VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian parliamentary delegation pushed for resolutions on regional stability in the South China Sea amid the global pandemic and humanitarian aid for the Rohingyas of Rakhine State, Myanmar at an ASEAN forum on Wednesday.

The Indonesian delegation fought for the approval of resolutions drafted on the two issues at the 41st General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), which was held online.

The Indonesian delegation was headed by the chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee of the House of Representatives (DPR), Fadli Zon. He was accompanied by his deputy, Putu Supadma Rudana, and delegation member Didi Irawady Samsudin.

At the meeting, Fadli Zon argued that the draft resolution on regional stability and peace was important to strengthen ASEAN's inter-parliamentary cooperation for handling the spread of the novel coronavirus outbreak and its tremendous socio-economic impacts.

The Indonesian delegation also brought up another draft resolution on humanitarian aid for the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

Speaking on the issue, Fadli Zon deplored the Parliament of Myanmar's refusal to the DPR's proposal for AIPA support for agreements reached by the governments of ASEAN member countries on the Rohingya issue.

He argued that the problems related to the Rohingya people in Rakhine State had triggered a spillover effect on the Southeast Asian region, such as the arrival of people by boat from Myanmar's Rakhine State amid the pandemic situation.

Indonesia and many other countries are paying serious attention to the “boat people” issue, he said. Therefore, support for Myanmar to provide humanitarian aid and a guarantee for conducting peaceful and humanist repatriation of the Rohingya refugees are important, he added.

Regarding the humanitarian issues related to the Rohingya people, Fadli Zon revealed that this year's AIPA's General Assembly would not pass any resolution if the assembly's political commission fails to reach a consensus on the DPR's proposals.

On June 24, 2020, three Acehnese fishermen had rescued 99 Rohingya migrants on humanitarian grounds after their boat got stranded in the waters off Seunuddon, North Aceh.

The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)-Indonesia Office had officially granted refugee status to the 99 Rohingya migrants, according to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in her press statement in July this year. (ANTARA)

Indonesian parliamentary delegation pushed for resolutions on regional stability in the South China Sea amid the global pandemic and humanitarian aid for the Rohingyas of Rakhine State, Myanmar at an ASEAN forum on Wednesday.

The Indonesian delegation fought for the approval of resolutions drafted on the two issues at the 41st General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), which was held online.

The Indonesian delegation was headed by the chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee of the House of Representatives (DPR), Fadli Zon. He was accompanied by his deputy, Putu Supadma Rudana, and delegation member Didi Irawady Samsudin.

At the meeting, Fadli Zon argued that the draft resolution on regional stability and peace was important to strengthen ASEAN's inter-parliamentary cooperation for handling the spread of the novel coronavirus outbreak and its tremendous socio-economic impacts.

The Indonesian delegation also brought up another draft resolution on humanitarian aid for the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

Speaking on the issue, Fadli Zon deplored the Parliament of Myanmar's refusal to the DPR's proposal for AIPA support for agreements reached by the governments of ASEAN member countries on the Rohingya issue.

He argued that the problems related to the Rohingya people in Rakhine State had triggered a spillover effect on the Southeast Asian region, such as the arrival of people by boat from Myanmar's Rakhine State amid the pandemic situation.

Indonesia and many other countries are paying serious attention to the “boat people” issue, he said. Therefore, support for Myanmar to provide humanitarian aid and a guarantee for conducting peaceful and humanist repatriation of the Rohingya refugees are important, he added.

Regarding the humanitarian issues related to the Rohingya people, Fadli Zon revealed that this year's AIPA's General Assembly would not pass any resolution if the assembly's political commission fails to reach a consensus on the DPR's proposals.

On June 24, 2020, three Acehnese fishermen had rescued 99 Rohingya migrants on humanitarian grounds after their boat got stranded in the waters off Seunuddon, North Aceh.

The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)-Indonesia Office had officially granted refugee status to the 99 Rohingya migrants, according to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in her press statement in July this year. (ANTARA)

The National Task Force for COVID-19 Response claimed on Thursday that the government's efforts over the past six months to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and curb infections have yielded fruit.

The government's efforts have included the issuance of a policy on using a zoning system to designate and control regional response, spokesperson for the task force, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, said in reply to a journalist's question during a press conference at the Presidential Office here on Thursday(3/9).

Zoning refers to the disaster system, which classifies regions into red zones to represent areas with high risk, orange zones to represent areas with moderate risk, yellow zones to represent areas with low risk, and green zones to represent unaffected areas, he elaborated.

"The government also has increased the number of testing laboratories from one to more than 300 across Indonesia," he said.

