VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of China, speaks on the second day of the 56th Munich Security Conference. (cnbc)

The Munich 2020 Security Conference was held again on the 14th to 16th of February 2020 in Germany. The annual conference was attended by several Heads of State, Foreign Ministers and Ministers of Defense and international organizations to discuss the global security situation. In addition to economic, political and security issues, the development of the corona virus (covid 19) was also one of the focuses of this meeting. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in his speech at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, as quoted by CGTN said the handling of the corona virus requires international cooperation and support, because it needs to be built an effective framework.

"This sudden out break reminds us once again that we live in a time when traditional and non traditional security issues are entwined and when local issues easily become global and vice versa. No country can prosper in isolation or meet all challenge on its own as our interest are so closely inter-connected in the era of globalization we face the same challenges shoulder common responsibilities and have a shared future. This means we must set up an effective framework for multilateral cooperation to jointly tackle the myriad challenges. It also points to the need for committing to multilateral cooperation whereby international affairs are truly discussed and decided by all involved," said Wang Yin.

Previously Wang Yi in a strategic meeting with Germany said the Chinese government had made various efforts to deal with the corona virus, both for its citizens and the international community. World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus at the Munich Security Conference said no one could predict the outbreak. Tedros Adhanon continues to encourage all efforts that have been made by China in dealing with this corona virus. (WATI / AHM)

Jakarta - Indonesia's humanitarian non-governmental organization MER-C has dispatched a team of volunteers to the Gaza Strip, Palestine, for supervising the second-phase construction of the Indonesian Hospital.

The 11-member team comprises doctors, engineers, electrical mechanical experts, and medical instrumentation experts, MER-C Indonesia noted in a press release in Jakarta on Sunday.

The volunteers departed for Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday morning and were scheduled to arrive there on Sunday night. Next, they will travel by land to the Rafah border and then enter Gaza.

Faried Thalib, a member of the Presidium of MER-C Indonesia, that leads the Indonesian Hospital Development Team, remarked that the supervisory team will check the second-phase construction work of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza that has been ongoing for a year.

"Last year, we had dispatched 32 volunteers to the Gaza Strip to begin the second phase of construction to build two additional floors, to add 100 more beds, and equip additional medical devices, as the existing building, with 100 beds, is not adequate to accommodate patients coming for treatment," Thalib stated.

Indonesia's MER-C supervision team will only be able to enter Gaza after obtaining permissions from the local authorities to enter Egypt and Gaza.

"After waiting for some 3.5 months, we finally obtained the two permits, and we decided to go to Gaza immediately," he noted, adding that the supervision team would be on duty in the Gaza Strip for a two-week period.

Currently, 29 volunteers are supporting the second-phase development of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza. The construction activity is estimated to take 1.5 to two years, depending on the situation on the ground.

The second-phase construction and additional medical equipment cost some Rp70 billion to Rp75 billion.

"Bismillah (In the name of Allah), hopefully, we would be able to realize the development of the Indonesian Hospital to demonstrate the Indonesian people's love and support for the Palestinian people, who have been struggling (for their country's independence)," Thalib added. (ANTARA)

The government has targeted to complete construction work on the Nanga Badau-Puring Kencana Road in West Kalimantan that borders Indonesia and Malaysia by 2021, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono stated.

"Construction of the Nanga Badau-Puring Kencana Road that spans 25 kilometers will be started this year and is targeted for completion in 2021," Hadimuljono stated during a working visit to Silat Hulu Sub-district in Kapuas Hulu District, West Kalimantan, on Friday.

The minister affirmed that the government had continued the development of border regions, including those of 11 cross-border posts (PLBN), to boost the local economy.

"The government has continued to develop (the border regions), and it is hoped that this would proffer benefits to the people," he stated.

The Nanga Badau-Puring Kencana Road is situated at the northern tip of Kapuas Hulu District in West Kalimantan.

The government remains committed to developing the economy of border regions to reduce gaps and improve the quality of life of their residents. (ANTARA)

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police are still investigating a drug ring that supplied psychotropic drugs to Lucinta Luna, a transgender celebrity, arrested during the police's drug raid at Thamrin Residence Apartment, Central Jakarta, early Tuesday.  

"This case remains under police investigation. Yesterday, a suspect identified by her initials IF alias FLO had been apprehended," Jakarta Metropolitan Police Spokesman Sen. Coms. Yusri Yunus told journalists here Thursday.

The police investigators are still focusing on IF's drug ring and several people suspected of being involved in the Luna case, he said, adding that the new development of this drug offence would be revealed Friday.

Based on Luna's confession, IF alias FLO, owner of a beauty salon in South Jakarta, was nabbed in South Jakarta for allegedly selling psychotropic drugs, Yunus said.

The drug raid that the police conducted early Tuesday resulted in the arrest of Luna, 30, who was born as Muhammad Fatah, and seizure of two ecstasy pills as well as seven and five pills, respectively, of psychotropic drugs called "riklona" and "tramadol".

The police investigators charged Luna with Law No.35/2009 on Narcotics and Law No.5/1997 on Psychotropic Substances with which she is subject to five years in prison.

Indonesia's world of entertainment remains vulnerable to drugs as apparently revealed by the arrests of Luna and many other entertainers.

Over the past three years, besides Luna, several other entertainers who were apprehended for drug offences are Ammar Zoni, Rio Reifan, Roro Fitria, Fachri Albar, Fariz RM, Jennifer Dunn, Steve Emmanuel, Zul Zivilia, Jefri Nichol, Tri Retno Prayudati alias Nunung Srimulat, and Nanie Darham.

The more recent case that drew significant attention was of female movie star Nanie Darham being arrested in Jakarta on February 2 for allegedly trading cocaine, with police investigators accusing her of obtaining it from a drug lord outside Indonesia through social media platforms.

"The illicit drug is received from a drug trafficker outside Indonesia by ordering it through social media platforms by using a method of delivery," Yunus stated. (ANTARA)