VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

In a National Celebration of Chinese Lunar New Year on Sunday (11/2/2019) organized by the West Kalimantan Chinese Association in Jakarta, Indonesian Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi said that Indonesia is one, and West Kalimantan is part of Indonesia. Therefore West Kalimantan must be deveoped. The Indonesian government in collaboration with the private sector will build the first airport in Singkawang, West Kalimantan.

"I built Pontianak Airport a few years ago. And now it has been completed, it can be used. I was asked by our President to build other airports there. I will go to West Kalimantan, going to Singkawang, and conduct a groundbreaking of Singkawang Airport. This is the first airport to be jointly built by private companies with the government. So the private sector will participate in building it," said Budi Karya Sumadi.

Budi Karya Sumadi further hoped that West Kalimantan would develop and become an extraordinary cultural center. Meanwhile, Chairman of the West Kalimantan Chinese Association Presidium, Rudi Halim, appreciated the Indonesian government for recognizing the Chinese ethnic as one of ethnics in Indonesia by giving Chinese ethnic one day holiday. According to Rudi, this proves that all Indonesian citizens, including the Chinese, have the same rights and obligations before the law. (VOI / AHM)

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has ordered all regional general hospitals (RSUDs) in the capital to treat dengue patients free of cost.

"All RSUDs offer free treatment to dengue patients and our RSUDs have good facilities," he said at RSUD in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, on Sunday.

South Jakarta is among the five municipalities which has the highest number of dengue fever cases, he said.

The Jakarta administration has recorded 876 cases of dengue fever so far this year. However, it has not declared extraordinary situation.

"We will monitor the situation." he said.

As many as 15,132 cases of dengue fever were reported in Indonesia, with 145 deaths, as of February 1, 2019, according to the Health Ministry.

East Java Province witnessed the highest number of dengue cases, at 3,074, with 52 deaths, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, the ministry`s director for vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, stated on Friday.

West Java ranked second, with 2,204 cases, causing 14 deaths; followed by East Nusa Tenggara, with 1,092 cases, resulting in 13 deaths; and North Sumatra, 1,071 cases, leading to 13 deaths.

The ministry recorded 53,075 cases of dengue fever in 2018, 68,407 cases in 2017, and 204,171 cases in 2016. (ANTARA)

Singapore remained the main market for Bangka Belitung's tin, buying 25.63 percent of the province`s tin exports last year, according to the local office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

"The tin exports to Singapore in 2018 were 21.71 percent lower than those of the previous year," Chief of the BPS Office in Bangka Belitung Province Darwis Sitorus said in Pangkalpinang, on Sunday.

Singapore is among the top five buyers of Bangka Belitung`s tin besides Japan, The Netherlands, South Korea and India. In total, tin exports to the five countries accounted for 75.51 percent of the overall tin exports, he said.

On a monthly basis, the province`s exports in December 2018 tumbled 38.43 percent compared to the same month of 2017, with tin exports declining 32.61 percent in value, he said.

"The export of other commodities than tin also dropped 51.24 percent, bringing the value of exports in December 2018 to US$112.9 million (as compared to US$183.3 million in the same month of 2017)," he said.

However, compared to a month earlier, the exports in December 2018 rose 13.97 percent, with tin exports climbing 81.22 percent after the permit of a tin surveyor was frozen the month before.

Meanwhile, the export of commodities other than tin dropped 46.50 percent in December 2018 to US$27.9 million compared to a month earlier. (ANTARA)

More than 15.81 million tourists visited Indonesia last year, up 12.58 percent from 14.04 million a year earlier, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said quoting data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

"In December 2018 alone, the number of tourists visiting Indonesia was 1.41 million, increasing 22.5 percent from 1.15 million in December 2017," he said in a written statement released on Sunday.

Malaysia led tourist arrivals in Indonesia last year with 2.50 million, accounting for 15.83 percent of the overall tourist arrivals.

With the 2.50 million tourist arrivals, Malaysia took over China which ranked second with 2.14 million or 13.52 percent of the total.

The tourism ministry listed five countries as top five sources of tourist arrivals in Indonesia last year. They were Malaysia with 2.50 million or 15.83 percent, China with 2.14 million or 13.52 percent, Singapore with 1.77 million or 11.19 percent, Timor Leste with 1.76 million or 11.15 percent, and Australia with 1.30 million or 8.23 percent.

More than 5.45 million of the overall tourist arrivals in 2018 came from other ASEAN member states, increasing 20.60 percent compared to 4.52 million the year before. Meanwhile, the number of tourist arrivals from Asia other than ASEAN was 5.84 million, growing 14.11 percent compared to 5.12 million in a year ago.

The number of tourist arrivals from the Middle East reached 226.9 thousand, declining 6.13 percent from 284.4 thousand.

Tourist arrivals from Europe contributed 2.008 million to the total, up 1.76 percent from 1.97 million, while those from America contributed 567.7 thousand, up 5.71 percent from 537 thousand.

The number of tourist arrivals from Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and other Oceania countries) reached 1.57 million, representing a 4.43 percent increase compared with 1.50 million. Australia led the number of tourist arrivals from Oceania with 1.3 million, up 3.52 percent from 1.25 million.

Africa contributed 88.6 thousand to the overall tourist arrivals, declining 2.82 percent from 91.2 thousand.

The tourist arrivals in 2018 fell short of the government-set target of 17 million for the year. However, the amount of foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector is estimated to have increased significantly.

A series of natural disasters hitting several parts of Indonesia particularly main tourist destinations was responsible for the failure to achieve the target of tourist arrivals.

The natural disasters included a series of earthquakes in Lombok, earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Palu and tsunami in Sunda Strait. (ANTARA)