VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim stated that the 2023 Developing Country Partnership (KNB) Scholarship given to 222 foreign students from 50 countries can potentially create a new education climate in Indonesia.

"We hope that foreign students present here will become partners with Indonesian students and learn about each other's cultures. The presence of foreign students here is an important effort to improve human resources to become globally competitive," he noted in a statement received here on Sunday.

The KNB Scholarship is given to students coming from developing countries that have bilateral relations with Indonesia and are keen to study at the best universities in Indonesia.

The scholarship, which has been running since 2006, offers full funding for undergraduate (S-1), master (S-2), and doctoral (S-3) programs.

Makarim said the goal of this program is to provide opportunities for friendly countries to get quality education in Indonesia, especially through various Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (Freedom in Learning, Freedom in Campus or MBKM) programs.

He expressed hope that the KNB Scholarship program would result in a different learning climate for college students in Indonesia, the implementation of cultural exchanges, and diverse interactions.

Director of Institutions at the ministry's Directorate General of Higher Education, Research and Technology, Lukman, stated that the number of KNB Scholarship recipients will be doubled in order to improve the global competitiveness of students of Indonesia and friendly countries.

"This year, we accepted over 200 students for the KNB program. Next year, we will increase the scholarship recipients to 400 students from all over the world," he remarked.

Director General of Public Information and Diplomacy of the Foreign Ministry, Siti Nugraha Mauludiah, explained that the KNB Scholarship is part of Indonesia's soft diplomacy with fellow developing countries and partner countries.

"KNB recipients need to make good use of this program because this is your investment," she stated. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Pakistan's three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif kick-started his party's campaign for next year's election on Saturday after arriving home from four years of self-imposed exile in London, promising to tackle record inflation.

"I want to serve this nation," said the 73-year-old veteran politician in his address to thousands of his supporters at his eastern hometown of Lahore.

"My only desire is to see this nation prosper," he said after he compared today's essential goods prices with his last tenure before he was ousted in 2017.

He promised to work toward economic recovery, without laying any plans, saying: "We will control inflation."

Earlier, he landed in a chartered plane at Islamabad airport where he signed and filed appeals against the convictions he was jailed for before he left the country in 2019.

Sharif had not set foot in Pakistan since leaving for London in 2019 to receive medical treatment while serving a 14-year prison sentence for corruption. His convictions remain in force, but a court on Thursday barred authorities from arresting him until Tuesday, when he is to appear in court.

While he cannot run for or hold public office because of his convictions, his legal team says he plans to appeal and his party says he aims to become prime minister for a fourth time.

Sharif's biggest challenge will be to wrest back his support base from his main rival, Khan, who despite being in jail remains popular following his ouster from the premiership in 2022.

Khan, too, is disqualified from the election because of his August graft conviction, which he has appealed.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Nuclear-armed Pakistan, a nation of 241 million people, is experiencing the impact of an economic crisis that has worsened during the 16-month rule of Nawaz Sharif's younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, who led a coalition government after Khan's removal.

The elder Sharif has a record of pursuing economic growth and development. When he was removed as premier in 2017, Pakistan's growth rate was 5.8% and inflation was around 4%. In September, inflation was more than 31% year-on-year and growth is projected to be less than 2% this financial year.

"Things have worsened to the extent that people have to chose either to pay their electricity bills or feed their kids," the elder Sharif told the Lahore rally. "It has become impossible for people to pay bills. People are committing suicide."

Rising living costs have imposed severe pressures on many Pakistanis after the younger Sharif's coalition government had to agree to harsh fiscal adjustments to resume funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had suspended payments after Khan scuttled a deal in his last days in office.

"Inflation has killed me and my family financially. I closed my shop because of losses," said Raheel Sarwar, 40, at the rally.

Nawaz Sharif has said he was ousted from government at the behest of the powerful military after he fell out with top generals, who play an outsized role in Pakistani politics.

He says the military then backed Khan in the 2018 general election. Khan and the military deny this.

