Indonesia's men's doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan are leaving no stone unturned for qualifying for the 2020 Olympiad in Tokyo after bagging the World Championships title in Switzerland on Sunday.

Ahsan and Hendra, ranked fourth in the men's doubles, defeated the 12th-seeded Japanese pair Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 25-23, 9-21, 21-15.

With this victory, Ahsan/Hendra, the pair crowned the All England champion in 2019, has increasingly stepped up its ranking as the world's second-seeded men's doubles players.

Taking into account their bright performance this year, Hendra is optimistic of fighting it out along with Ahsan to qualify for the Olympiad 2020.

They decided to separate after their sagging results in the Olympiad 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

"I want to remain with him. We have not made preparations yet since it is still long. We want to qualify for it first," he stated at a press conference at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Cengkareng, West of Jakarta, on Tuesday night.

With the world championships title, Hendra equalizes the record of four-time gold medalists Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China who earned the maximum world championships titles in the men's doubles.

Hendra bagged one of his gold medals when he teamed up with Markis Kido in 2007.

The title is Ahsan's third. He won all the titles along with Hendra respectively in 2013, 2015, and 2019.

Ahsan and Hendra are also the first men's doubles players to win the All England and World Championships in the same year in the last decade since the Cai and Fu pair bagged the two titles in 2009.

Manager of the Indonesian badminton team Susy Susanti stated that the men's doubles currently serves as the Indonesian team's superiority.

The Indonesian pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamulya/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon is currently ranked first in the world's men's doubles, while the Hendra/Ahsan pair and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto pair are respectively ranked second and sixth.

"We hope they would remain in the top eight until the deadline for the registration of Olympiad participation, so the Indonesian team will find it easy to not only qualify for the Olympiad but also groom its top-seeded players," she added. (ANTARA) 

Environmental Affairs and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya confirmed no difficulties in preparing location for new capital city in North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, as forest area allotment is changeable with government policy.

"Hence, there is no difficulty," Nurbaya elucidated while responding to questions posed by the press on the location of the new capital city in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The government has yet to decide on the specific delineation for the next capital. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) only revealed that it will be located partially in North Penajam Paser and partly in Kutai Kartanegara.

"As we know, in addition to the Bukit Suharto Forest Park, there are also conservation and production forests in the districts, and several of them have obtained permits," she noted.

The allotment of forest areas can be changed in line with the government’s policy based on Government Regulation No. 104 of 2015 on Procedures for Changing the Purposes and Functions of Forest Areas, she explained.

The president informed the press on Monday that the two districts were selected, as they have the least risks of disasters, including floods, earthquake, tsunamis, forest fires, and landslides.

Moreover, they are strategically located in the heart of Indonesia and near Balikpapan and Samarinda that are developed cities.

Hence, basic infrastructure and facilities are already existing, and the government has owned 180 thousand hectares of land area there.

The decision to move the capital city was based on a three-year study conducted by the government.

"The results of the studies have concluded that the ideal location for a new capital city will be part of North Penajam Paser District and part of Kutai Kartanegara District in East Kalimantan," President Jokowi had noted.

"Java Island continues to face increasing burden owing to the population reaching 150 million, or 54 percent of Indonesia's total populace, contributing 58 percent of Indonesia's economic GDP on Java Island," he pointed out.

He pointed to Jakarta, as an administration and business center, also being overburdened.
Hosting both government and business centers, Jakarta is currently facing major problems of overpopulation, severe congestion, air pollution, and water pollution.

The central government has studied numerous locations in Java and concluded that the burden on Java will only increase if the new capital were to remain on Java, Indonesia's fifth-largest island after Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi. (ANTARA)

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo and wife welcomed Malaysian King Yang di-Pertuan Agong XVI Al-Sultan Abdullah Al-Mustafa Billah Shah ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah and spouse Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah Binti Al-Mutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar.

The Indonesian president and first lady extended a warm welcome to the duo at the Bogor Palace, West Java, Tuesday.

Also greeting the Royal guests were several hundred students dressed in traditional clothing and waving the national flags of Indonesia and Malaysia. 
Widodo and the King held a one-on-one meeting and planted trees in the backyard of the palace. A bilateral meeting was also organized by the two countries' delegations.

While receiving the Malaysian King, President Widodo was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, Minister/State Secretary Pratikno, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Rudi Kirana.

The Malaysian king's entourage comprises Economic Minister Mohamed Azmin bin Ali and officials of the Foreign Ministry, State Palace and Prime Minister's Office.

During their stay in Jakarta, the Malaysian king and queen will also attend a dinner with the Malaysian people in Indonesia and visit the Istiqlal Mosque, the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia.

During the four-day visit (Aug 26-29) to Indonesia, King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and Queen Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah will also travel to Yogyakarta to meet Governor of the Yogyakarta Special Province Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and visit several historical sites.

The visit symbolizes strong bilateral ties between Malaysia and Indonesia and will contribute to strengthening friendship between the two neighboring nations that has been in existence since 62 years ago, the Foreign Ministry had earlier stated (ANTARA)

The Indonesian government is making constant efforts to implement effectively the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) at a national level.

"By paying attention to the Indonesian commitment in the GCM, we need to adopt measurable steps to implement it properly," Director of Socio-Cultural Affairs and International Organization of Developing Countries at the Foreign Ministry Kamapradipta Isnomo said in Mataram, Monday.

He made these remarks during a workshop and socialization of GSM organized by the ministry in the West Nusa Tenggara provincial capital of Mataram, August 26 and 27.

A wide range of issues will be discussed at the event related to the role of regional governments in handling immigration issues, protecting Indonesian migrant workers abroad and identifying the government's policies which are relevant to and support the goals of the GCM.

Indonesia is among the United Nations member states that adopted the GCM in Marrakesh, Morocco, in December 2018. It is a comprehensive international agreement containing all issues that control international migration.

The international community has formed the GCM to encourage international cooperation in controlling migration at a global level, Kamapradipta said.

"Through the GCM, countries will have a comprehensive menu of options to undertake policies to address the issue of migration," he said.

The GCM has also set 23 goals that must be achieved, including collecting and using accurate and anonymous data to develop evidence-based migration policies, ensuring that all migrants have identity evidence, improving availability and flexibility of regulation migration, encouraging cooperation to trace lost migrants and save the lives of migrants, ensuring that migrants have access to basic services and making policies for full inclusion of migrants and social cohesion.

All the goals must be achieved at the global, regional, national and local levels. "The objective of the GCM is important and relevant for global migration. It serves as a reference at the national and local levels to make and implement policies for safe, orderly and regular migration," he said (ANTARA)