VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo appealed to ministries and related institutions to ensure sustainability and consistency in managing peat ecosystems to prevent land and forest fires.

"Peat ecosystem management is conducted consistently. I think the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), Peat Restoration Agency (BRG), and Public Works and Housing Ministry (PUPR) continue to make efforts to maintain the groundwater levels, so that the peat lands remain wet," President Widodo stated during a limited meeting themed "Anticipating Forest and Land Fires" in Istana Merdeka, Jakarta, Tuesday.

The head of state also called to build canal blocks and hundreds of ponds on peatlands to keep the lands wet. The canals and reservoirs will also maintain water availability around peatlands in the event of a fire.

Furthermore, the construction of bore wells focuses on peatland wetting.

"We have applied other technologies for peatland wetting, but we have to remain consistent," he stated.

The head of state reminded that the dry season would hit most of the Indonesian regions in August 2020.

The president pointed out that 17 percent of Indonesia's territory had experienced drought in April 2020, while 38 percent of the other regions in May 2020, and 27 percent in June 2020.

"Drought will occur in most regions in August. We still have a short preparation time of a month from now," the president added. (ANTARA)

President Joko Widodo highlighted the need to apply technology to prevent land and forest fires while monitoring fire-prone areas.

"Management on the field must be coordinated properly. Apply technology to monitor fire-prone areas and to update information," President Widodo stated at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Widodo delivered the statement at a limited meeting themed "Anticipation of Forest and Land Fires," with attendees comprising several members of the Advanced Indonesian Cabinet, TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, National Police Chief Gen. Idham Azis, Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo, and other related officials.

"In the midst of our hectic activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also have a major task of taking precautionary measures to tackle land and forest fires," the president remarked.

Quoting data, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that 17 percent of Indonesia’s areas had experienced a dry season in April, 38 percent in May, and 27 percent in early June, while the rest would only witness the dry season in August.

"We still have a brief month-long preparation to remind this. However, as far as I remember, in January or February, we have already held a big meeting here, for which I remind you again," the president stated.

The president cited as an example the surveillance conducted through a dashboard system that has been implemented in Riau.

"Supervision through the dashboard system. I see that the Riau Police is very good at setting an example, and I have seen it directly. The dashboard can describe the situation on the ground in detail," the president remarked.

President Jokowi requested that all fire-prone areas emulate this approach.

"I think supervision will become easier. Moreover, in addition to technological instruments, we have monitoring infrastructure up to the bottom level, village supervisory non-commissioned officers (Babinsa), the police's security and public order officers (Bhabinkamtibmas), and village heads," the president expounded.

The main objective behind this is to extinguish the fires early on.

"This is because if land and forest fires are still small, we can handle them more effectively and efficiently," the president pointed out. (ANTARA)

The United Nations adopted June 21 as the International Day of Yoga on December 10, 2014. To commemorate the milestone, since then, a series of activities are being organised across the globe to celebrate Yoga, the ancient wisdom of holistic health and well-being. Millions of people participate in these activities which include world leaders, international celebrities, spiritual gurus, writers, artists and persons from every walk of life. This year, due to Covid-19 pandemic, organisation of such large-scale activities was not feasible. Accordingly, a series of activities were organised to commemorate the 6th International Day of Yoga (IDY) with the help of digital technology. Embassy of India in Jakarta in association with Indian Cultural Centres in Jakarta and Bali and its Consulates in Medan and Bali, organised an online Yoga Quiz Competition. 20 selected participants were given special certificates of appreciation among which three highly knowledgeable yoga enthusiasts were awarded special prizes. Ministry of AYUSH of India organised a global Yoga Blogging Competition in which several Indonesian nationals also participated. As a precursor to the main event on June 21^st, a video conference was held on June 12 wherein Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat interacted with the Yoga practitioners across Indonesia. The conference was also attended by the Chairman, FORMI (Federation of Sports and Recreation Activity, Indonesia) and former Minister of Sports of Indonesia, Hayono Isman. Ambassador congratulated Yoga lovers of Indonesia on the establishment of Association of Yoga practitioners in Indonesia (PPYNI) terming it as an important milestone. (Release Embassy of India)

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. (ANTARA/HO-Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment/am)

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has been aggressively involved in efforts to manage the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector to advance the field, including through digitalization.

"Investments cover nearly all areas, but along with Mister Airlangga (Hartarto, the coordinating minister for economic affairs), we are sharing (tasks to advance the sector), and it is going well. The MSME sector should fall under Minister Airlangga's domain, but since the MSME comes in the Creative Economy Board, we agreed to bring the sector under my coordinating ministry," he explained during a work meeting with the House of Representatives' Budget Board in Jakarta, Monday.

Minister Pandjaitan expounded that the Creative Economy Board, currently a part of the Tourism Ministry, is one of the seven ministries and boards under his coordinating ministry.

Although contained within the tourism sector, creative economy is also showing rapid development on the MSME scale. To this end, the government is keen to boost development, in the hopes that it would grow further amid the pandemic.

"We have merely eight million online-based MSMEs, and we will boost (growth), so we can reach 10 million. In the first month, we already have an additional 500 thousand," he noted.

The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs recorded a total of 64.1 million MSME businesspersons in Indonesia, as of the first semester of 2019.

From the total figure, 63.3 million, or 98.6 percent, are microbusinesses.

From the total number, only some 13 percent, or 8.3 million MSMEs have capitalized on digitalization to conduct their businesses. (ANTARA)