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September
Today, September 27th is celebrated as World Tourism Day. Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Organization-UNWTO has celebrated World Tourism Day as an international commemoration every September 27, referring to the date of adoption of the UNWTO Statute in 1970. The adoption of this Statute is considered a historical milestone in global tourism.
The theme of this year's World Tourism Day celebration is Tourism and Green Investments. Quoting the official UNWTO website, this year the World Tourism Organization, UNWTO is focusing on investment for People, Planet, Prosperity. Investment for society in the form of education and skills. Meanwhile, for the planet or earth, this is realized by investing in sustainable infrastructure and accelerating green transformation. For prosperity, invest in innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.
Tourism is an important sector for Indonesia. Natural beauty, unique culture and artistic heritage, and the friendliness of the people are tourism attractions in Indonesia. The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy targets foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector to reach 2.07 – 5.95 billion US dollars in 2023, with a target of 8.5 million foreign tourist visits. The Indonesian government is targeting investment in the tourism sector at 8 billion US dollars, which will create new jobs for 4.4 million people.
The focus of investment in society, the earth and prosperity is also the focus of tourism development and investment in Indonesia. The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy encourages villages to develop their resources to become tourist destinations.
This program will not only provide direct benefits to village communities to develop village potential, but also at the same time maintain environmental sustainability and the welfare of local and surrounding communities.
Another focus of the Indonesian Government is the development of five super priority tourist destinations, namely Borobudur, Likupang, Mandalika, Lake Toba and Labuan Bajo. This effort involves various relevant ministries to carry out the development of transportation facilities and infrastructure in five super priority tourist destinations.
The involvement of all parties is the key to the successful development of the tourism industry in Indonesia. With natural wealth, human resources and regulations that make it easier to invest in Indonesia, especially investment in a sustainable tourism industry, of course the targets set by the Indonesian government in the tourism sector can be achieved.
Everyone must move for the progress of tourism. As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, investing in sustainable tourism means investing in a better future for all.
September
During this year's long dry season, forest and land fires have occurred in some regions across Indonesia. One of the areas affected by the drought and caused fires is the Mount Bromo tourist area in East Java. The Mount Bromo tourist area experienced several fires and the most recent was at the beginning of September. The drought that hit caused the savanna around Mount Bromo to wither, because the land could easily catch fire. It is believed that the cause of the fire, apart from the drought itself, was also caused by cigarette butt. Meanwhile, in the last case, the trigger was the use of flares or fireworks used by wedding organizers.
Regarding the fire in Bromo which hit more than 900 hectares, Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya, when looking closely at Mount Bromo, Saturday (23/9), said that the government would rehabilitate the Mount Bromo ecosystem. This step is very important because it will restore many aspects, such as physical, economic, social ones, and management, including public education. Therefore, the government is collaborating with a team of experts from the Bogor Agricultural Institute, Gajah Mada University and Brawijaya University.
Head of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS), Hendro Widjanarko previously revealed that since the fire from 6 to 18 September, Mount Bromo suffered losses of around Rp 5.4 billion. According to Hendro, the calculation of the loss value includes the costs of extinguishing fires from land, losses due to loss of animal habitat, and losses due to the cessation of tourist activities in the national park.
As is known, Mount Bromo Tourism is a tourism destination that is visited by many tourists both from within the country and abroad. Currently, the government is promoting tourism potential for state income from the non-energy sector. Besides, the burned area in the Teletubbies hill area is one of the prime objects visited by tourists in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. The consequences of this severe fire have hit all aspects of tourism and the socio-economic aspects of the community.
Thereby, there is a need for stricter and clearer regulations for every tourist at every entrance to the area, especially during the dry season. In addition, there is a need to educate stakeholders, including local communities, tourist agents and tour guides to explain the dangers of forest and land fires, their causes, and how to prevent and overcome them. Therefore, collaboration with related parties across sectors is strengthened based on experience.
