resident Joko Widodo delivered his speech at the meeting of the national team on acceleration of regional financial access (TPAKD) in Jakarta on Tuesday (Dec 10, 2019). ANTARA

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has put his weight behind improving financial literacy and inclusion among Indonesians to access banking services to drive micro economic growth.

"This is crucial since from here we can improve the family's economy, our micro economy," Jokowi remarked during a coordination meeting of the national team on acceleration of regional financial access (TPAKD) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The head of state is upbeat about the Financial Services Authority (OJK) improving financial literacy and inclusion through the formation of the TPAKD to encourage the people to put their money in banks as savings and seek loans from financial institutions.

"We want all regions to encourage people to access financial services. We have to accelerate this," Jokowi affirmed.

Head of the OJK Board of Commissioners Wimboh Santoso remarked that the agency closely collaborated with the government to step up access to financial services for people through the role of TPAKD and the development of Micro Endowments Bank (BWM).

"Efforts to improve access to financial services has become OJK's priority along with Bank Indonesia and the local as well as central governments, as financial access has been closely linked to the development of public welfare and funding for national economic development," Santoso remarked.

Increased access to financial services will boost investment and public savings in banks that will further increase loan disbursement to support economic activities.

"Establishment of the TPAKD is expected to support the government's priority programs, especially in the development of new economic centers in regions, such as the export-oriented industry and tourism industry," he stated.

Until November 2019, the government had set up 164 TPAKD at the provincial and district levels that implemented various programs to improve access to financial services.

As of October 2019, the disbursement of micro loans (KUR) had reached Rp127.3 trillion, or 90.9 percent of its targeted Rp140 trillion for 2019; some Rp31.9 trillion of loans in the fishery sector under the Jaring Program; while the Laku Pandai Program had collected Rp2.21 trillion of public savings from 25.8 million people across the country.

The Simpel Program accrued Rp8.76 trillion of public savings from 21.6 million students in 350 thousand schools. (ANTARA)

President Joko Widodo speaking during a meeting themed "Economic Strengthening Acceleration in the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector" at the Presidential Office in Jakarta, Tuesday (10/12/2019).(ANTARA)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) drew attention to three areas to enable the agriculture and fisheries sectors to drive Indonesia's economic growth.

"Firstly, our attention had only been focused on the efforts to increase agriculture and fisheries products at the 'on farm' level. We never touch the 'off farm', especially the post-production side," he remarked at the Presidential Offices in Jakarta, Tuesday.

President Jokowi made the statement during a meeting themed "Economic Strengthening Acceleration in the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector," in which the attendees also comprised Vice President Ma'ruf Amin and cabinet ministers.

The president expressed belief that farmers and fishermen should go beyond on-farm activities to off farm through providing added value to farming and fisheries activities by processing their products as well as developing agriculture and fisheries-based businesses.

"Secondly, in order to get to the off farm activities, farmers and fishermen need financing schemes and coaching," he pointed out.

In terms of financial schemes, the government has already established a people's business credit scheme (KUR) wherein the budget ceiling will be Rp190 trillion in 2020, with a six-percent interest.

"I have ordered the KUR to be designed with special schemes per cluster, so that it meets the needs of the grace period for the production of agricultural and fisheries clusters," he stated.



However, he highlighted that financing schemes must be followed by coaching for adequate financial management along with preparing good packaging and branding as well as sound marketing.

"Thirdly, we must start encouraging our micro, small, medium businesses; our farmers; our fishermen, who have been moving on small-scale economies to join in and collaborate with large groups or corporations, so that they have a larger economic scale," he remarked.

Thus, farmers and fishermen can be more effective in obtaining raw materials, accessing working capital and investment, and making efforts to market their products, so they can enter the national and global supply chain.

The three notes were highlighted by President Jokowi taking into account that the fisheries sector has an important and strategic role in improving the welfare of Indonesians.

"I see fisheries and agriculture as very important and strategic sectors. This is not only because they provide food for more than 260 million Indonesians but also since they are able to accommodate a large workforce and contribute significantly to improving the people's welfare and reducing poverty," he stated.