Meanwhile, the number of referral hospitals, both at the national and provincial levels, has swelled to more than 800, he pointed out.

As a result, the percentage of active cases nationwide has declined to 23.64 percent of the total cases in August, 2020 from 91.26 percent in March, he noted.

"The mortality rate has also dropped to 4.47 percent in August, after reaching its peak of 8.64 percent in April, 2020," he added.

Likewise, the national recovery rate has also jumped to 72.17 percent of the total cases in August, 2020 from just 3.64 percent in March this year, he said.

In terms of innovation, the government has encouraged the production of local personal protective equipment and other medical devices using raw materials that are completely sourced from local suppliers, and in compliance with international standards, such as AATCC 42, ISO, and ASTM, Adisasmito said.

Other innovations include locally-made ventilators that have successfully undergone clinical testing and reusable face masks, which have a filtration capacity comparable to surgical masks.

Indonesia has recorded 3,622 new COVID-19 cases within the last 24 hours, which have pushed the total case count to 184,268, the task force reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, with 2,084 people recovering from COVID-19, the total recoveries have reached 132,055.

The death toll has climbed to 7,750, with 134 additional people succumbing to the virus.

The figures suggest that the country currently has 44,463 active cases, or patients still receiving treatment or undergoing self-isolation.

On Thursday, the authorities examined 37,597 specimens from 19,306 people at 220 laboratories across the country. A total of 2,388,865 specimens from 1,353,291 people have been examined since the country reported the first COVID-19 cases in March, 2020.

The authorities have also recorded 84,071 suspected cases, who are currently under surveillance.

COVID-19 positive cases have been found in 34 provinces, with 488 cities and districts reporting infections.

On Thursday, five provinces recorded the highest number of new cases, with Jakarta reporting 1,359 new infections, East Java 377, Central Java 242, West Java 238, and Bali 174 cases. (ANTARANEWS)

Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi, said he hoped the newly inaugurated Yogyakarta International Airport (YAI) would attract domestic and foreign tourists, thereby helping aid economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new airport is located about 60 kilometers from the Borobudur Temple, one of Indonesia's five super-priority tourist destinations.

The means of transportation connecting YIA and Borobudur Temple must be improved by paying attention to and prioritizing health protocols to prevent COVID-19 transmission, the minister said in a statement here on Friday.

The government has made provisions for the operation of Damri shuttle buses, SetelQu, airport taxis, online taxis, and trains via Wojo station (about 10 minutes from the airport) to connect the airport with Borobudur, he added.

In future, the train line will directly enter the airport area, he continued.

"With this intermodal connectivity, we hope to restore the national economy by attracting more tourists to Yogyakarta. We are optimistic that in future, Yogyakarta International Airport will be able to have a positive impact on the national economy as well as improve the welfare of the community, especially in the surrounding Yogyakarta region and Indonesia in general," Sumadi stated.

He lauded state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I for providing a tenant area measuring 1,500 square meters at a YIA terminal, which can accommodate 300 MSMEs, and an area of 880 square meters in the Liaison Building, which can accommodate 170 MSMEs. The tenant area is named Kotagede Market.

As a substitute for the old Adisutipto Airport, YIA has built a Passenger Terminal with an area of 219,000 square meters, which can serve 20 million passengers per year, with an investment of Rp10.08 trillion.

For air-side facilities, the airport runway has dimensions of 3,250 meters x 45 meters with a PCN value of 93 F / C / X /, so it can serve even the heaviest and largest aircraft such as the Boeing B-777 and the Airbus A380.

The Yogyakarta International Airport currently serves 20 domestic routes and two international routes, namely Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and has great potential to add domestic routes (Manado, Kupang, Labuan Bajo) and international routes, such as Jeddah, Medina, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Bangkok, the minister said.

For flight navigation services, the airport has an ATC tower building, administration building, and operational building, built on an area of 15,651 square meters with an investment of Rp87.1 billion.

The eight-floor ATC tower building is 39.5 meters tall and is equipped with facilities such as tower set, radar monitoring, VHF radio, direct speech telephone, and ATIS.

The airport has been structurally designed to withstand earthquakes, tsunamis, liquefaction, volcanic ash eruptions, and floods. Its design has involved a panel of experts from Japan and an Academic Expert Team from the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the Surabaya Institute of Technology (ITS), and the University of Diponegoro (UNDIP). The airport is also equipped with a Crisis Center building.

Parts of the airport feature local traditional art works and local wisdoms, represented by the Jasmine flower and Wijayakusuma (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), designed by 46 local artists from Yogyakarta. (ANTARA)