September
The 19th Asian Games has started being held in Hangzhou, China since Saturday (23/9), and it will last until October 8, 2023. The biggest multi-sport event in Asia was postponed a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The organizing committee stated that the Asian Games 2023 has the slogan "Heart to Heart, @Future" expressing the ambition to unite the nations of Asia through the sports event. It is the right slogan considering the geopolitical tension and rivalry that overshadowed the Asian Games 2023.
There were more participants during the Asian Games 2023 opening on Saturday (23/9) than during the upcoming Olympics in Paris, France in 2024. More than 12,000 participated in the majestic opening in Hangzhou. While there are predictably going to be 10,500 people in the opening of Paris Olympics 2024.
The fantastic number came from many regional sports and games in the Asian Games, which might not be available in the Olympics. For instance, cricket will be available in the 2028 Olympic in Los Angeles, US and the 2033 Olympic in Brisbane, Australia.
There are other regional sports, such as dragon boat, sepak takraw, wushu, martial arts from China, and kabaddi - a popular sport in India. There are also the non-olympic martial arts, such as jujitsu from Japan and kurash - a popular wrestling sport in Central Asia. The long list was added with what the organizer called "brain-racking sports" starting from bridge, chess, xiangqi (Chinese chess), and esports.
Most of the 481 events gave opportunity for small contingents to obtain medals. This is impossible in the Olympics. China's overall achievement was 300 medals in the previous Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia.
Indonesia's contingent has 576 people consisting of athletes, officials, and chef de mission (CdM) team to Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou. When releasing the Indonesia contingent on Tuesday (19/9), President Joko Widodo hopes that Indonesia can be in the top 10. During the Asian Games 2018 Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia ranked 4th.
Besides competing for being the best, hopefully the Asian Games 2023 will be an event to tighten solidarity and keep peace in Asia, just like its slogan.
September
Regional and International Supply Chain as Strategic Issue in Globalization Era
Written by Rahma
Singapore joined hands with Malaysia and Indonesia in developing a strong regional supply chain basis to use the shift in global manufacturing flow.
Using the investment increase from India, China, and Southeast Asia in recent years, Singapore increased cooperation with its neighboring countries. It included building some manufacturing basis including Singapore, Johor in Malaysia, and Riau Islands in Indonesia, which geographically are neighboring to each others. Jacqueline Poh, the Managing Director at Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) said that in the gathering of London Stock Exchange Group and Reuters Newsmaker on Thursday (14/9).
Poh stated that Singapore is increasing the effort in regional supply chain, so that - along with Malaysia and Indonesia - it can be a much stronger production basis in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, during the G20 Summit in India last week, India, the US, the Gulf countries, and some European countries announced a new trade route. India, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, European Union, and the US signed a Letter of Intent for the founding of India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
IMEC was aimed to increase trade relations and contact between Europe and India, in hope of improving the economic development of Europe, Asia, and the Gulf. In this, the Gulf will be a joint. The plan also includes cross border railway, that complements the existing sea lane and land connections. This corridor aims to improve and smoothen goods and services transport from, to, and through India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Europe.
The plan execution will require a fantastic investment. In a press release, India - the chair of G20 2023 - refers to the World Bank involvement. For European Union, the IMEC plan is in line with its global strategy for investment in infrastructure projects.
On the other hand, European Union, the US, and Indonesia have launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment in the G20 Summit in Bali, November 2022. This was in line with European Union's Global Gateway program. For this program, European Union provided 300 billion Euros until 2027 to fund 90 projects across the globe.
For Indonesia, international supply chain is a crucial issue in the current globalization era. This is important in ensuring the smooth export and imports, while cutting costs. Therefore, worker and operational costs will be lower mainly in producing goods.
September
In September, Indonesia and many countries in Asia enter the peak period of the long dry season which has started since early May. Even though it has already rained in several areas, it cannot be denied that observers say that September is entering the highest phase of the dry season.
