VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Beijing's COVID-19 gloom deepened on Sunday with many shops and other businesses closed, and an expert warned of many thousands of new coronavirus cases as anger over China's previous COVID policies gave way to worry about coping with infection.

China dropped most of its strict COVID curbs on Wednesday after unprecedented protests against them last month, but cities that were already battling with their most severe outbreaks, like Beijing, saw a sharp decrease in economic activity after rules such as regular testing were scrapped.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses have been forced to close as infected workers quarantine at home while many other people are deciding not to go out because of the higher risk of infection.

Zhong Nanshan, a prominent Chinese epidemiologist, told state media that the Omicron strain of the virus prevalent in China was highly transmissible and one infected person could spread it to as many as 18 others.

"We can see that hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people are infected in several major cities," Zhong said.

With regular COVID testing of Beijing residents scrapped and reserved only for groups such as health workers, official tallies for new cases have plunged.

Health authorities reported 1,661 new infections for Beijing Saturday, down 42% from 3,974 on Dec. 6, a day before national policies were dramatically relaxed.

But evidence suggests there are many more cases in the city of nearly 22 million people where everyone seems to know someone who has caught COVID.

"In my company, the number of people who are COVID-negative is close to zero," said one woman who works for a tourism and events firm in Beijing who asked to be identified as just Nancy.

"We realise this can't be avoided - everyone will just have to work from home," she said.

'HIGHER RISK'

Sunday is a normal business day for shops in Beijing and it is usually bustling, particularly in spots like the historic Shichahai neighbourhood packed with boutiques and cafes.

But few people were out and about on Sunday and malls in Chaoyang, Beijing's most populous district, were practically deserted with many salons, restaurants and retailers shut.

Economists widely expect China's road to economic health to be uneven as shocks such as labour crunches due to workers calling in sick delay a full-fledged recovery for some time yet.

"The transition out of zero-COVID will eventually allow consumer spending patterns to return to normal, but a higher risk of infection will keep in-person spending depressed for months after re-opening," Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.

China's economy may grow 1.6% in the first quarter of 2023 from a year earlier, and 4.9% in the second, according to Capital Economics.

Epidemiologist Zhong also said it would be some months before a return to normal.

"My opinion is in the first half of next year, after March," he said.

While China has removed most of its domestic COVID curbs, its international borders are still largely closed to foreigners, including tourists.

Inbound travellers are subjected to five days of quarantine at centralised government facilities and three additional days of self-monitoring at home.

But there are even hints that that rule could change.

Staff at the main international airport in Chengdu city, asked if quarantine rules were being eased, said that as of Saturday whether or not one needed to do the three days of home quarantine would depend on a person's neighbourhood authorities. (Reuters)

Indonesia, which hosted the 2022 World Junior Wushu Championships (WJWC),  ranked third in terms of medal acquisition.

As a whole, Indonesia collected 10 gold, two silver and five bronze medals during  the event officially closed by the Chairman of Indonesian Wushu Association (PB WI), Airlangga Hartarto, at ICE BSD, here, Saturday.

Iran became the champion with 13 gold, five silver and five bronze medals, followed by China with 10 gold, two silver and five bronze medals.

Indonesia's achievement during the eight edition of WJWC is a significant improvement as compared to the country's achievement in the previous championship  in Brazil in 2018.

During that period, Indonesia ranked 11th with two gold, 10 silver and seven bronze medals.

Rainie Elena Liem contributed the last gold medal  for Indonesia from the women's B junior group qiangshu even in 2022 WJWC .

During the event, she managed to gather 9,176 points. Meanwhile, the silver medal was bagged by Oubu Ishii from Japan with 9,100 points and Kim Caeyoung from South Korea won bronze medal with 8,983 points.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of 2022 World Junior Wushu Championships Gunawan Tjokro noted that, as the host, Indonesia is grateful for being able  in the top three.

"Indonesia bagged 10 medals. Our gold medal achievement is actually the same as China, but we lost one point in silver. Thus, as a whole, we are in the third place," he explained.

Indonesia's achievement of bagging 10 gold medals exceeded the country's initial target of winning six gold medals, he added.

Meanwhile, Hartarto thanked all contingents from all countries for participating in the 2022 World Junior Wushu Championships.

He also thanked the Youth and Sports Ministry, the regional government as well as a number of donors for making the event a success.