Hence, he called for breakthrough steps for the two sectors for broader growth and becoming a driving force of the nation’s economy. (ANTARA)

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin received Rector of Malang-based Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University (UIN) Abdul Haris, at the Vice Presidential Office in Jakarta on Tuesday. (Secretariat of the Vice Presidential Office)

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin received two concepts of developing a sharia-compliant economy through rural areas and Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) from Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University (UIN) in Malang, East Java, Tuesday. The involvement of the rural community and pesantren can support the conventional economy which has been running well, Abdul Haris, rector of UIN Malang said at the Vice Presidential Office.

"This will greatly help the development of a sharia-compliant economy as a whole. It will not contradict conventional businesses but will complement each other," Haris said.

The development of the two concepts can increase domestic production of halal goods which have become the ideals of the Vice President to utilize them optimally.

The strategy of developing the two concepts of sharia economy involves five related community groups called pancahelik. They are the government as a regulator, the community as an object of development, institutes of higher learning as a training provider, and businessmen and the banking institutions, he said.

"At the UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim campus, we have started (the concept). Some of the programs are integrated with Tri Dharma, research, education and dedication," he said.

During the meeting, the UIN Malang rector also revealed about the management of alms being used as loans for the community to strengthen the business capital. To date, UIN Malang has channeled loans to residents of 12 villages, equivalent to some 1,500 micro, small and medium businesses (UKM), he said.

"UIN Malang has collected profession alms used as interest-free loans for micro, small and medium businesses. The amount of loans is small with the maximum amount being Rp10 million. Most of the loans amount to Rp2 to 3 million," he said.

At the meeting, the Vice President asked UIN Malang and other institutes of higher learning to develop a people-based economy that could encourage the growth of private businesses in the community. (ANTARA)

Chief of the Stop TB Partnership Forum for Indonesia (FSTPI) Arifin Panigoro, along with Executive Director of Stop TB International, Lucica Ditio (left) held a press conference following a meeting with President Joko Widodo at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday (9/12/2019).  (ANTARA)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is preparing a regulation to combat tuberculosis (TBC) in Indonesia, according to Chief of the Stop TB Partnership Forum for Indonesia (FSTPI) Arifin Panigoro.

"One point highlighted by (the president) to ensure smooth cooperation among ministries and institutions is that he is preparing a presidential regulation on combating TBC," Panigoro stated following a meeting with President Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

Through the presidential regulation, not only the Health Ministry but also the Home Affairs Ministry and other relevant ministries can partake in efforts to eradicate TBC, he remarked.

"As we all know, regions in Indonesia have a strong autonomy, so regional heads, including governors and district heads, play a very important role," he noted.

As a civil organization, the FSTPI remains resolved to fight TBC in Indonesia, he emphasized.

"What we are doing is only combating TB or TBC. We will report this to the presidents of Indonesia, China, and India that bear witness to the largest number of TBC cases in the world, so they must be serious about combating it," he stated.

The Health Ministry is solely tasked with combating TB. However, in view of the large problems, the ministry will find it hard to work single-handedly, he pointed out.

"As a civil organization, we are really willing to help the government," he remarked.

The world has set a target of becoming TBC free in a decade’s time, or by 2030, he pointed out.

"This is no easy task to accomplish in Indonesia," he affirmed.

The global tuberculosis report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that no single country is free from the disease.

In 2017, an estimated 842 thousand Indonesians had contracted TB, caused by the mycobacterium tuberculosis virus, of which 23 thousand developed drug resistance to the disease.

Almost 75 percent of TB sufferers in Indonesia are from the productive age group.

The situation is a threat to fulfilling one of the agendas of the medium-term development plan 2020-2024 in which the country is striving to improve the quality and competitive edge of human resources.

TB is a global disease found in every country across the world. It is the leading infectious cause of death worldwide.

In 2018, an estimated 10 million people had contracted TB worldwide constituting 5.7 million men, 3.2 million women, and 1.1 million children. The cases transcended countries and age groups.

The WHO estimates that 1.8 billion people—close to one quarter of the world's population—are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb). (ANTARA)