“We also discuss other areas of our cooperation which can be improved, the agriculture. We also discuss the issue of palm oil and we also discuss an effort to make our goods easily enter from Indonesia to Brazil and from Brazil to Indonesia,” Aloysio Nunes Ferreira said.

To make Indonesian businesspeople easily expand their businesses and invest in Brazil, Minister Retno Marsudi suggested Brazil to translate their trade form into English, because Brazil only provides trade form in Portuguese. This makes Indonesian businesspeople difficult to cooperate with Brazilian businesspeople. (VOI/Egi/trans by Rezha/RHM)

President Joko Widodo officially opened Ulama trilateral meeting of Afghanistan, Indonesia and Pakistan to talk about stability and peace in Afghanistan at Bogor Palace in West Java on Friday (May 11^th). A total of 45 ulemas from three countries attended a series of closed meetings. In his opening remarks, President Joko Widodo asserted that Indonesia does encourage peace and stability in Afghanistan. He hoped that this meeting can provide concrete results for peace process in Afghanistan.

“Through ulemas’ voices, especially from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia, the spirit of ukhuwah for peace in Afghanistan can be strengthened. Unavoidably, this is a tough task as well as a noble task for ulemas. Thus, I re-called and let intend this meeting solely to achieve Allah's blessings. Through sowing the seeds of peace and avoiding violence among His servants. With sincere intentions, the trilateral meeting of ulemas, Insya Allah, will be a concrete contribution to peace process in Afghanistan,” President Joko Widodo said.

As reported earlier, the idea of this trilateral meeting of ulemas is the follow-up of President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s state visits earlier this year. The visits were followed by ministerial talks. In the opening of this meeting, President Joko Widodo was accompanied by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Ma'ruf Amin. (VOI/Rini H/trans by Rezha/RHM)