The military and Khan fell out in 2022, and over the last few months they have been involved in a bruising showdown, which has afforded Sharif some political space.

The military denies that it interferes in politics.

"An evergreen rule about Pakistani politics is that your chances of taking power are always greater when you're in the good books of the army," said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.

"Over his long political career, Sharif's relationship with the military brass has blown hot and cold. It's now in a relatively cordial phase, and he stands to benefit politically." (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned countries about the real threat of climate change during a recent international climate workshop.

During "the International Workshop on Climate Variability and Climate Services" in Bali on October 16-19, BMKG Head Dwikorita Karnawati said that the current condition of the Earth is not good, posing a threat to all living things on the planet.

"Climate change threatens all countries… all of them have experienced hydrometeorological disasters or even multiple hydrometeorological disasters," she said, as quoted in a statement on Sunday.

Hence, she encouraged all countries to collaborate to address environmental issues.

In her briefing at the event, Karnawati also highlighted the importance of the relationship between science, policy and climate services.

The output from climate services and the science assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are needed to increase knowledge, especially to address climate issues and climate justice, she added.

According to Karnawati, the IPCC cannot work optimally without support from services from climate institutions such as BMKG.

At least 193 countries are working on systematic climate observations, analysis, predictions and are currently working on climate services, she said.

"Therefore, we need to strengthen the relationship between science, policy and information services, especially in understanding the impacts of climate change and climate variability and their effec on human life, which also has an impact on the safety of our civilization," she said.

Karnawati stated that BMKG has played an important role in promoting climate information services based on science and legal policies to anticipate increasingly worrisome climate change. (Antaranews)

VOInews, Jakarta - The Jakarta Provincial Government and Health Ministry continue to make detection and prevention efforts to halt the spread of Monkeypox (Mpox) in Indonesia, especially Jakarta.

"The two parties continue to make utmost efforts to prevent an outbreak of Monkeypox," Head of the Jakarta Health Office's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Immunization Unit Ngabila Salama said on Sunday.

To this end, first, the two parties conduct early detection efforts for treatment.The government had also issued a circular letter number HK.02.02/C/4408/2023 concerning Increasing Awareness of Mpox in Indonesia, she said.

According to Salama, the discovery of active cases is not only related to those having close contacts but also symptoms who come to health facilities to be immediately tested by PCR if they meet the criteria for suspect.

If the result is positive, a further whole genome sequencing (WGS) examination will be carried out based on instructions from the Ministry of Health, she continued.

Out of 100 positive cases, one infected person could die. It is mostly caused by secondary infections and low immunity conditions in vulnerable groups such as gays, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, children, and the elderly, Salama remarked.

The preventive efforts are then followed by such measures as vaccination for 500 people from vulnerable groups next week.

According to her, each person will be given two doses with four-week gap since the stock of Mpox vaccine in Indonesia is only recorded at 1,000 doses for 500 people.

Second, the authorities also intensify massive outreach and education to prevent the disease with a clean and healthy lifestyle (PHBS); urge people to wear mask; wash hands with running water and soap; avoid skin contact and wounds; have safe, healthy, and clean sexual relationship; and avoid sexual intercourse for sick people or people with Mpox symptoms, Salama added.

In addition, every close contact with Mpox patient will be monitored by the community health center (puskesmas) along with laboratory examination for symptoms in close contact.

As an anticipation to suppress the Monkeypox transmission, Salama informed that every positive case will be isolated at the hospital, even for mild symptoms.

The Mpox cases in Indonesia began with one case in August 2022. Another case was detected on October 13, 2023, with the patient still undergoing isolation in hospital.

One case was also found on October 19 with the patient undergoing isolation in the hospital and four cases occurred on October 21 with patients in the referral process for isolation at the hospital.

Four other people remain categorised as suspects with Monkeypox symptoms. They are still being examined at the PCR laboratory. Meanwhile, three people who were in the suspect category had their status declared negative, Salama added. (Antaranews)