VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought several countries to a near standstill, as activities involving the congregation of public, including music concerts, sports games, conferences, tourism bourses, and festivals, are either postponed or cancelled. The fourth simultaneous regional head elections (pilkada), earlier scheduled for September this year, was another major event that was postponed owing to the coronavirus outbreak. The simultaneous pilkada was planned to be held in 270 regions across the country to elect governors in nine provinces, district heads in 224 districts, and mayors in 37 cities on September 23, 2020. The number of eligible voters in the fourth pilkada reached at least 105 million. The decision to postpone pilkada was made during a hearing of Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR), with attendees comprising officials of the Home Affairs Ministry, Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU), General Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and the Code of Ethic Council for the Implementation of Elections (DKPP) in Jakarta on March 30, 2020//Ant

Indonesia's official reserve assets stood at US$121 billion, as of March-end 2020, $9.4 billion lower, from the position of $130.4 billion recorded at the end of February 2020. Executive Director of the Bank Indonesia (BI) Communication Department Onny Widjanarko noted in a statement in Jakarta, Tuesday that the position of official reserve assets was equivalent to finance 7.2 months of imports or seven months of imports and servicing government’s external debt, which is well above the international adequacy standard of three months of imports. According to BI, the official reserve assets are sufficient to finance import and debt service payments as well as the need to stabilize the rupiah exchange rate.The decline in official reserve assets in March 2020 was influenced by factors including the government external debt payments and stabilization of the rupiah exchange rate amid extraordinary conditions owing to panic in global financial markets triggered by the rapid and widespread effect of the COVID-19 pandemic globally. The fear has induced capital outflow and augmented exchange rate pressures on the rupiah, especially in the second and third week of March 2020. Stabilization measures and policy mix reinforcement by BI as well as close coordination with the government and Financial Services Authority (OJK) have facilitated market conditions to gradually recover, and market mechanisms have resumed since the last week of March 2020//Ant

President Joko Widodo emphasized that social assistance to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic should be disbursed swiftly and precisely to the people in dire need. The President remarked while opening a limited teleconference meeting at the Bogor Presidential Palace, Tuesday that the implementation should be right on target. Data of the beneficiary groups is also by name and address, so that it is precise and accurate. Neighborhood units and community unit heads, village heads, and local governments should be involved in the disbursement of social assistance. The head of state also requested that assistance through social safety net intervention should be disbursed quickly, by circumventing difficult bureaucratic processes. The President urged ministries to ensure that benefits from the social assistance program should also be felt by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); groceries traders at traditional markets; and motorbike transportation businesses//Ant

Research and Technology Minister/Chairman of National Agency for Research and Innovation Bambang P.S. Brodjonegoro believes it would take at least a year to conduct research and development to come up with coronavirus vaccination in Indonesia. However, minister Brodjonegoro pointed to vaccines developed overseas that can then be produced in Indonesia. In addition to vaccines, the COVID-19 Consortium Team is prioritizing the development of supplements from various raw materials in Indonesia to maintain body immunity. According to the minister, the team had also conducted a study on COVID-19 drugs, one of which being quinine pills that bore similarities to Chloroquine, a malaria drug//Ant