VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries seized six foreign boats that were fishing illegally in the Fisheries Management Region of the Republic of Indonesia.

“Four Vietnamese-flagged boats and two Malaysian-flagged boats were arrested by two fisheries supervision boats at the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone in the North (ZEEI) Natuna Sea and ZEEI Malacca strait on Tuesday, April 9,” stated the Acting Director General of Supervision of Marine and Fisheries resources at the Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries, Agus Suherman, at a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The four foreign boats—BV 4939 TS, BV 5156 TS, BV 93817 TS, and BV 93816 TS— were captured at ZEEI Natuna between 8 AM and 9 AM local time by supervision boat Hiu Macan 01, which was led by Captain Samson.

He added that the boats did not have any permit from the Indonesian government and used trawl nets, which are prohibited by the Indonesian government.

“Twenty four Vietnamese crew members were arrested,” he said.

The boats were then escorted to the Supervision of Marine and Fisheries resources in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, for legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, two fishing boats from Malaysia, KM. PKFA 8888 (61.70 GT) and PKF 7878 (67.63 GT), were also captured by supervision boat Hiu Macan 02, led by Captain Ilman Rustam, at the ZEEI Malacca Straits at around 3 PM local time.

Nine Burmese crew members were escorted to the Supervision of Marine and Fisheries resources in Batam, Riau Islands.

The two foreign fishing boats violated Indonesian Law number 31 of the year 2004 regarding fisheries as amended to Law number 45 of the year 2009 with the threat of maximum six years imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp20 billion.

These latest arrests are added to the list of illegal fishing boats that had been captured previously by the Ministry’s Supervision of Marine and Fisheries resources boats. From January until April 9, 2019, the ministry had captured 38 illegal fishing boats, including 28 foreign fishing boats and 10 local fishing boats.

“The total number of foreign illegal boats captured include 15 Vietnamese boats and 13 Malaysian boats,” remarked Suherman.

The ministry stated that the focus on eradicating illegal fishing in Indonesia has increased the potential of fisheries resources in the Indonesian oceans.

“In an effort to manifest sovereignty, the ministry continues to focus on eradicating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing,” said Head of Marine and Fisheries Research and Human Resources Agency at the ministry Sjarief Widjaja.

He concluded that through the eradication of IUU Fishing, fish stocks had increased significantly.

Indonesia’s potential fish resources (Maximum Sustainable Yield/ MSY) had also increased drastically to 12.5 million tons in 2016, whereas in 2013, the number was only 7.31 million tons. (ANTARA)

Small and medium-sized businesses in Indonesia can now take advantage of the new online devices ASEAN Solutions for Investments, Services and Trade (ASSIST) - to convey their problems when doing business in the ASEAN region. The online ASSIST facility was developed with the support of the European Union. Met after the Outreach event on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 in Jakarta, Director of Trade Negotiation Services, Directorate General of International Trade Negotiations, Indonesian Ministry of Trade, Iskandar Panjaitan said that the organization facilitated Indonesian entrepreneurs to know more about foreign trade policies, especially in ASEAN.

“This is among the 10 ASEAN countries, so of course trade only has competence for the country but does not have the competence to question in other ASEAN member countries so they become facilitators later. If there are questions from our business people or from investors about the policies made by Thailand, for example, he can later do this through ASSIST. Later by management at the ASSIST he will ask the vocal point designated in another country. For Us, the Vocal Point is trading," said Iskandar Panjaitan.

ASSIST itself is a free online facility developed by ASEAN financially supported by the European Union under the ARISE Plus program. This makes it easy for business owners to complain online with ASEAN member countries when facing export problems. The European Union also encourages the Indonesian business community to take full advantage of the free online service. (VOI/NK/AHM)

The Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Hong Kong will be temporarily closed for public activities, except for immigration services, until April 30 Consulate general Tri Haryat said in Hong Kong on Tuesday that this was because some 7.2 tons of ballots packed into 362 sealed packages were being stored on the office’s fourth floor since March 31.

“There are ballots stored here, so we need to keep the documents safe until the elections," Haryat stated.

Some 140,000 Indonesian diaspora and migrant workers in Hong Kong will cast their ballots at the 32 polling stations from April 7 to April 14.

According to the Indonesian Overseas Elections Committee in Hong Kong, a total of 180,232 Indonesian diaspora in China were registered to vote.

Similar to other overseas polling stations, the voting in Hong Kong will be held on April 17.

For this year’s election, Haryat said that polling stations were set up across three locations, including at Victoria Park, to avoid disturbances. “We have learned from the previous elections, and therefore, this time, we set up dozens of polling stations,” Haryat noted.

Five years ago, the presidential election in Hong Kong was centered only at Victoria Park's polling station, and as the result, the committee was overwhelmed while helping people cast their ballots.

Indonesia will hold its first ever simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on April 17. The incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo and his running mate Ma'ruf Amin will compete against Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno. (ANTARA)

The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism has encouraged all tour and travel agencies incorporated in the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) to move forward and start using digital platforms for their business.

The use of digital platforms is the best business-doing transformation to be carried out by the country's tour and travel industry since almost 70 percent of tourists visiting Indonesia have taken advantages of online services for all of their traveling needs, said Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The Tourism Minister delivered his statement during the ASITA's National Work Meeting held at the Sapta Pesona Building.

"Nowadays, the customers prefer to use online services. Therefore, we can no longer rely on walk-in service and ask customers to come to the travel agent offices to book tickets and choose their tour packages," Minister Arief Yahya remarked.

He hopes that the cooperation between tour operators and travel agencies incorporated in ASITA can help improve the competitiveness of the national tourism sector.

"We need to move forward, and the main requirement is go digital. Without using digital technology, we won't be able to progress, and it will be difficult for us to compete in the increasingly strict world market," Yahya said.

On the same occasion, Chairperson of ASITA Nunung Rusmiati on behalf of tour and travel industry expressed appreciation for all the supports given by the government to the industry, particularly in an effort to reduce flight fares.

"Thanks to the government for listening to our complaints regarding flight fares, and now the airplane ticket prices are back to normal," she stated. (ANTARA)