VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The 10th World Water Forum (WWF) is an opportunity for Indonesia and archipelagic countries to improve access to drinking water for communities, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing.

The statement was delivered by the ministry's spokesperson, Endra S. Atmawidjaja, at the Forum Merdeka 9 online discussion held by the Ministry of Communication here on Monday. The discussion was entitled "Global Collaboration to Anticipate Water Crisis as Impact of Climate Change."

"Indonesia plays a role as facilitator, as host, and one of the countries that have been committed to achieving the target of 100 percent access to drinking water by 2030," he said.

According to him, providing access to drinking water for all has been agreed upon under Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely ensuring safe drinking water and sanitation for all.

"It is necessary in this event that we play a role in instilling the importance of collaboration to respond to the challenges," he said.

Based on data from the United Nations (UN), in 2022, there were 2.2 billion people who did not have access to safe drinking water. Of the number, around 673 million lived in South Asia, while 263 million were in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The UN has predicted that the number of people globally who do not have access to drinking water could potentially increase due to the water crisis caused by extreme climate change.

Atmawidjaja underlined that a water crisis could likely occur in Indonesia as well.

To this end, as host, Indonesia has invited leaders and representatives from 172 participating countries to discuss and seek solutions to the threat of water crisis at the 10th WWF, which will be held in Bali in May 2024.

The Indonesian government has launched several programs to improve access to drinking water, such as the Community-Based Drinking Water Provision and Sanitation Program (Pamsimas) and the Community-Based Total Sanitation (STBM) program.

Under the Pamsimas program, the government aims to improve access to drinking water and sanitation in villages. The program has so far improved access to drinking water in 58 thousand villages in the country.

Meanwhile, the STBM program is aimed at improving access to sanitation across Indonesia. It aims to end open defecation.

"We must also see the innovation and creativity of other countries in handling the water crisis in their countries," Atmawidjaja said. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Puan Maharani, has asked the government to remain vigilant while evacuating Indonesian citizens from Israel and Palestine.

"I know that in the process of evacuation from conflict areas, there will definitely be various conditions in the field, but it cannot be an excuse for not providing optimal services for the safety of Indonesian citizens there," she said in a statement issued by the DPR here on Monday.

Maharani highlighted that the state has an obligation to provide a guarantee of services and safety to its citizens in conflict areas.

"Even though so far no Indonesian citizens have become victims of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the threat of war is still quite high," she said.

She added that the government must get ready for all contingencies regarding the ongoing conflict and prepare for the worst-case scenarios in evacuating Indonesians, especially from the Gaza Strip.

"Do not let our citizens become victims of war," she stressed.

She appealed to Indonesian citizens to postpone their departure to the Israel-Palestine conflict areas, whether to volunteer or carry out religious tourism activities, until the war abates.

In carrying out the evacuation, she urged the government to cooperate with international organizations, such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

"The two international organizations have experiences and resources that can be used to secure and facilitate the process of evacuating Indonesian citizens," she said.

She also asked the government to play a role in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and ensure that aid and support for Palestine is based on pure and universal human values.

"Hopefully, this effort can help create a more peaceful and just world for all communities," she said.

She expressed the hope that the government would continue to intensify diplomatic efforts to invite countries in the world to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict and provide aid to war-affected victims.

"Diplomatic efforts must be promoted more by the Indonesian government. Both from the formal side, such as in international forums or bilateral meetings with other countries, as well as through an informal approach from the leader or representatives of the country," she said. (Antaranews)

VOI, Jakarta - The Philippine military has demanded China stop "dangerous and offensive" actions in the South China Sea, after a Chinese navy ship shadowed and attempted to cut off a Philippine navy vessel conducting a resupply mission late last week.

A Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel came as close as 350 yards (metres) as it tried to cross in front of the Philippine ship near Thitu island, Manila's biggest and most strategically important outpost in the South China Sea, according to Philippines armed forces chief Romeo Brawner.

"These dangerous and offensive manoeuvres by China's PLAN not only risk collision but also directly endanger the lives of maritime personnel from both sides," Brawner said in a statement on Sunday.

China on Monday claimed sovereignty and defended its presence near Thitu, which is calls as Zhongye Island.

"The Philippine side's illegal occupation of Zhongye Island has seriously violated China's sovereignty," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular press conference on Monday. "It is reasonable and lawful for Chinese warships to patrol the waters near Zhongye Island."