The effects of the dry season, apart from drying out water sources, disrupt food security, and also result in forest and land fires. The fires are one of the causes of increasingly hot air temperatures apart from the main El Nino effect in the Pacific Ocean.
According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, when El Nino occurs, the cloud growth area shifts from Indonesian territory to the central Pacific Ocean region, causing reduced rainfall in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry noted that the number of hot spots in Indonesia had reached 3,788 spots as of September 5 2023 and continues to increase. Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar said that this number had increased significantly up to three times compared to last year's data which reached only 979 hot spots.
Currently, there are six provinces that are prone to forest fires, and are badly affected by the haze. They are Jambi, Riau and South Sumatra, as well as West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan in the Indonesian part of Kalimantan and several areas on the island of Java.
Meanwhile, Head of the Agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said that Indonesia is currently facing two climate phenomena simultaneously, namely El Nino and the positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which give rise to the potential for a drought like in 2019. The Agency predicts that the peak of the 2023 dry season in Indonesia has occurred from July to September with coverage of 582 season zones (zom) or 83 percent of Indonesia's total 699 zom.
Facing the peak of the dry season, the government and related parties have prepared anticipations, such as providing incentives to farmers who fail to harvest, maintaining food security stability, importing main staples as rice, providing education on dealing with forest and land fires to village officials and farmers as well as seriously monitoring of respiratory tract diseases. Another anticipation is the rehabilitation and maintenance of existing wells. There are arrangements for dew dams,and thirdly,there arewater drops with water tanks if the springs dry up.In addition, engineering artificial rain is also an effort to overcome drought and forest and land fires.
Another effect of the long dry season and forest and land fires is the decline in air quality in several regions of Indonesia. According to the Agency's data, the Kalimantan region, especially West Kalimantan, is the region most affected.
Meanwhile in Jakarta, the problem faced is precisely because of pollutant emissions from motorized vehicles. Regarding the El Nino phenomenon with its dry season, Regarding the El Nino phenomenon with its dry season, it's time to think about not only a policy issue, but also a matter of awareness of the importance of environmental conservation.
August
The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) estimates that this year's dry season will peak in August to early September. Associate Officer for Meteorology and Geophysics Observer, BMKG Tangerang Class 1 Geophysics Station, Maria Evi Trianasari said this, quoted by Antara, Tuesday (8/8).
Maria Evi Trianasari explained, the El Nino index in July 2023 reached a moderate level. Meanwhile, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) has entered a positive index level. The El Nino phenomenon and positive IOD reinforce each other in worsening the situation. The El Nino phenomenon causes drought.
Meanwhile, the IOD phenomenon causes reduced rainfall. As a result, it is predicted that there will be a more severe drought compared to previous years. For Indonesia, this phenomenon has the potential to disrupt national food security, due to the threat of crop failure on rainfed agricultural land.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that as a measure to mitigate the impact of El Nino, the government has targeted the government's rice reserves to be above 2.2 million tonnes by the end of 2023.
However, the problem of a very dry drought is not only a matter of crop failure and food shortages. Several regions in Indonesia have started to lack clean water for drinking and daily needs. In addition, forest and land fires are also a threat.
Hundreds of hotspots have started to be seen, especially on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Forest and land fires can result not only in fire disasters, but also in smoke disasters whose impact is much wider than the fire itself. The smoke from forest fires can even be felt by neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. This happened several years ago.
To deal with this disaster requires the vigilance of all parties. Indeed, the government stated that it had prepared anticipatory steps in dealing with the food crisis, clean water crisis and forest and land fires. However, disaster management cannot only rely on the government.
Public vigilance is no less important. The government is expected to prepare the community to face disasters caused by drought. Training on dealing with forest and land fires needs to be provided down to the village level throughout Indonesia. People are also accustomed to using clean water wisely and sparingly. Hopefully this very dry drought will pass soon.
