VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan wants Indonesia to become an investment destination for electric vehicles so it can build the economy in Making Indonesia 4.0.

In his presentation, while attending Indika Energy's 20th anniversary at the INDY Fest 2020, Monday (19/10), Luhut said that before the pandemic many countries invested in China. But now, some of them are looking for other countries to divert their investment.

Indonesia, he said in a statement in Jakarta, Tuesday, is one of the countries that investors are starting to look at to move their industries.

"We need to transform our economic activities to make Making Indonesia 4.0 so we can take advantage of this situation by showing that we are competitive and able to compete globally," he said.

Luhut also emphasized the importance of economic transformation in the Making Indonesia 4.0 era in Indonesia, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are experiencing a very rapid change in the geopolitical landscape. This change is marked by a change in the world due to technology and quick globalization, then there is increasing geopolitical tension in various countries, especially between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the context of a trade war. Not to mention that we are also facing COVID-19 which is increasingly speeding up changes in the world's geopolitical landscape," he explained.

According to Luhut, one of the sectors that can be utilized and developed is the automotive sector, especially the electric vehicle (EV).

"One of the sectors developed in Making Indonesia 4.0 in Indonesia is the automotive sector, especially Electric Vehicles (EV). Indonesia has abundant resources in making EVs, namely nickel, aluminum, and copper. These three types of resources can be integrated to create a downstream industry that is competitive in the realm of global competition," said Coordinating Minister Luhut.

Luhut said that currently world car and battery manufacturers are competing to find investment destinations for their production facilities.

Under the Global Battery Alliance, increasing production of electric vehicles could result in the creation of 10 million jobs, and an economic value of around US $150 billion as they contribute to progress related to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

"If all or most of the related supply chains can be produced in Indonesia, then Indonesia can become a global key player in this future industry," he said.

Luhut reminded that Making Indonesia 4.0 could run if the industry could collaborate with universities in developing reliable human resources.

"Parties in the industrial ecosystem that we want to build, such as labor associations, industry associations, NGOs, companies, together with educational institutions, need to work well together. This cooperation will later be able to realize what we aspire to, in the form of development in the automotive sector, to realize Making Indonesia 4.0 in Indonesia," he concluded. (Antaranews)

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Monday (19/10), said 184 countries have joined the COVAX facility.

The program will finance the COVID-19 vaccine and distribute it evenly, to both rich and poor countries.

"The equitable distribution of vaccines is the fastest way to protect high-risk communities, stabilize health systems and promote a truly global economic recovery," Tedros said during a press conference in Geneva.

Ecuador and Uruguay were the last countries to recently join the COVAX facility, he said. (Antaranews)

Data from the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 shows that until now the government has examined 4,092,595 specimens from 2,553,521 people with a positivity rate of 14.3 percent.

According to data received in Jakarta on Monday afternoon, the health authorities on 19 October 2020 examined 36,259 specimens from 25,202 people. Self-examination was carried out by 376 laboratories throughout Indonesia.

From the results on Monday (19/10), there were 3,373 people tested positive and 21,829 people tested negative through the PCR swab test and molecular rapid test (TCM).

With these results, a total of 365,240 people tested positive out of 2,553,521 people who had been examined.

Dividing the number of positive results by the total number of cases examined for specimens finds that Indonesia currently has a positive rate of around 14.3 percent. The percentage is still higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of five percent.

The results show that the positive rate has not changed in the last three days with the numbers on Saturday (17/10) and Sunday (18/10) also showing the same number.

Of the 3,373 people who tested positive, the largest addition came from DKI Jakarta Province with 926 new patients, followed by West Java with 524 new patients, Central Java with 316 new patients, East Java with 242 new patients, and West Sumatra with 242 new patients.

The capital city of Jakarta is still the largest contributor to total COVID-19 cases with 95,253 people, but Jakarta also recorded the largest accumulation of recovered patients as many as 80,167 people.

Meanwhile, the province with the most total deaths due to COVID-19 is East Java with 3,562 people. (Antaranews)

President Joko Widodo wants special training involving WHO on how to treat the COVID-19 vaccine before implementing vaccination in the community.

"Problems relating to the field need preparation for implementation, also related to training. Don't take it lightly, this is not easy,” said President Joko Widodo during a limited meeting on Anticipating the Spread of COVID-19 During the Long Holiday at the End of October 2020 from the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday.

The Head of State emphasized the importance of specialized training related to how to carry vaccines or store them.

Moreover, he said, because the amount of vaccine to be injected was in a very large capacity, it also required different treatments.

"Training to bring vaccines, training to put vaccines, because this is in large quantities because vaccines must also receive different treatments. Each vaccine is different, from G42, from Sinovac, from AstraZeneca are all different, how to store it in cold storage, can it be shaken or not," said the President.

Therefore, he requested that related parties, such as WHO, be involved in order to provide training with clear standards.

"I ask WHO to be involved, WHO Indonesia so they can provide training and that the standards become clear," he said.

He emphasized that all parties should be careful in handling vaccines because it is not something that can be taken lightly.

"Be careful about vaccines, this is not a simple thing, after I learn more and more, I'm sure it's not easy," he said.

The President has received a report from the Minister of BUMN that currently the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca will be delivered for the first time in April 2021, and every month Indonesia will receive around 11 million to a total of 100 million vaccines. (Antaranews)