VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar has said that Indonesia and Malaysia can exchange insights and experiences regarding the handling of forest and land fires.

"I think we can simply learn from each other since Indonesia will be the coordination center for handling transboundary haze," she explained at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, on Friday.

Based on available data, the haze from forest and land fires within Indonesia has not spread to Malaysia, the minister said.

For that reason, it would be incorrect for Malaysia to lodge a complaint with Indonesia, she added.

"According to data, there is no transboundary haze, so they (Malaysia) cannot state a complaint to Indonesia," she stated.

In fact, she added, the forest and land fires that are currently blazing in several regions in Indonesia have been triggered by activities in concession areas under the management of foreign companies, including those from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and China.

"Hence, I think we should simply learn from each other," Bakar emphasized.

Speaking about a letter received from the Malaysian government, Minister Bakar clarified that the letter did not contain complaints.

Through the letter, the Malaysian government offered Indonesia assistance in handling forest and land fires, she informed.

"I have read the letter. It does not contain complaints. They (Malaysia) just informed us that the air quality in their territory is not in a good condition and stated their willingness to cooperate with Indonesia," she elaborated.

Furthermore, the minister affirmed that the government is currently formulating a system for handling forest and land fires by taking into account the fact that Indonesia has a vast territory.

Earlier, it was reported that the Malaysian government had sent Indonesia a letter regarding forest and land fires.

The letter was sent by Malaysian Minister of Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has reiterated the need for an immediate end to violence in the Gaza Strip in Palestine, while emphasizing the importance of prioritizing humanitarian issues amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Speaking at the 1st Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council (ASEAN-GCC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, the President invited both ASEAN and GCC to jointly prevent the situation in Gaza from deteriorating further.

"We should not forget that the root of the problem is Israeli occupation against Palestinian territories. That is the very thing we should resolve according to the international parameters that have been agreed upon," he said during the summit, which was followed via the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel.

He urged ASEAN and the GCC to make their stance clear and solid to support a just solution that can help realize lasting peace in the besieged Palestine enclave.

ASEAN has pushed for an immediate end to the violence and called for full respect for international humanitarian law amid the ongoing armed conflict.

In a joint statement released by ASEAN foreign affairs ministers on Friday, the regional bloc condemned the acts of violence that have left civilians, including citizens of ASEAN countries, dead and injured. It also pushed the creation of safe, rapid, and unimpeded humanitarian corridors.

"We reaffirm our support for the negotiated two-state solution that allows both Israelis and Palestinians to live side-by-side in peace and security, consistent with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions," ASEAN said, according to the joint statement.

"This will be the only viable path to resolving the root cause of the conflict," the bloc affirmed.

Over the past 13 days, Israel has continued to shell Palestine, killing approximately thousands of people.

The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Friday that at least 4,137 Palestinians have been killed and 13,000 wounded in Gaza in Israeli strikes since October 7.

Israel has been mounting attacks on buildings located in densely populated residential areas, which, it alleges, are being used by Hamas.

The humanitarian disaster has been further exacerbated by Israel's decision to cut off the supplies of water, electricity, and fuel to Gaza, depriving 2 million people of their right to access basic necessities.

The worsening living conditions of the people have raised the concern of the United Nations and human rights activists.

Following an attack on a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday (October 17, 2023), Israel bombed Greek orthodox church Saint Porphyrius on Thursday (October 19), where some 500 Palestinian Muslims and Christians were sheltering. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his resolve to fulfil agreements made at his summit last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he met visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, state media KCNA reported on Friday.

Kim took a rare trip to Russia last month during which he invited Putin to Pyongyang and discussed military cooperation, including over North Korea's satellite programme, and the war in Ukraine.

Kim and Lavrov discussed ways to ramp up cooperation to actively respond to regional and global issues based on "solid political and strategic trust relations," and Lavrov conveyed Putin's greetings to Kim, KCNA said.

Kim pledged to "work out a stable, forward-looking, far-reaching plan for the DPRK-Russia relations in the new era by faithfully implementing the agreements ... and push forward with the cause of building a powerful state," KCNA said.

He was referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Lavrov signed a plan for exchanges in 2024-25 as they held separate talks to follow up on the summit and explore greater cooperation on the economy, culture and advanced science and technology, KCNA said.

The two diplomats also discussed how to place bilateral ties "on a higher stage," it said.

"Both sides had an in-depth exchange of views on intensifying joint action on several regional and international issues including the situation on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asian region and reached a consensus of views on them," KCNA said in another dispatch.

Lavrov has departed Pyongyang after the meetings, it said.

Lavrov, at a reception after arriving in Pyongyang on Wednesday, thanked Pyongyang's "unwavering and principled support" for Russia in the Ukraine war, and vowed "complete support and solidarity" for the North, according to Moscow's foreign ministry.

'FIRST TARGET OF DESTRUCTION'

Russia and North Korea have been seeking to forge closer ties in the face of what they see as a hostile and aggressive U.S.-led Western camp.

Seoul and Washington have expressed concerns about growing exchanges between Moscow and Pyongyang, and the U.S. has stepped up military drills with Japan in response to North Korea's evolving military threats, involving an aircraft carrier and other strategic assets.

In a separate commentary, KCNA criticised the U.S. deployment of the strategic assets, including a B-52 bomber and F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, and the joint exercises.

Those assets would be "the first targets of destruction" if signs of any attack on North Korea were detected, it said, adding the country has already enacted "the policy of nuclear force which allowed the necessary procedures of action."

"This is the intentional nuclear war provocative moves of the U.S.," the commentary said.

"Now that the U.S. and gangsters of the 'Republic of Korea' have committed a provocation of nuclear war against the DPRK, the DPRK will take corresponding option," it said, referring to South Korea. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - The United States "strongly" encouraged Afghanistan's neighbors, including Pakistan, to allow entry for Afghans seeking protection and urged them to uphold obligations in treatment of refugees, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.

THE TAKE

Pakistan has set a Nov. 1 deadline for all illegal immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans, to leave the country or face forcible expulsion.

BY THE NUMBERS

Some 1.73 million Afghans in Pakistan have no legal documents, according to Islamabad, which alleged that Afghan nationals carried out over a dozen suicide bombings this year.

Pakistan has hosted the largest number of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979. Islamabad says the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan totaled 4.4 million.

Some 20,000 or more Afghans who fled the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan are in Pakistan awaiting the processing of their applications for U.S. Special Immigration Visas (SIVs) or resettlement in the United States as refugees.

KEY QUOTE

"We strongly encourage Afghanistan's neighbors, including Pakistan, to allow entry for Afghans seeking international protection and to coordinate with international humanitarian organizations ... to provide humanitarian assistance," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told reporters on Thursday.

CONTEXT

Pakistan says the deportation process would be orderly and conducted in phases and could begin with people with criminal records.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have said Pakistan's threat to force out Afghan migrants was "unacceptable".

Relations have deteriorated between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past couple of years, largely over accusations that Islamists fighting the Pakistani state operate from Afghan territory. The Taliban deny this claim.

A group of former top U.S. officials and resettlement organizations have urged Pakistan to exempt from deportation to Afghanistan thousands of Afghan applicants for special U.S. visas or refugee relocation to the United States. (Reuters)