VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo said that one way of structural reform to improve the ease of doing business for the MSME sector is through the Job Creation Act.

"The government in the last 6 years has continued to carry out structural reforms to improve the ease of doing business for MSMEs. Including through the Job Creation Law," said the President in a video remark at the MSMEs Kumparan Festival in Jakarta, Monday.

The President said the Job Creation Law would make it easier for MSME entrepreneurs to open new businesses. Business licensing for MSMEs businesses is no longer needed, but only registration.

The government also trimmed overlapping regulations and complicated procedures for MSMEs. In addition, business barriers such as illegal fees in the business bureaucracy are also trimmed, by simplifying, integrating, and adapting electronic systems.

"By simplifying, cutting, and integrating it into the licensing system electronically, we can eliminate extortion," said the President.

The President wants MSME businesses, including MSME businesses belonging to the millennial generation, so they can develop rapidly because they will open up many jobs. Therefore, the business ecosystem for the MSME sector must be ensured to be conducive.

"I imagine, if one millennial-owned business uses only five people, how many thousands of people are already working, getting direct benefits from the business transformation carried out by young people," said the President.

In Indonesia, every year there is 2.9 million new working-age populations. Therefore, the need for employment is enormous. In addition, Indonesia also experiences a demographic bonus. The composition of the population of productive age 15-64 years is very large. Indonesian people are in the productive age phase will reach over 60 percent by 2030. 

"For that, we need more job creators. Young entrepreneurs who create new jobs," said the President. (Antaranews)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati assessed that Indonesia's financial and treasury management system is in very good condition and reliable amid the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sri Mulyani said that Indonesia's financial and treasury management system should be formed because reform has been carried out since 16 years ago, namely around 2003.

"With this reform, we see that the function of the treasury in Indonesia is getting better and better," she said in an online discussion in Jakarta, Monday.

Sri Mulyani said that the Unqualified Opinion (WTP) obtained from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) is also proof that all state treasury management is carried out with good accounting principles.

According to her, a good treasury system allows the government to make adaptive and responsive adjustments to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

"The reliable system in terms of state finances enables us to immediately make adjustments, adaptive, responsive. It can be done in an extraordinary, immediate, and flexible manner," she said.

The minister explained that the government had reformed the state treasury and financial management system through three packages of laws (UU) from around 2003 to 2004.

The three laws are concerned with state finances, state treasury and supervision, and accountability for state finances.

Since the reforms, the Directorate General of Treasury (DJPb) of the Ministry of Finance has assumed the responsibility of providing initiatives and innovations to the state treasury.

"Since then, DGT has carried out various initiatives and innovations in modernizing, improving governance and management in terms of increased reputation and credibility," he said.

On the other hand, Sri Mulyani said that DGT's reputation was not good when he first served as Minister of Finance in 2005, namely that there was a stigma in society that in disbursing the budget, brokers had to use the services of a broker.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance established a front office, middle office, and back office in each DGT regional office in order to improve and change the stigma of the community.

"That is the first way to clean up budget brokers so that they become relatively good service offices. Automation is carried out in services so that the public knows more," she explained.

Not only that, but the Ministry of Finance also made other efforts, namely implementing a state revenue module so that the public could clearly and transparently know the flow of money into the state treasury.

Then the Ministry of Finance also established a single treasury account so that the amount and utilization of state money in each Ministry / Institution can be known.

"There is discipline and control over the entire management of state finances to be able to maintain cash, liquidity, and how to regulate the treasury. This is to ensure that government cash is sufficiently liquid," she said.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance created a State Treasury and Budget System (SPAN) and a Financial Application System. Agency Level (SAKTI) to continue to improve the governance of the state treasury. (Antaranews)

South Korea urged citizens to get vaccinated against influenza and reduce the chances of an outbreak that coincides with the battle on the coronavirus, as it kicked off free inoculations for the last eligible group.

Public anxiety over the safety of flu vaccines has surged after at least 48 people died this month following vaccinations, while, last month, about 5 million doses had to be disposed of after not being stored at recommended temperatures.

Authorities have said they found no direct link between the deaths and the flu shots and have sought to reassure South Koreans about the safety of the vaccines against flu, a disease that kills at least 3,000 each year.

“Vaccination offers far greater benefits compared to side effects, and both the WHO and domestic and overseas experts agree,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a briefing on Sunday, in a reference to the World Health Organization.

Last year, more than 1,500 elderly people died within seven days of receiving flu vaccines, but those deaths were not linked to the vaccinations, the government said.

As South Korea presses on with its inoculations, southeast Asia’s tiny city-state of Singapore became one of the first nations this week to call a temporary halt to the use of two influenza vaccines, as a precaution.

Singapore has reported no deaths linked to flu vaccinations.

South Korea ordered 20% more flu vaccines this year to ward off the prospect of what it calls a “twindemic” of concurrent major flu and coronavirus outbreaks in winter.

At least 1,154 instances of adverse reactions have been reported from among more than 9.4 million people inoculated since the effort began in September. (Reuters)

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin faced calls to resign on Monday as doubts swirled over the support that he commands, after the king rejected his request to declare a state of emergency to fight the coronavirus epidemic.

Muhyiddin had requested emergency rule amid a fresh spike in infections in Malaysia and global pandemic that has battered the economy. But critics accused him of using seeking a pretext to suspend parliament and avoid a test of his razor-thin parliamentary majority.

King Al-Sultan Abdullah’s refusal is seen further eroding Muhyiddin’s grip on power, a month after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he has majority support in parliament, including from defectors from the ruling alliance, to form a new government.

Turning down Muhyiddin’s request on Sunday, the king also asked politicians to end any politicking that could destabilize a government that he said has handled the pandemic well.

But leaders of other parties in Muhyiddin’s coalition and the opposition criticized his move to seek emergency powers and called on him to step down after the bid failed.

“Thankfully, His Majesty the King was not influenced by the political game that could drag the country into the more critical territory,” said Ahmad Puad Zarkashi, a senior leader in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) - the largest party in the ruling coalition - said in a post on Facebook.

“The people’s well-being is more important. By right, Muhyiddin should step down,” Ahmad Puad said.

Opposition lawmaker Wong Chen said Muhyiddin’s “malicious” proposal was rightfully rejected by the king, and that the premier should resign or fire ministers who proposed the emergency.

Muhyiddin is holding a cabinet meeting on Monday that is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. (0330 GMT). In a statement on Sunday, the premier said the cabinet would discuss the king’s rejection of his request. (Reuters)