VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Voinews.id,Jakarta: The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams PSM stated to just under 15 ACICIS students at morning tea that Australia is starting to reconsider Indonesia as an investment destination.

While the students snacked on lamingtons and drank the free coffee, Ambassador Williams explained that while Australia and Indonesia have a very longstanding, very embedded bilateral relationship that has quite a lot of depth to it, she also noted that Australian and Indonesian economic engagement was not as strong as someone would think, relative to the size of the Indonesian market and relative to the size of their bilateral relationships.

She elaborated this statement while discussing the Indonesian-Australian Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), which was established in 2020 to help facilitate greater economic ties between the two nations.

Ambassador Williams explained that agreements like IA-CEPA provides Indonesia with tariff free access to Australian markets, along with providing greater market access to both Australian and Indonesian companies.

She stressed that IA-CEPA is really important, but it’s all the other work that gets people to understand the markets of each nation in order to find the opportunities and the synergies.

“Business needs to talk to business, government can take them but business needs to talk to business,” She said.

Ambassador Williams also told the students how “Australia had the largest delegation at the B20, a promising sign that Australians are reconsidering Indonesia as an investment destination. She also discussed how Australian businesspeople and pension funds are now eyeing Indonesia as a next potential investment.

Ambassador Williams stated how the Australian and Indonesian bilateral relationship is currently in a “really strong place,” with Australia enjoying a “deep relationship with its close neighbour,” which she was confident agreements like IA-CEPA will only strengthen. (Gera K/DP)

Jakarta (voinews.id): The digitalization of health services can help save up to Rp2 billion annually at Type C hospitals, the chief of the Digital Transformation Office of the Ministry of Health Setiaji has said.

"This budget can be converted to manufacture a system that costs much less. Because in order to build a system, hospitals do not have to build infrastructure," he explained at a webinar organized by Katadata and Dell Indonesia on “Building the Healthcare of the Future,” which was followed from Jakarta on Thursday.

According to him, the cost of maintaining non-electronic medical records is still quite high, starting from the cost of paper to health workers, who have to record information repeatedly.

Digitalization can make health services easier, starting from shortening patient waiting times while registering at the hospital to accommodating patients to access health services wherever they are, he noted.

"From a service point of view, it will be faster. Hospitals no longer need to input data repeatedly. Then, digitization also allows patients to immediately get their medical records or the results of their examinations," he pointed out.

Nevertheless, the digitalization of health services also presents its own challenges. Hospitals that have implemented system digitization are mostly not comprehensive. Not all services at hospitals are connected digitally.

"Maybe the registration service for patients has been digitized but their back-end has not been connected to individual services such as pharmacies, laboratories, radiology, and inpatient care," Setiaji disclosed.

To achieve the digitalization of health services, the government has prepared regulations starting from the Personal Data Protection Law (UU PDP) to the Law on Health, which will later become an omnibus with other supporting regulations.

In addition, president director of Mayapada Hospital, Grace Tahir, said that hospitals in Indonesia must refer to a digital-based system, especially for maintaining the medical records of patients.

Currently, her hospital is in the process of becoming a smart hospital. However, it is still prioritizing patient experience.

“Whatever we do is to provide experience to these patients. For us, the most important thing is the patient," she said.

Jakarta (voinews.id):  The General Elections Commission (KPU) will conduct technical mentoring of voting organizing group (KPPS) officers to increase their ability to help voters with disabilities during the 2024 General Elections, commission member Betty Epsilon Idroos informed.

"KPPS officers will be trained in the mentoring (on how to help, for instance), visually impaired or quadriplegic people," she said here on Thursday.

The dissemination of information on technical mentoring for KPPS officers has been carried out at provincial KPUs, she added.

Apart from KPPS officers, she said, persons with disabilities can be guided by family members or other people who can make them comfortable while casting their vote.

KPU will provide a form that will need to be filled out by people helping disabled voters at polling stations.

"They have to be comfortable with who accompanies them. Is it a family member? (KPU) allows it," Idroos said.

Later, the accompanying family member will need to fill out a form stating the reasons and vow to keep the disabled voter's choice a secret.

"The form will be available at every polling station," she said.

According to her, there are a number of obstacles that KPPS could face in assisting people with disabilities on voting day, one of which is related to data.

To tackle this, Idroos asked social offices across Indonesia to help record data on voters with disabilities.

This will allow KPU to provide the best service to them, such as presenting disability-friendly polling stations, she said.

"For example, he/she uses a wheelchair. Then we will strive to set up the polling station not on thick grass such as a football field where it is difficult for people to use wheelchairs," she explained.Another example will be to avoid setting up polling stations at venues where people will need to climb stairs to reach them in order to assist persons using crutches. ( Antara ) 

VOI, Jakarta: State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir has asked state firms to face the potential recession that threatens the world in 2023 by encouraging investments.

"Investments that are encouraged by SOEs are, of course, under the cooperation with foreign and domestic parties, where there is a potential of Rp113 trillion for us to encourage," he said at a press conferenfe on the 2022 joint Christmas celebration with SOEs Ministry and SOEs here on Saturday.

He explained that the majority of SOEs under the Deputy Minister I of SOEs are encouraging investments by cooperating with food companies, such as a dairy company from Qatar, Baladna Farm.

Meanwhile, the majority of SOEs under the Deputy Minister II of SOEs are encouraging investments by cooperating with companies in the logistics sector.

According to Thohir, investment in Indonesia is now starting to be balanced in terms of the portions between foreign and non-foreign. Likewise, the balance can also be seen in terms of the portion in Java and the portion in non-Java islands.

Apart from encouraging investments, SOEs are also asked to open jobs in facing the threat of recession this year. However, the jobs that are expected to be opened are those that are sustainable.

"Thus, they are not only (jobs that are opened) for projects. For example, PT Freeport is building a smelter in East Java which will complete in 2024," he said.

To this end, the minister emphasized that he will push for the opening of jobs that are sustainable and able to empower the economy, especially through micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

This is because the provision of people's business credit (KUR) to MSMEs has succeeded in opening significant jobs, for example, 13.7 million customers of state-run microlender PT Permodalan Nasional Madani's (PNM's) PNM Mekaar service and the opening of 6,600 small-scale gas stations or Pertamina Shops (Perta Shops) in villages. ( Antara )