Lastly, he thanked a number of companies that had attended and watched the wushu championships. (Antaranews)

The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy asked tourists, especially foreign tourists, not to hesitate to visit Indonesia. As a country that has a variety of tourist destinations, one of which is Bali, Indonesia is always open to welcoming tourists. Menparekraf emphasized that the Government of Indonesia adhered to the guidelines that the private sphere of the public, including tourists, would be guaranteed so that the comfort and security of the private sphere of tourists while traveling in Indonesia would always be maintained.

Regarding the ratification of the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) by the House of Representatives (DPR) some time ago, Menparekraf Sandiaga said this was a manifestation of the functioning of a constitutional state system whose main objective is to protect the people of Indonesia. And the regulation will only take effect 3 years after being ratified. In fact, there are no substantive changes related to this article when compared to Article 284 of the old Criminal Code. The difference lies only in the addition of parties entitled to complain. The threat of new penalties can apply if there are parties who complain or in other words complaint offenses. This rule stipulates that the party who can complain is the husband or wife for people who are bound by marriage. Whereas for people who are not bound by marriage are parents or children. Without complaints by legal persons, no party has the right to take legal action.

Currently the government together with relevant stakeholders are preparing detailed rules and SOPs for tourism activities that can ensure the safety and comfort of visiting tourists. In addition, socialization continues to be carried out not only to the tourism industry but also to domestic tourists and foreign tourists so that there are no misinterpretations or misunderstandings about the Criminal Code.

"The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) assures all tourists who want to visit, not to hesitate on vacation and carry out tourism activities in Indonesia, that the constitution that applies in Indonesia will still guarantee the private space of the community and all visiting tourists. Articles related to adultery and cohabitation (regarding living in the same house without marriage ties) is also a complaint offense, so in practice it doesn't directly impact all visiting tourists," said Sandiaga.

Strengthen Socialization

Menparekraf Sandiaga said that his party continues to strengthen coordination with relevant stakeholders to continue to socialize the new law which will be effective for another 3 years, namely in 2025. Especially for foreign tourist market countries, so it doesn't make them hesitate to visit Indonesia.

"The hospitality industry has been briefed and we will facilitate any potential misunderstandings. The hotel ensures that it always guarantees the confidentiality of the data of the tourists who stay overnight," said Sandiaga.

Sandiaga further stated that tourists should not hesitate to keep on visiting to enjoy the beauty of nature, cultural diversity and the friendliness of the Indonesian people. According to Sandiaga, the tourism industry really respects personal things that are done responsibly. (RRI)

The Pancasila Ideology Education Agency (BPIP) encouraged the community to apply the values of Indonesia’s ideology Pancasila to eradicate corruption to coincide with the commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) 2022.

"Pancasila can serve as a guidance to eradicate corruption while upholding human rights," Director for Pancasila Ideology Education Material Assessment at BPIP Aris Heru Utomo noted in a statement received on Saturday.

Utomo assessed that Pancasila can become a means to fight corruption since the five points of the ideology are the sources of Indonesian law, based on native moral and cultural values of the people.

The national theme of the commemoration of the IACD 2022 in Indonesia was "Indonesia Recovers, Unites Against Corruption."

Furthermore, the BPIP had its own sub-theme during the commemoration, titled "Pancasila in Action, United Against Corruption."

The BPIP director expects that the commemoration of IACD -- observed annually every December 9 -- will not only become a ceremony but also improve the performance of the law enforcement apparatus against corruptors.

"Without serious law enforcement, acts of corruption will continue to occur in every sector," he remarked.

The BPIP has evaluated that it is important to mainstream the values of Pancasila in the bureaucracy, governance, and law enforcement sectors to prevent, especially, state officers from committing corruption.

"Corruption is one of the big problems faced by the country. Corruption is detrimental to the nation and state, so it is even considered as an extraordinary crime," Utomo stated.

Nonetheless, he noted that prosecution and prevention attempts made by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will not work optimally if there is no community participation.

"The BPIP fully supports all efforts of the KPK, ministries, and institutions to prepare materials on fostering the Pancasila ideology for civil servants and community," he stated.

At the 2022 IACD commemoration, the BPIP also invited the public to eradicate corruption by emulating the honesty and simplicity of the nation's founding fathers, such as Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta. (Antaranews)