VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said the Indonesian government is making an endeavor to prevent a war between the United States and Iran by encouraging the two nations to find solution to their conflict.

"We (Indonesia) want peace. Hence, what we have to do is to find a peace solution so the war will not happen," he said at the Vice Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Iran launched a series of missiles at two US airbases in Iraqi bases as their first response to the killing of General Qassem Suleimani due to the US airstrike," PT Garuda Berjangka Director, Ibrahim Assuaibi, said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

If the war is inevitable it will have an impact on the world's political and economic condition which will eventually affect the domestic condition, he said.

"If the war happens, it will have a very detrimental impact on the world. The economy will be damaged. In the political field, blocks will be set up. That is very dangerous," he said.

Hence, the Indonesian government along with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations will encourage various parties involved in the US-Iran conflict to exercise self restraint.

"We, Indonesia, along with peace-loving nations including OIC members in the Middle East and through the UN will make every effort to prevent the war from happening," he said.

The vice president also supported the effort made by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to summon US Ambassador to Indonesia Joseph Donovan and Iranian Ambassador to Indonesia Mohammad Azad separately to discuss ways to exercise self restraint..

On Wednesday morning, Iran reportedly attacked the Al-Asad airbase housing US troops in Iraq several hours after the funeral of the commander of Iran's elite Quds military force.

Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad, raising fears of an open war in the Middle East. (ANTARA)

Jakarta - The government of Indonesia will firmly continue its diplomacy of defending Palestine in international forums through the year of 2020, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi stated in her Annual Press Statement remarks in Jakarta, Wednesday. "Indonesia is aware that the road we will face would be steep and not easy to run into. Yet the efforts to support Palestine will not ever be down," Marsudi said.

The efforts, including zero tariff for Palestine's products to enter Indonesia following two commodities that have already duty free, which are dates and virgin olive oil, she said.

Aside from that, the government will also continue the construction of an Indonesian hospital in Hebron and school in Ramallah, extension of hospital building in Gaza, training of unconventional water treatment, as well as building capacity for Palestine polices, notably related to the country's membership in Interpol.

At the same occasion, Marsudi explained about Indonesia's plan of measure as this nation occupies the positions of non-permanent member of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and member of the Human Rights Council (HRC).

For this year's membership of UNSC, Indonesia is carrying the theme of counter-terrorism, "and will conduct the Informal Gathering Security Reform to encourage the reform of UNSC, also to encourage the similar view of the institution."

While for HRC, Indonesia will not allow the international institution to be a political tool for certain parties, Marsudi reiterated.

This Annual Press Statement is one of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' agendas that the minister delivers remarks in the beginning of the year. (ANTARA)

Badung, Bali - Some 24,169,561 passengers were served at the I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali throughout the year of 2019, indicating an increase of 390,383 passengers or two percent compared to the same period in 2018. "We are very grateful to have achievements up to par with that of last year, even exceeding the number because when many other airports have decreased the number of passengers, our records still show a positive trend throughout 2019," said General Manager PT Angkasa Pura I of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, Herry A.Y. Sikado when contacted from Mangupura, Wednesday.

Based on the data from the Air Traffic (LLAU) for the 2019 operational year, there were also 155,344 aircraft movements in and out of Bali via air routes.

Compared to 2018 with 162,623 aircraft movements, there had been a decrease in the number of aircraft movements of 7,289, or down by four percent.

Meanwhile, out of a total of 24 million passengers during 2019, international routes have once again outperformed domestic routes.

The comparison was recorded at 13.89 million passengers on international routes, while there were 10.28 million passengers on domestic flight routes with a proportion of 57 percent to 43 percent.

"The distribution of passengers based on the routes in 2019, repeated the 2018 record with the same percentage. The record reiterates that Bali's appeal remains strong," he said.

The record number of passengers during 2019 also reinforced the growth rate of passengers over the past five years, he continued.

The number of passengers served has continued to grow in the last five-year period. The highest growth rate occurred in 2016, with passenger growth of 2.87 million passengers or 16.8 percent compared with 2015.

On average, the annual average growth rate of Ngurah Rai Airport passengers over the past five years has reached 9 percent.

During the last five years, Ngurah Rai Airport has recorded a stable growth rate. However, the maximum capacity of the airport, which is at 24 million passengers which has been reached in 2019, Herry Sikado added.

With the projection of domestic and foreign tourists who will continue to come into the Island of the Gods, his office has conducted various studies related to the development plan of the Ngurah Rai airport.

At the moment, it is in the process of formulating an airport development master plan that will later reach a maximum capacity of 37.6 million passengers in 2026.

"For now, we have completed air infrastructure that aims to increase runway capacity to cater to aircraft movements per hour. It is called Rapid Exit Taxiway (RET)," he said.

By the end of January, he expected for the infrastructure to be operational.

"At the moment, our maximum runway capacity is at 32 aircraft movements per hour. With the operations of the RET, the runway's capacity can be increased every hour, which can certainly accelerate the movement of planes in the air," he said. (ANTARA)

Jakarta - The Trade Ministry of Indonesia is hiring a team of international attorneys to confront the European Union (EU) over the palm oil dispute before the World Trade Organization (WTO). This follows the EU's discriminatory policies of Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) and Delegated Regulation against Indonesia’s palm oil products.

"From the beginning, we have been assisted by a legal team from which we chose the international attorney based in the EU capital of Brussels, Belgium," Pradnyawati, Director of Trade Security of the ministry, remarked here Tuesday.

The ministry underwent a tender internationally, to process the response to the allegation of the EU's discrimination over Indonesia's palm oil products.

"This process has been committed for over a year since from the beginning President Joko Widodo had stated his discontent towards the EU's policies. We have taken some decisions," Pradnyawati emphasized.

The national team of attorneys is also involved in this measure to learn to solve the dispute at the international level, Pradnyawati added. (ANTARA)