It was the latest in a series of attempts by China to monitor and block Philippine resupply missions to personnel in Manila-occupied features in the South China Sea.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, through which more than $3 trillion of trade passes each year.

Ties between Manila and Beijing have soured since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos pursued closer ties with Washington, in sharp contrast to the pro-China stance of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who sought to court billions of dollars of investment from Beijing.

Marcos, however, has maintained pursuing economic relations with China is important, and his government is sending a representative to China's third Belt and Road Forum this week.(Reuters)

VOI, Jakarta - Turkey is willing to hold off ratifying Sweden's bid to join NATO this month as it awaits signs of U.S. support for its own request to buy F-16 jets, sources said, potentially disappointing bloc allies hoping to end 17 months of delay.

President Tayyip Erdogan elated a NATO summit in July by promising to send the bid to Turkey's parliament for ratification when it reopened in October, appearing to green-light Sweden after having raised objections over its alleged harbouring of terrorists.

However since parliament opened on Oct. 1, its foreign affairs commission, which would debate the NATO bid, has received almost 60 international agreements to review - excluding Sweden's, official data shows.

Two people familiar with the situation said Ankara wanted to move in tandem with Washington, where the State Department is expected at some time to seek congressional approval for a $20-billion sale of F-16 fighters to Turkey and dozens of modernisation kits.

"Given the lack of trust over the issue of F-16s and Sweden, Turkey is not rushing to ratify the NATO bid and looking for a sign that the United States is taking steps at the same time," said an official from Erdogan's ruling AK Party.

A second person familiar with U.S.-Turkish talks said a rough proposal - in which each side would take steps toward ratifying the NATO bid on the one side, and the F-16s purchase on the other - had been delayed.

Erdogan's office did not immediately comment on a time frame for Sweden's ratification or on any U.S. talks.

The U.S. State Department looked forward to Sweden joining NATO "in the near future", a spokesperson said, and that President Joe Biden backed the F-16s sale in the interest of the alliance, the United States and its relationship with Turkey."

"(W)e should do both of these things," the spokesperson said.

IN NO RUSH

Turkey, NATO's second-biggest military, is still expected to ultimately endorse Sweden's bid and could rapidly move on it.

But Turkish officials and foreign diplomats say Erdogan is in no rush, especially after a bomb attack in Ankara on the day parliament opened and, days later, the downing of an unmanned Turkish drone by the United States in northern Syria.

Addressing the drone incident, which occurred near U.S. troops on Oct. 5, Erdogan said last week: "Isn't Turkey a NATO ally of the U.S.? ...How can we explain this? Only when it suits them, they call themselves partners".

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year after Russia invaded Ukraine. Finnish membership was sealed in April, marking an historic expansion of the Western defence bloc, but Sweden's bid remains held up by Turkey and Hungary.

Turkey says Sweden must take more steps at home to clamp down on the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the European Union and United States also deem a terrorist group.

After meeting NATO counterparts in Brussels on Friday, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler told reporters Sweden was expected to implement new counter-terrorism measures, adding parliament "would have the final say" on ratification.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Friday he was convinced the process to join NATO will be resolved "reasonably soon," given Stockholm has fulfilled all commitments in a deal signed last year with Ankara and Helsinki.

LEVERAGE

But Erdogan appears willing to leverage the situation for other gains. Last month, he openly floated exchanging Sweden's ratification for the U.S. go-ahead to upgrade Turkey's F-16 fleet.

With Washington keen to expand NATO, senior U.S. and Turkish officials had sketched out a plan in which Erdogan would send the NATO proposal to parliament and the State Department would ask leaders of the U.S. Senate and House foreign affairs committees to review the F-16 deal, the second source said.

But hopes for a swift approval took a blow on Oct. 1 when the PKK claimed responsibility for the bomb attack near Ankara government buildings.

In response, Turkey redoubled strikes on militant targets in Iraq and Syria, where the United States is allied with some Kurdish fighters, leading to the drone incident.

After that, the second source said, discussions quieted down on the U.S.-Turkish proposal to move roughly in parallel.

While the White House endorses the sale of the Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-16s, there are objections in Congress over Turkey delaying NATO enlargement and its human rights record.

Another potential strain in U.S.-Turkish ties emerged last week in Israel's war against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Erdogan - long supportive of Palestinians and a two-state solution - said that a U.S. aircraft carrier that arrived in the eastern Mediterranean was meant to commit "serious massacres" in the Gaza Strip. (Reuters)