August
Today 56 years ago on August 8, 1967, countries in the Southeast Asian region established a unity in a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. 5 regional countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand signed the Bangkok Declaration towards the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). These five countries can be called the founders of ASEAN.
At the age of 56, on August 8, 2023, the number of ASEAN countries increased to 10 countries by adding Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam.
The history of ASEAN was due to the confusion of the regional countries over the global situation, which at that time, was full of conflicts between countries and affected the struggle for the influence of the ideology of the major countries. According to the 5 founding countries, if the situation was allowed to continue, it would clearly disrupt regional stability, thereby hampering economic growth and development.
Initially, ASEAN was looked down upon by the major powers and the international community. But over time, ASEAN's position has played an important role in the global situation. The fall of the Warsaw Pact with the dissolution of the Eastern bloc and the Soviet Union turned the world's political map upside down. The fears of nuclear war that were built by Western and Eastern powers are now gradually decreasing. However, what plays an important role in the current situation is natural resources, instead of an ideology.
The ASEAN region is an area that has a lot of natural resources, and potential human resources ranging from renewable energy to the agricultural and plantation economy as well as an educated population. In addition, ASEAN's strategic position is in the trajectory of world trade where the maritime trajectory has extraordinary economic potential.
This is the focus and target of the major countries. If the ASEAN countries cannot keep up with the rhythm and forget the original purpose of the founding of ASEAN, then the Southeast Asian region will suffer. With the symbol of the grains of rice on the ASEAN logo, it shows that ASEAN's strength is to maintain not only regional stability, but also cognate countries and common goals.
Hopefully on this 56th anniversary, ASEAN will be stronger even though there are internal conflicts among its members. In the case of Myanmar, the 9 member countries have remained firm and continued to uphold their initial commitment to unite, and not be divided. Moreover, the global situation, which is entering a period of global crisis as a result of the wars between Ukraine and Russia, and seeking to ask for support, can be elegantly handled by the ASEAN leaders.
August
Crude oil prices in the global market went up beyond 1 US Dollar on Friday (4/8). This increase broke the record after six consecutive weeks of rising. The price hike was affected by the decision of Saudi Arabia and Russia - the two most important producer countries - to extend the production cut in September. This caused concern of the offer deficit.
Futures value of Brent oil rose by 1.10 US Dollar or 1.3% and stayed at 86.24 US Dollar. While US West Texas was still at 82.82 US Dollar, rising 1.27 US Dollar or 1.6%. The two are key references for crude oil prices in the international market. This is the highest one since mid-April 2023.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday (3/8) voluntarily extended the production cut up to 1 million barrels per day until the end of September. Saudi Arabia may extend it further. While Russia chose a policy to reduce the crude oil export amounting to 300 barrels per day next month.
With these cuts, experts predicted there would be a deficit in the market up to 1.5 million barrels per day in September, following the deficit in July and August which was predictably around 2 million barrels on a daily basis.
In demand, global crude oil consumption can rise around 2.4 million barrels per day this year. This was stated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, after a panel meeting of OPEC+ ministers on Friday (4/8).
The dynamics of crude oil prices which directly affect fuel prices in the future is not easy to foresee. However, experts calculated that the crude oil price in several months will not be going down anytime soon.
On the other hand, China - with their struggling economy after COVID-19 pandemic - must struggle further. Beijing recently announced some stimulus policies to boost their economy. Should China's economy recover, the crude oil demand will rise and consequently price will increase.Other causes that affected the fuel price is inflation in the oil fuel processing industry. The costs of oil fuel production, starting from manpower and energy, are spiking.
The world's oil price spike possibly will nudge the fuel prices in Indonesia. It is not impossible that Indonesia’s state-owned oil company, PT Pertamina, will increase the price of some certain fuel types.
July
Indonesia is holding the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting/Post Ministerial Conference (AMM/PMC) which is held in Jakarta from 11 to 14 July 2023. Prior to the AMM/PMC meeting, a technical level meeting and a senior official level meeting (SOM) were held on Saturday (8/7).
