VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOI, Jakarta - Thousands of people swamped Pakistan's main northwestern border crossing seeking to cross into Afghanistan on Thursday, a day after the government's deadline expired for undocumented foreigners to leave or face expulsion.

Pakistani authorities began rounding up undocumented foreigners, most of them Afghans, hours before Wednesday's deadline. More than a million Afghans could have to leave or face arrest and forcible expulsion as a result of the ultimatum delivered by the Pakistan government a month ago.

Scrambling to cope with the sudden influx, the Taliban-run administration in Afghanistan said temporary transit camps had been set up, and food and medical assistance would be provided, but relief agencies reported dire conditions across the border.

"The organisations' teams stationed in the areas where people are returning from Pakistan have reported chaotic and desperate scenes among those who have returned," the Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council and International Rescue Committee said in a joint statement.

The Pakistani government has brushed off calls from the United Nations, rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider its expulsion plan, saying Afghans had been involved in Islamist militant attacks and in crime that undermined the security of the country.

BORDER BOTTLENECK

More than 24,000 Afghans crossed the northwestern Torkham crossing into Afghanistan on Wednesday alone, Deputy Commissioner Khyber Tribal District Abdul Nasir Khan said. "There were a large number waiting for clearance and we made extra arrangements to better facilitate the clearance process."

Authorities had worked well into the night at a camp set up near the crossing, he added. The border, at the northwestern end of the Khyber Pass on the road between Peshawar in Pakistan and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, is usually closed by sundown.

Khan said 128,000 Afghans had left through the crossing since the Pakistani government issued its directive.

Others were crossing the border at Chaman, in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan.

Major roads leading to border crossings were jammed with trucks carrying families and whatever belongings they could carry.

Aid agencies estimated the number of arrivals at Torkham had risen from 300 people a day to 9,000-10,000 since last month's expulsion decree.

Some Afghans who have been ordered to leave have spent decades in Pakistan, while some have never even been to Afghanistan, and wonder how they can start a new life there.

Of the more than 4 million Afghans living in Pakistan, the government estimates 1.7 million are undocumented.

Many fled during the decades of armed conflict that Afghanistan suffered since the late 1970s, while the Islamist Taliban's takeover after the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces in 2021 led to another exodus.

Aid agencies warned that the mass movement of people could tip Afghanistan into yet another crisis and expressed "grave concerns" about the survival and reintegration of the returnees, particularly with the onset of winter.

International humanitarian funding for Afghanistan dried up after the Taliban took over and imposed restrictions on women.

SHORTAGE OF TRANSPORT

Over 1,500 undocumented Afghans were being brought to the southwestern Chaman crossing after being rounded up in police raids in different areas of Pakistan, including the major port Karachi, Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai said.

People crossing from Chaman into Afghanistan's Spin Boldak have run into trouble finding transport to their final destinations, said Ismatullah, a bus service operator.

"A huge number of people are coming from Karachi but face a shortage of buses and trucks," he told Reuters by phone from Spin Boldak. "Obviously in such situations the fares have increased. The (Afghan) government is helping people according to its ability, but it is not enough." (Reuters)

VOI, Jakarta - Malaysia is scouting for foreign investors in high-value industries such as electric vehicles, semiconductors and carbon capture, its trade and investment minister said on Thursday.

Malaysia is long known to be a manufacturing hub, and is now hoping to move up the value chain on well-established industries such as energy and electricals.

"We need to look at the right kind of investment. Because some of the investment does not bring in the kind of spillover that we want," Tengku Zafrul Aziz told Reuters in an interview.

Malaysia is eyeing new areas such as carbon capture, usage and storage because it has a lot of oil wells, and supplying components for electric vehicles (EVs), Tengku Zafrul said.

EVs are a "natural progression" for Malaysia, which has an established electrical and electronics industry, especially in semiconductor chips, he said.

"That's why we are pushing very hard because we supply many of the components to the car," Tengku Zafrul said. Each electric vehicle is estimated to have over 1,400 chips.

Even in the semiconductor industry, Malaysia wants to develop beyond assembly and testing, he said. The country is a major player in the semiconductor industry, accounting for about 13% of global testing and packaging.

"We want to move to front end, which is integrated circuit design and wafer fabrication," he said.

Malaysia is also eyeing the aerospace, petrochemicals, digital economy and pharmaceutical industries for foreign investments.(Reuters)

VOI, Jakarta - Philippine authorities were trying to track the whereabouts of six Chinese nationals who were abducted in the capital region this week, police said on Thursday.

Police anti-kidnapping chief Cosme Abrenica said authorities were investigating the abduction of nine people on Monday in an upscale neighbourhood in southern Metro Manila. Six of the victims were Chinese, who remain missing, and three were Filipino who were released shortly after they were abducted.

"We have no information if it's kidnap-for-ransom, kidnapping or what the motive is. We haven't established it yet," Abrenica said.

Abrenica did not disclose the identities of the victims or give any details on their status in the Philippines.

Philip Aguilar, the police chief of Calauan town where the Filipino victims were recovered, said one of the survivors told them the kidnappers had barged into their home before dawn on Monday.

The Chinese embassy in Manila said it had noted a request from Reuters for comment.

While police said the motive for this week's kidnapping was not known, China has in the past complained to the Philippines about its citizens being lured to work in online gaming firms and then being cheated, extorted and exposed to “modern slavery”. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the 8th Plenary Meeting of the Indonesia-United Nations Consultative Forum (IUNCF) (31/10).

"Transparent and inclusive communication is needed so that UN agency programs are aligned with the priorities of the Indonesian Government," said Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi in a pre-recorded opening speech.

On the occasion, the Indonesian Foreign Minister also expressed her concern about the situation in Gaza and encouraged the UN Security Council to take immediate action.

The 8th IUNCF Plenary was chaired by the Director General for Multilateral Cooperation and the UN Resident Coordinator as Co-Chairs.

In his opening remarks, the Director General of Multilateral Cooperation appreciated Indonesia's achievement in meeting 63% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target and encouraged cooperation between the Government of Indonesia and the UN to increase this figure.

The Plenary activity consists of two sessions, namely the Working Group I on Information Sharing and Cooperation Development (WG I) and Working Group II on Administration (WG II) report sessions, and Thematic Discussion sessions.

In 2023, two WG I meetings were held to discuss GoI-UN cooperation within the framework of Indonesia's ASEAN Chairmanship (February 9, 2023) and cooperation in the context of cultural protection (October 5, 2023).

Meanwhile, WG II meetings have discussed a number of administrative issues such as Host Country Agreement (HCA), consular facilities, taxation and customs, as well as technical aspects of diplomatic vehicles.

In the second session, the forum discussed the theme "Multilateralism in Achieving Blue Agenda's Commitment," which is relevant to be discussed after the 1st High Level Meeting of the AIS Forum in Bali on October 11, 2023.

UN RC stated that as the largest archipelago in the world, Indonesia has the potential to lead the Blue Agenda discussion at the global level.

The session also emphasized that multilateralism is a key approach in advancing this issue, which also requires close cooperation between Indonesia and the UN.

In the discussion session, the Plenary participants consisting of representatives of Ministries/Agencies and UN Agencies further agreed on the importance of intensifying routine coordination between the Indonesian Government and the UN, as well as strengthening UN cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat.

This year marks a decade since IUNCF was first held in 2013.

In ten years, IUNCF has played an important role as a regular consultation forum that strengthens coordination between Indonesian Ministries/Agencies and UN Agencies. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)