VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, and Australia’s Minister of Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, stressed bilateral cooperation in legal and security affairs during an online meeting on Tuesday.

Mahfud and Dutton also discussed issues involving regional security, repatriation of foreign terrorist fighters, maritime security cooperation, and counter-terrorism at the 7th Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) on Law and Security (7th RI-Australia MCM Meeting).

“We can deal with the threat of terrorism and others only with strong and sustainable cooperation, through various programs and law enforcement action plans, preventive action, deradicalization, counter-terrorism, termination of funding channels and use of cyber technology by terrorist networks, illegal drugs, human trafficking, and also response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Mahfud observed.

Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, Kristiarto Legowo, and chairman of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), Hasto Atmojo Suroyo, were present at the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by the secretary, expert staff, and deputies of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Indonesian Navy, and the Densus 88 counterterrorism squad, among others.

At the meeting, the Coordinating Minister said bilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation is a necessity.

"I believe that no country in the world can handle a situation like this (coronavirus pandemic) on its own," he noted.

During the meeting, they also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two countries on capacity building and increasing the protection and assistance for witnesses and victims. The MoU was signed by the chair of the LPSK and the Australian Minister of Home Affairs.

Minister Dutton said the relationship between Indonesia and Australia is very significant as the two countries are partners in the security and maritime sector.

"This collaboration is a big achievement. For us, Indonesia is an important partner in the region and has the same level of trust," he remarked.

The two also ministers expressed their appreciation for the cooperation between the two countries so far.

"I believe that bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia are getting stronger based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, mutual trust, and mutual benefit," Mahfud remarked.

The government is committed to maintaining sustainability in using clean energy in the electricity sector, especially increasing the use of renewable energy, one of which is through regulation of energy prices sourced from renewable energy.
"One principle applied by the government in energy development is sustainability," said Director General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Rida Mulyana in written statement in Jakarta, Wednesday.
Rida explained, in addition to sustainability, the government has 5K principles in energy development, namely the first is availability, and the second is the quality of electricity itself.
"If electricity is sufficient but the carpet is not good, the government must ensure that people who enjoy electricity of good quality," he explained.
The next principle, added Rida, is affordability, energy prices must be affordable for all elements of society. Meanwhile, the fourth is sustainability and the last one is justice so that people throughout Indonesia can feel the same way.
To accelerate the energy transition, Rida said that soon the government will issue regulations related to new and renewable energy tariffs.
"We will issue a Presidential Regulation for renewable energy tariffs PLN would purchase, and hopefully will increase the use of EBT in Indonesia," he said.
Meanwhile, the President Director of PT. PLN (Persero) Zulkifli Zaini said to support the government's efforts to transition energy to renewable energy, PT. PLN (Persero) has created three programs aimed at accelerating the development of EBT in Indonesia.
"The first program for EBT development is in the long-term plan of PLN, which is 5 GW, which has been planned in RUPTL, and the second program is the Green Booster at 3.5 GW," he explained.
The Green Booster program includes innovations in the development of NRE including the co-firing program, the development of solar PV on ex-mining land, and the utilization of the existing dam belonging to the Ministry of PUPR.
And the third program is large scale renewable. PT PLN will develop large-scale EBT generators to improve the economy by preparing hydropower plants for industrial needs.
"We hope that the various innovations carried out by PLN can inspire all of us to innovate and find alternatives to NRE development that are more cost-efficient and have good reliability," he concluded.
Meanwhile, various series of events to commemorate National Electricity Day (HLN) 2020 organized by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources include the Energy Sustainability Society Summit on 27 October.
On November 3, there will be the operational launch of the Public Electric Vehicle Battery Exchange Station (SPBKLU) and the Awarding of Electricity Safety Award (K2) which is scheduled to be attended by the Minister of EMR Arifin Tasrif. (Antaranews)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati believes multilateral cooperation has an important role in the process of economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic because this crisis is a global problem.

"Currently there is a pandemic, once again showing that we cannot work alone," said Sri Mulyani when she was a panelist at the B20 Saudi Arabia Summit in a virtual location in Jakarta, Monday.

According to her, to enter the vaccination era requires stronger cooperation between countries or multilateral cooperation.

She is optimistic that multilateral cooperation in handling global problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic will make it more efficient, better, and transparent.

The former Managing Director of the World Bank added that when a country wants to ensure that its country is safe with vaccinations, that country cannot just shut down, but must continue to work together because of human mobility.

For that, she continued, communication and cooperation between countries is still needed, one of which is to ensure access to vaccines for all countries.

Not only a pandemic problem, the issue of climate change to the disruption of digital technology, especially trade, is also a global problem that requires multilateral cooperation.

"So like it or not, with multilateral cooperation, dealing with this problem must be through global cooperation, because it is impossible to solve it alone," she said.

Sri Mulyani became one of the panelists at the B20 Saudi Arabia Summit entitled Redesigning Multilateralism for a new era.
Also attending the virtual opportunity were the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgiva, Secretary-General of the United Nations Trade and Development Agency (UNCTAD) Mukhisa Kituyi, and Former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevedo.

PT Bio Farma revealed that as many as 837 clinical trial volunteers III of the COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac China entered the efficacy monitoring period.

"The latest data shows that as of October 23, 2020, 837 volunteers entered the efficacy monitoring period," said Bio Farma's Head of Corporate Communication Iwan Setiawan when contacted by Antara in Jakarta, Tuesday.

In addition, Iwan also added that 1,620 volunteers had received the first injection and 1,341 volunteers received the second injection.

"Currently, the third clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine is still going according to plan," he said.

The Head of Corporate Communication of Bio Farma also said that some time ago a team from the POM Agency carried out inspections of two Puskesmas as a place for conducting clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Previously, President Joko Widodo hoped that the COVID-19 vaccine goes through a correct clinical trial so that its safety and effectiveness could be ascertained.

The president said the government did not want any problems affecting the vaccine recipient community. The President asked his staff not to hurry and continue to promote scientific principles for the COVID-19 vaccine.

All scientific procedures regarding vaccines and vaccinations must be passed precisely, without missing anything.

At present, all parties, be it the public, researchers, academics, and others are monitoring the process of procuring and implementing the COVID-19 vaccine in Indonesia.

Therefore, all stages of procurement and implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine must comply with scientific criteria. (Antaranews)