The AMM/PMC was opened by Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi in Jakarta on Tuesday (11/7).
Minister Retno Marsudi said in Jakarta last Friday (7/7) that the AMM/PMC meeting is attended by 29 countries, along with the ASEAN and European Union Secretariats. According to Minister Retno, as of Friday July 7, 1,165 delegates and more than 400 domestic and foreign journalists have registered.
In fact, the AMM meeting, which will be followed by a summit at the end of the year, will prove that Indonesia is the chairman of ASEAN 2023 which carries the theme 'ASEAN Matters; Epicentrum of Growth'. Because, at the current situation, the world recession threatens many countries and the effects of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and post-Covid-19.
Countries in Europe which are destination countries for trade and agricultural economic production in the ASEAN region have experienced a decline in demand. Because of this, the slogan Epicentrum of Growth to advance the regional trade economy is a formidable challenge for Indonesia, not to mention the issue of security in the South China Sea which is in contact with several ASEAN member countries.
Therefore, Minister Retno Marsudi emphasized that at the AMM/MPC meeting, they would discuss concrete cooperation in the framework of strengthening food security, regional health architecture, strengthening maritime cooperation and energy transition, including the electric vehicle ecosystem.
It is planned that during the four days of the AMM/PMC, 18 meetings will be held, including plenaries and retreats, as well as several trilateral meetings involving the ASEAN Secretariat and Indonesia as Chair of ASEAN.
In addition, the presence of foreign ministers from ASEAN partner countries, as reported by Voice of Indonesia’s reporters at the venue, Monday (10/7), included foreign ministers from the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, England, Japan and South Korea as well as the Russian Foreign Minister are planning to attend, and this shows how important the position and position of ASEAN is.
Because of this, strengthening cooperation in all fields with ASEAN members and ASEAN partners is a tough task for Indonesia, which is lined up as chairman until the end of 2023, including the Myanmar issue which continues to be in the world's spotlight and an obstacle to the movement of cooperation between ASEAN members and partners, both regional and multilateral. The results of the discussion of various issues in the AMM/PMC will be presented at the 43rd Summit in September.
July
The fourth cabinet of the Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte fell on Friday (7/7). Until the new government is formed, the demissionner cabinet will only guarantee that the daily governance will run smoothly yet cannot make strategic decisions.
The fall of Mark Rutte's fourth demissionner cabinet resulted from party coalition's block in achieving agreement on immigration policy.
Recently, the Netherlands has been flooded by Middle Eastern refugees, most of which were from Syria. The Dutch cabinet coalition parties failed to reach an agreement on refugee families reunion. Some wanted to limit the refugee, including for their family staying outside the Netherlands. The other wanted the reunion at all costs. The situation before the Dutch government's fall suddenly worsened last week, after Mark Rutte - without any fundamental reason - suddenly threatened to disband the cabinet if his party's intention to limit the flow of refugees was not granted.
For Indonesia, Mark Rutte has a special relation. He spent parts of his childhood in Indonesia, when it was still called the Dutch Indies.
The fall of the former PM's government will not have any significant impact on its bilateral relations with Indonesia. Besides history, Indonesia and the Netherlands are sharing a tight relationship.
The Netherlands has the most Indonesian diaspora in Europe. The number of Indonesian diaspora in the Netherlands, both still Indonesian citizens and those who changed passports was predictably around 1.7 million people. Currently, more than 1,500 Indonesian students are studying in various higher education in the Netherlands.
Despite declining compared to 2021, the investment value of the Netherlands in Indonesia in 2022 was $1,22 billion. The Netherlands stays as the top investors from Europe in Indonesia.
The future of Dutch politics is still uncertain. Although the opposition is sensing an opportunity to hold the government, it is not easy to make a coalition. Moreover, there is yet any strong candidate to replace Mark Rutte. Besides, the centrist parties are still trying to make a strategy after the failure of preserving Mark Rutte's fourth demissionner cabinet.