VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Director of Waste Management of the Environment and Forestry Ministry Novrizal (right below) and Head of Environment and Natural Resource Recovery of the MUI Hayu S Prabowo (left below) in a virtual press conference on waste management in jakarta on Friday (April 30, 2021). ANTARA/Prisca Triferna/sh - 

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) has recorded an increasing trend in Indonesia's waste management capacity every year, as it eyes to attain 100-percent waste management in 2025.

"We have seen an increasing trend, although we still have to reach 100 percent (of the waste management capacity) in 2025," the ministry's Director of Waste Management Novrizal stated at the virtual launch of the Indonesian Waste Donation Campaign (GRADASI) here on Friday.

According to the ministry, Indonesia's waste reduction was recorded at 14.58 percent in 2019 and waste management at 34.60 percent, thereby bringing the national waste management capacity to 49.18 percent.

In 2020, the waste reduction rate had increased to 16.23 percent and waste management to 37.92 percent and brought the total waste management capacity to 54.15 percent.

The government has targeted to attain a waste management capacity of 100 percent in 2025, with waste reduction at 30 percent and waste management at 70 percent.

Novrizal admitted the existence of a wide gap to reach the target for which extensive efforts are deemed crucial to handle the issue.

According to Novrizal, the increased capacity of waste management has demonstrated increasing public participation in waste management.

"Hence, the Waste Donation Campaign would become part of the public’s participation in reducing waste," he affirmed.

Mosque-based GRADASI is a religious-based waste management movement initiated by the National Coordination team of Ocean Waste Management (TKN PSL) and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), supported by the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs and the KLHK.

Under the campaign, plastic waste collected at mosques will be sold to the waste bank, and the money can be used for religious activities at the mosque or to help the poor, orphans, and widows in the surrounding areas.

Six grand mosques in some regions will become the model for the campaign.

Head of the Environment and Natural Resource Recovery of the MUI Hayu S. Prabowo stated that the waste donation campaign is based on a MUI fatwa No. 47/2014 on waste management to avoid environment damage.

Religious approach in waste management is important, Prabowo stated.

"Muslims must maintain cleanliness, and they must manage waste that is still valuable and reusable and should not dispose them. For instance, plastic waste," he remarked//ANT

Workers staged a rally near Arjuna Wiwaha statue in Jakarta on December 10, 2020 to commemorate International Human Rights Day. (ANTARA PHOTO/Aprillio Akbar/rwa) - 

A total of 6,394 military and police personnel will be deployed to secure the commemoration of International Labor Day, or May Day, in Jakarta on Saturday.

“The number of personnel, which has reached 6,394, will likely increase. (The personnel) we will field are a joint team of personnel from the military, the police, and the regional government,” chief of the public information division of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Senior Commissioner Yusri Yunus, said at the police headquarters on Friday.

The personnel will be stationed in several areas where workers gather, he informed.

He said the police have received a letter of notification from a number of workers’ organizations who are planning to stage a rally near the Arjuna Wiwah statue, in front of the Constitutional Court (MK) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) Office in Central Jakarta.

The workers who plan to gather for May Day events have been asked to remain disciplined in following the health protocols, he added.

“We have called on them to follow the health protocols. We have health regulations. We will take firm measures if they violate the health protocols,” he continued.

Several labor organizations appear to have applied for antigen rapid tests for members taking part in the rally, he added.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police have set up a medical team to conduct the tests in the areas where workers are scheduled to assemble.

“Participants who test negative (for COVID-19) will be allowed to join the rally, while participants who test positive will be referred to the COVID-19 emergency hospital,” Yunus said//ANT

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin delivered his keynote address to an online discussion on Sharia Business and Academic Synergy (SBAS), on December 9, 2020. (Asdep KIP Setwapres) - 

The sharia economy is believed to enable the nation implement the recovery of its economy battered by the COVID-pademic, toward a just, sustainable, and green economy.

To develop the sharia economy at its full potential, the government in 2020, issued a presidential decree on the National Committee for Sharia Economy and Finance (KNEKS).

The Indonesian government, in fact, has mobilized innovative financing instruments, such as the issuance of Green Sukuk since 2018 to fund climate change action and support targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The government has also set up the Environmental Fund Public Service Agency (BPDLH) to manage environmental financial resources and facilitate the development of trade and carbon pricing, according to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Indonesia is currently preparing a regulation on carbon pricing to serve as a guideline in formulating domestic policies and an institutional framework for setting carbon prices.

Meanwhile, according to Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, Indonesia needs to apply aggressive strategies to drive Islamic-based economic and financial development, as the nation is eyeing to be the world's biggest producer of halal products by 2024.

The government is strongly committed to developing sharia economy, focusing on developing halal industry, sharia financial industry, sharia social fund, and developing and expanding sharia business, he reiterated, while speaking during a meeting with the Sharia Economy and Finance National Committee (KNEKS) on April 26, 2021.

Amin quoted the State of Global Islamic Economy Report 2019-2020 that highlighted an improvement in Indonesia's ranking as the world's producer of halal products, from 10th and rising up to fifth-largest scoring 49, after Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

The newly-formed PT Bank Syariah Indonesia Tbk (BSI) is expected to rank among the world's top 10 Islamic banks, as its assets surpassed Rp240 trillion. Islamic banking assets in 2020 grew by 10.9 percent, while conventional ones only clocked a 7.7-percent growth.

The government is upbeat hat the Islamic-based economy would improve and boost the nations economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic//ANT

The Australian embassy in Beijing. (File photo: AP) - 

Conflict with China over Taiwan "should not be discounted", but Australia will work with its allies in the region to try and maintain peace, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said on Sunday (Apr 25).

"I don't think it (conflict) should be discounted," Dutton said in a television interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) when asked whether the prospects of a conflict over Taiwan are growing.

He added that China has been increasingly clear about its reunification ambitions with Taiwan.

"People need to be realistic about the activity," Dutton said. "There is militarisation of bases across the region. Obviously, there is a significant amount of activity and there is an animosity between Taiwan and China."He added that while there is a high level of preparedness for the Australian defence force to meet any threats in the region against the country's allies, Canberra will work to try to maintain peace.

"We want to make sure we continue to be a good neighbour in the region, that we work with our partners and with our allies and nobody wants to see conflict between China and Taiwan or anywhere else," Dutton said.

Australia's diplomatic relations with China, its largest trading partner, have worsened since Canberra called for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus which was first reported in the Chinese city Wuhan, prompting trade reprisals from Beijing//CNA