VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Twenty Australians were among the first group of foreign citizens who entered Egypt from the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said on Thursday.

At least 320 foreign nationals left the Palestinian enclave to cross into Egypt on Wednesday, the first to benefit from a deal mediated by Qatar.

Watts said there were still 65 Australians trapped in Gaza and the government had urged them, using all available communication channels, to move toward the Rafah crossing as soon as possible.

"We are providing all possible support we can, communicating through all available channels," Watts told ABC television. "It is not always perfect. This is a conflict zone."

Watts said the government was not planning for more assisted flights at the moment as there were enough commercial options available. Since the conflict began on Oct. 7, the Australian government has conducted several repatriation flights.

Israel sent ground forces into Hamas-ruled Gaza late last week after weeks of air and artillery strikes to retaliate for a surprise Hamas attack in which Israel says 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 240 were taken hostage.

The Gaza health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians in the narrow coastal enclave, including 3,648 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes.

Watts said he also "strongly encouraged" Australians in Lebanon to leave the country after deadly clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

"We can't make any guarantees that Beirut airport will remain open if the conflict spreads to the south of Lebanon and departure options become much more complex and more difficult at that point," Watts said.

"We don't know what the situation is going to look like in the coming days and coming weeks." (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is committed to reducing carbon emissions by adopting environment-friendly infrastructure development, starting from the use of sustainable materials in construction, an official said on Wednesday.

"Whoever wants to build infrastructure, we encourage them to build using environment-friendly materials with the lowest possible carbon footprint," said Firdaus Ali, special adviser to PUPR Minister on water resources, in a talk with the media in Jakarta.

Indonesia is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 31.89 percent through its own efforts and 43.20 percent with international support by 2030, based on the Enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (ENDCs) document. Indonesia is also targeting to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.

Ali emphasized that the construction sector is playing an important role in achieving this goal. The sector has been a major contributor of carbon emissions to date.

"In order to achieve ENDC 2030 or zero emissions by 2060, we don't have any more time. If we are negligent, we will face an increasingly complex ecological disaster in the future," he said.

According to PUPR Ministerial Regulation Number 9 of 2021, which provides guidelines for implementing sustainable construction, consultants and contractors are required to implement sustainable practices.

The use of environment-friendly materials, including non-ordinary Portland cement (non-OPC), is also being encouraged by the PUPR Ministry, a step that has been strengthened by the issuance of the PUPR Ministerial Instruction Number 4 of 2020 to promote sustainable construction.

Ali gave the example of the national capital (IKN) Nusantara infrastructure development project, which is applying sustainable principles. He assured that in the long term, IKN development will prioritize the use of environment-friendly materials in a high proportion.

He added that his ministry asks contractors to use low-carbon materials, such as non-OPC cement.

"Unless non-OPC cement is unavailable or takes a long time to arrive at the location, potentially causing delays (in the construction of the IKN project), we may still consider using OPC cement," he said.

Ali said that the unavailability of technical instructions is one of the obstacles to ensuring the use of sustainable materials in construction projects.

He expressed hope that the technical instructions will be published soon, making it easier for all parties to apply environment-friendly construction principles. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - University of Indonesia (UI) and Durham University from England have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish more intensive educational and scientific research collaboration in several fields, particularly climate change.

"Today, we will not only engage in meaningful discussions, but also take an important moment to start signing the MoU, a document that will be the foundation for us to advance research, education, and cultural understanding," UI vice chancellor for human resources and assets, Dedi Priadi, said at the UI Depok Campus, West Java, on Wednesday.

He expressed the hope that the commitment will not be limited to releasing physical papers, but also serve as a step toward investing in the future of students, faculty, and the global community.

Durham University, which was founded in 1832, is one of the oldest and leading universities in the United Kingdom and has consistently ranked in the top 10 in the country. The university has a number of multi-disciplinary research institutes, one of which is the Institute of Hazard, Risk, and Resilience, which focuses on disaster risk, including disasters caused by climate change.

Director of Durham University's international office, Charlie Pybus, said that his party has carried out several studies related to Indonesia, including how to deal with floods in Java, especially in Jakarta, and volcanoes.

"We see that there are similarities in research priorities between the UK and Indonesia, namely related to climate change and global health, low-carbon-based sustainable development, education, and technological development," he highlighted.

Deputy director of the UI School of Environmental Sciences (SIL), Dony Abdul Chalid, said that his party is also applying a multi-disciplinary approach in responding to environmental issues by involving lecturers and experts from several fields, including science, technology, social humanities, and health.

Durham University, which has an advantage in the field of biosciences, is very interested in collaborating with SIL UI, including collaborating on research on the impact of climate change on biodiversity.

Durham University's global pro-vice chancellor, Claire O'Malley, said there are a number of ways to deepen and broaden cooperation, one of which concerns political science and law and their relationship to climate justice.

Durham University and UI plan to develop research collaboration on climate change modeling technology. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The evacuation of Indonesian citizens from Gaza, which is at the center of the Israel-Palestine conflict, will likely start Wednesday local time, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi informed.

"Evacuation will possibly be able to be carried out today. However, I want to underline the word 'possibly' because the situation on the ground is unpredictable," she said at a press conference here on Wednesday.

The government has moved a team from Cairo to Rafah on the Egypt-Palestine border to evacuate Indonesian nationals from Gaza.

"After going through multiple checks, our team from Cairo arrived in Rafah on the Egypt side at 3:53 p.m. Western Indonesia Time. Now, we just have to see what will happen on the side of Gaza (border)," the minister disclosed.

Marsudi said that she has been communicating with all parties that have assets in Gaza and received information that there is a possibility that the evacuation of foreign nationals, including Indonesians, will be carried out soon.

However, she pointed out that it may not be possible to carry out the evacuation all at once, instead, it would need to be carried out in stages by prioritizing safety.

"The situation is really dynamic, but we must ensure that if there is a travel (evacuation), the travel must have security guarantees from all parties so that the evacuation can be carried out safely," she said.

"Do not ask when evacuation will be carried out, but what I can assure you is that we continue to make efforts," she added.

Meanwhile, director of the protection of Indonesian citizens and Indonesian legal entities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judha Nugraha, said that there are currently ten Indonesian citizens in Gaza.

Of the ten nationals, three are volunteering with the Indonesian Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), which is serving at the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza. The three have decided not to evacuate.

"The three volunteers chose to continue carrying out humanitarian work in Gaza, and we respect that decision," he informed.

Meanwhile, the remaining seven Indonesians, comprising two families of Indonesian nationals who got married to Palestinians, will be evacuated soon.

The Indonesian citizens will be evacuated from their homes in north Gaza and south Gaza and taken to the Rafah border. (Antaranews)