VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo Encourages KORPRI to Change Work Orientation

President Joko Widodo encourages all members of Indonesian Civil Servants Corp (KORPRI)  to change their work orientation from procedural to become result orientation. It was said by the President when inaugurating KORPRI National Working Meeting 2019  at Merdeka Palace,  Jakarta, on Tuesday (Feb 26). The President also said that the change in orientation will be able to reduce  stages of bureaucracy that must be passed when implementing government programs. Reducing this bureaucratic stage will accelerate the achievement of results that will be felt by the people. In addition, the President also encourages all KORPRI members to walk in line with the central and regional administrators. It aims that the whole government’s work programs can run quickly and the results can be felt by the community.

“The orientation must change. It is not procedure orientation but result orientation. It must be followed by procedure because the procedure is the government’s obligation and it is not procedure orientation. The orientation is the result that can be utilized for the people in Indonesia. So, if you design The State Budget (APBN), the Regional Budget (APBD), just design it   as simple as possible. We do not   need  a lot of programs. The target is clear, so it's easy to control and  it's easy to check the results,” said President Joko Widodo.

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Furthermore, President Joko Widodo also hopes that all members of KORPRI throughout Indonesia can respond to the world’s rapid changes. According to him, a platform and application is needed to improve the performance of KORPRI members to keep up with technological developments. (VOI/Ndy/TRS:AF/AHM)

Three main producers of natural rubber in Southeast Asia -- Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia -- agreed to cut down rubber exports by some 200 thousand-300 thousand metric tons to tackle the commodity’s decreasing price.

The three nations had come up with a scheme called the Agreed Export Tonnage Scheme (AETS) during their meeting at the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), on Feb 22, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution elaborated that the implementation of AETS will be valid in the next three months.

All details regarding AETS will be discussed further during the Senior Official Meeting (SOM) ITRC on Mar 4 in Thailand.

"The three countries agreed to reduce rubber exports by 200 thousand to 300 thousand per year. Further details will be discussed by each respective government official on this coming Mar 4th," Nasution stated.

In terms of each country`s contribution of rubber production, Thailand was the highest, with 52 percent; Indonesia, 38 percent; and lastly Malaysia, 10 percent.

This rubber export reduction policy is important to restore the fundamental price of natural rubber, which is presently priced at US$1.45 for one kilogram. Meanwhile, for a farmer, the price is even lower, ranging from Rp7,000 to Rp7,500 per kilogram.

"The reason why this reduction is necessary is to show the market that we do not have a sufficient surplus," Darmin remarked.

He also added that the futures market at one of the world`s commodity exchanges in Shanghai had made an assumption of the supply of rubber being surplus. However, in reality, the world`s rubber market had only 167 thousand tons surplus out of the production of 13.5 million tons and consumption at some 13.4 million tons.

Apart from the reduction of rubber exports, two other strategies that the ITRC has come up with are the Demand Promotion Scheme (DPS) related to domestic consumption in each country and Supply Management Scheme (SMS) concerning the commitment to replant natural rubber. (ANTARA)

The Indonesian Government has set a target that this year’s parliamentary and presidential elections, due to be held simultaneously throughout the country on April 17, will be participated in by at least 77.5 percent of the total number of voters.

"The key to success of the upcoming general elections lies in people`s participation rate. This issue really matters in this year`s elections," Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo told the attendees of the police and military`s coordinated meeting in Jakarta on Monday.

The 2004 general elections’ participation rate was recorded at 84 percent, while the participation rates of the 2009 and 2014 general elections reached 71 and 74 percents, respectively, Kumolo stated.

"The participation rate of this year`s general elections is expected to reach 77.5 percent," he noted, adding that the Ministry of Home Affairs had prepared strategies to ensure that first-time voters who had not received their electronic identification cards could cast their votes in ballot booths.

However, Kumolo did not elaborate the strategies that his ministry had prepared for ensuring that first-time voters would be able to cast their votes on April 17.

According to the Home Affairs Ministry`s Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration Agency, there are 5,035,887 first-time voters who would be 17 years old on Jan 1, 2018, up to April 17, 2019, he explained.

To make sure that these first-time voters were able to participate in the upcoming elections, the ministry`s officials had make various efforts, including approaching schools, university campuses, and Islamic boarding schools to register them for ID cards.

"We have initiated to help register these first-time voters` ID cards by approaching their schools. We do this as an effort to ensure that their votes will be cast, and the participation rate will be increased," he remarked.

The efforts to increase the participation rate were also made through strategies such as voter education and media campaigns, as well as proclaiming holiday on voting day, he added.

In connection with the 2019 presidential election, the General Election Commissions (KPU) has prepared five rounds of presidential debates for the pairs of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Ma`ruf Amin and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pairs.

The presidential debates, broadcast live by several television channels, are expected to help some 192 million eligible voters, who will participate in this democratic process, to become well-informed on the two pairs` capacity and capability.

Empowered with sufficient information about the candidates, they will be able to vote rationally. Whoever wins the upcoming presidential election, Indonesia will have a new pair of capable president and vice president. (ANTARA)

IndonesianVice President Jusuf Kalla has hinted that the Indonesian Government remains committed to implementing the family planning program as one of its approaches to responding to the demands of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4-IR).

"In facing this changing era, we still need the family planning program. We are not worried about the availability of food stocks. However, the development of the 4-IR will have implications on the number of required workers, Kalla stated in Jakarta on Monday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a national symposium on challenges of the Family Planning and Family Development Program in Jakarta, he pointed out that the number of workers in the industrial sector would decrease in future.

If, in the past, a factory needed a thousand workers, it would currently need merely some 200 to 300 employees to handle its automated and robotic equipment, Kalla explained.

Kalla opined that the ongoing development of the 4-IR, marked by automation and robotics, is relevant to be implemented in countries currently facing serious challenges of an ageing population, such as Japan and Singapore. (ANTARA)