VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin invited all interfaith leaders in Indonesia to play an active role in building coalitions for global peace and helping to resolve religious conflicts in friendly countries.

"We, as religious leaders and adherents of devout religions, need to build an interfaith coalition for global peace that promotes the spirit of harmony and a narrative of peace throughout the world," said Ma'ruf Amin at the commemoration of the 2,571st birthday of the Prophet Kongzi virtually, Tuesday.

Ma'ruf said conflicts involving religious believers in various countries occurred because community groups had not yet implemented religious teachings in creating peace and harmony, and avoided destructive behavior.

"On the other hand, religion is still often used as a means of justification and excuse in conflicts and wars. Once again, we are very sorry for this and we must correct it," said the Vice President.

Ma'ruf took the example of religious conflicts that caused injustice to Muslims, including in India and Myanmar. Ma'ruf regretted that the conflict was still happening.

"As an example, we can mention the occurrence of violence against a religious background, such as the case of discriminatory treatment against Muslims in India and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, which we should regret," he said.

To maintain peace in the country, Ma'ruf Amin emphasized the importance of strengthening the narrative of harmony to maintain unity amidst ethnic, religious, and racial differences in Indonesia.

"The narrative of harmony is very important for us because the Indonesian nation is a pluralistic nation. As a pluralistic nation, the pillar of the Indonesian nation's strength lies in its diversity," he said.

In addition, we must also promote caring for and implementing Pancasila values as the state ideology as an effort to maintain community harmony between religious believers, among groups, and between groups.

"Maintaining and caring for Pancasila is not enough just by reading historical records and memorizing its formulas. To remain strong as a living ideology, we must manifest the noble values of Pancasila in the genuine works and practices of the community and every Indonesian citizen," he said. (Antaranews)

The Ministry of Finance emphasized that economic recovery and policy reforms are the foundation for achieving Indonesia's vision to become a developed country by 2045.

"Recovery and policy reform are the foundation for advancing Indonesia in 2045," said the Head of the BKF State Budget Policy Center for the Ministry of Finance Ubaidi Socheh in an online discussion in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Therefore, Ubaidi said that the government will continue to carry out reforms to strengthen the foundation even though it is in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic because economic stress will affect subsequent efforts.

"We know that we are currently in the midst of a pandemic, so difficult economic conditions have an impact on the fiscal. But we have a dream that in 2045 we want to become a developed country," he said.

He said the government continues to carry out various reforms as a whole, from sectoral to fiscal, including on income, expenditure, financing, including other fields.

Moreover, he said that this year is in an extraordinary condition so that the response taken by the government is also extraordinary, one of which is by providing a stimulus to restore economic activity.

"The reopening policy is a commitment to overcome COVID-19 and support economic recovery," he said.

Not only that, he said that the acceleration between recovery and policy reform will continue next year, which is reflected in the preparation and implementation of the 2021 State Budget.

"Some acceleration of recovery and reform will influence the implementation of the 2021 State Budget," he said. (Antaranews)

The Indonesian government through the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) together with the Singapore SAR held joint training on handling ship accidents, aircraft, and disasters at sea, to enhance cooperation between the two countries in handling shipping accidents.

"In the 38th joint SAR training between Indonesia and Singapore in 2020, Basarnas Pangkalpinang City, Babel Island Province will be the host," said Basarnas Preparedness Director, Didi Hamzar when opening a virtual joint Indonesian SAR exercise in Pangkalpinang, Tuesday.

He said the joint SAR exercise Indonesia - Singapore this year entitled Indopura was held for three days from 13 to 15 October 2020 followed by 150 Basarnas and RCC Singapore personnel using Singapore airplanes, state ships, ambulances, trucks, and motorbikes.

"The exercise for this time is still being carried out even in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic and this joint training between countries regarding the help and search for new people, Basarnas has carried out the first time in this coronavirus pandemic," he said.

According to him, the trainees from Indonesia will receive material in the form of provisioning, technical drills, and application and technology capabilities.

The supplies provided include procedures for conducting search and rescue operations between countries, procedures for handling aircraft accidents, communication, and coordination.

"In this joint exercise, a plane that has lost contact at the FIB Indonesia - Singapore border will be simulated and it is known that it crashed in Pangkalpinang waters. Trainees from the two countries will coordinate to carry out the search and rescue of victims," ​​he said.

He added that the joint training activity with SAR Indonesia - Singapore is a Basarnas work program that is held annually, to increase cooperation between the two countries in handling accidents and natural disasters at sea.

"We hope that this activity can provide understanding and cooperation between SAR authorities in Indonesia and Singapore in search and rescue operations for aircraft and ship crash victims," ​​he said.

In addition, this joint exercise can improve the readiness of human resources in carrying out victim search operations, create facility readiness, mobilize effective elements in operations, and increase the ability to coordinate between SAR in Indonesia and Singapore.

"In the condition of COVID-19, this adds to Basarnas procedures in searching for and rescuing accident victims by adhering to the COVID-19 health protocol that applies in their respective countries," said Didi Hamzar. (Antaranews)

The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) tested the effectiveness of the effects of various housing programs for the community that has been carried out so far.

"Evaluation of the results of housing provision for the community is very important," said Director of Housing Management System and Strategy, Dwityo Akoro Soeranto in a written statement received in Jakarta, Tuesday.

He argued, it is important to carry out an evaluation of the impact of the housing program for the community to find out input and suggestions and to monitor whether the local government and the community are helped by the Housing Program or not.

According to Dwityo, this evaluation activity was held to find out the benefits of providing housing directly to the community and the impact of the program on the socio-economic conditions of the region.

He said that the objectives include getting information about the utilization of the Directorate General of Housing program, including the construction of flats, construction of special houses, stimulating help for new developments and improving the quality of self-help houses, and assistance for public housing infrastructure, facilities and utilities (PSU).

Then, he continued, the second objective was to get information about the socio-economic impact of the Directorate General of Housing program.

He said that his party also wanted to know the views and responses of the housing office at the district/city and provincial levels to the results of housing development.

Another goal is to obtain information regarding the support of the Regional Government for the provision of livable houses and to reduce the backlog (housing shortages) and to get suggestions for improvements in increasing the utilization of the Directorate General of Housing program.

As it has been reported, Indonesia is considered needing a residential concept that can streamline the mobility of residents, especially from where they live to the location of their daily activities, so it is necessary to encourage the application of the concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD).

"Indonesia needs a new concept of providing housing in the form of TOD in urban areas that can reduce the mobility of people from their homes to the centers of their activities," he said.

He stated that his party had collaborated with several ministries/agencies, experts, and practitioners in the housing sector to gather various inputs and suggestions regarding the transit-based housing development program or TOD in Indonesia.

The current TOD development, he continued, is considered to be one of the right solutions for land use and to make it easier for people including the millennial generation.

"We held a meeting with partners in the housing sector as an effort to prepare policy support so that the development of transit-based housing can run effectively and efficiently," said Dwityo.

According to him, policies related to TOD development should be implemented in the field as much as possible while encouraging development collaboration between the government, business world, and society. (Antaranews)