VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

E-sports athletes compete in the Lokapala gaming branch during the semifinal of the 2021 E-sports President's Cup grand final series in Nusa Dua, Badung, Bali on December 18, 2021. The competition was organized to identify Indonesian talent for world-level competitions while developing games made in Indonesia. (ANTARA PHOTO/Fikri Yusuf/pras/KT) - 

IESF World E-sports Championship, which will start on November 27, 2022, is expected to contribute to the sports tourism sector, chairman of the Indonesian E-sports Executive Board (PBESI) Bambang Sunarwibowo said.

It is hoped that the selection of Bali as the location and host of the international match would help develop sports tourism in the country, he added.

"Hence, the e-sports ecosystem in Indonesia will develop well, and we hope this can also raise international impressions on Indonesia," he said at a virtual press conference here on Friday.

According to Sunarwibowo, the hope to enhance the country's e-sports ecosystem emerged from the projection that about 1,500 participants from more than 120 countries will take part in the IESF World E-sports Championship.

He highlighted that e-sports have become part of Indonesian society, with about 52 million Indonesians participating in the ecosystem, including athletes, enthusiasts, and young people.

Seeing the Indonesian society's huge interest in e-sports, it is hoped that the ecosystem can be further built and developed, he said.

According to Sunarwibowo, the IESF World E-sports Championship has become an important agenda in the PBESI's great design for 2022, which will be one of the major milestones in the history of e-sports development in Indonesia.

To ensure the success of the event, he said PBESI is coordinating with all parties to guarantee readiness from many aspects, starting from location and accommodation, management to athlete conditions.

If the preparations receive great evaluations by the organizer, IESF, Indonesia will gain confidence for the future and have a better chance to host the international event, he explained.

“PBSEI, which is very young, only two years old, really hope to be able to hold this international event well," he remarked.

He also said that the world championship is not only important for e-sports development but also for accelerating the national economy, especially in the digital creative and tourism industry//ANT

Covid-19 vaccine sample - 

The government will need to administer 750 thousand COVID-19 vaccine doses per day to meet the target of 70-percent vaccination coverage by April, the month of Ramadan, a Health Ministry spokesperson has said.

"We have calculated the scenario, in April 2022 we can achieve our vaccination target," Siti Nadia Tarmizi informed on Friday.

Since the COVID-19 vaccination program began in Indonesia on January 13, 2021, the government has intensified vaccinations and has been administering an average of 1 million to 2 million shots per day, depending on the availability of vaccines stock in the country, she noted.

Until now, more than 365 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country, she said. A total of 192 million (92.68 percent) people have been provided the first dose, 150 million (72.16 percent) have been fully vaccinated, and more than 14 million (6.73 percent) have received the booster vaccine, she disclosed.

"If we want to achieve the 70-percent target by the end of April 2022, then the rate of injection of the second dose must be increased to 750 thousand per day," she added.

If less than 750 thousand second doses are provided per day, then 70-percent second dose coverage would likely be achieved by May at the latest, she projected.

Tarmizi said the vaccine does not fully protect against COVID-19 transmission. Strict health protocols need to be followed, too, she added.

"The risk of infection is equal to the number of viruses divided by immunity. So, if the immunity is high, the risk of infection is low," she explained.

The pandemic-endemic transition policy needs to be implemented in stages with a road map to prepare for the normalization of community activities through COVID-19 control policies and a target to keep hospitalization and death rates at a low level, she said.

"The initial steps include increasing the coverage of the second and also booster vaccination doses, increasing surveillance capacity of active cases, pursuing testing and tracing, and providing qualified health response facilities," she added//ANT

Illustration—A solar power station on Messah Island, East Nusa Tenggara. Indonesia has proposed three priority issues for energy transition for the G20 meeting: energy access, technology transfer, and funding. (ANTARA/HO-PT PLN/aa) - 

Indonesia's G20 Presidency, which entails hundreds of working groups, ministers, and head of state meetings, will be beneficial for the energy transition effort, an official from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has said.

The ministry's director general of new, renewable energy, and energy conservation, Dadan Kusdiana, said that as the current holder of the G20 Presidency, Indonesia has the right to conceive and raise any issue for deliberation at the forum.

"The energy transition theme (raised by Indonesia) will ensure that while the national interest remains a priority, G20 member states will also be benefited at the same time," he explained during an online dialogue on energy transition for green economy, broadcast by IDX Channel and accessed from Jakarta on Friday.

Indonesia has proposed three priority issues on the energy transition theme for the G20 meeting, he noted.

The first priority issue is ensuring energy access reliability, affordability, and availability, he informed.

Indonesia's decision to raise the issue is due to current challenges that the country is facing in ensuring electricity access for all residents, he said.

"Despite not much, there are some of our residents that are yet to receive electricity access. (The decision to raise this issue) will also emphasize the importance of electricity access to the global community," Kusdiana remarked.

The ministry will promote energy access from affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern sources, particularly energy needed for electrification and daily cooking, he said.

The second priority issue will be technology utilization, he said, adding that the G20 Presidency will benefit Indonesia and could encourage technology transfer from developed countries.

There are several technologies and innovations that the ministry is seeking to develop: energy storage system, carbon capture and storage system, and green industry development, the director general added.

The funding for energy transition will be the third priority issue for Indonesia, he said. 

As Indonesia continues engaging in bilateral dialogue to gather support on energy development, investment opportunities to address the funding issue on the energy transition will bolster the domestic economy and natural resource utilization, as well as open new job opportunities, Kusdiana added.

"In principle, the three priority issues that we propose are on access, technology, and funding, that will be essential for Indonesia to bolster the energy transition," he said//ANT

Illustration of Pertamina officers installing solar power plants. (ANTARA/HO-Pertamina/rst) - 

Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) ensures that the national economy will continue to grow during the energy transition from fossil fuels to new and renewable energy.

The ministry's Director-General of New, Renewable Energy, and Energy Conservation Dadan Kusdiana said his side will ensure that the energy transition processes did not have a socio-economic impact.

"The community's energy supply would remain guaranteed. People would still be able to buy electricity and fuel according to their abilities. At the same time, we continue to reduce greenhouse gases, especially in the energy sector," Kusdiana noted during an online dialogue regarding energy transition to realize green economic development on Friday.

During the energy transition period, Indonesia will utilize the various available resources gradually and accelerate the process involving various stakeholders, he affirmed.

According to Kusdiana, the government was not keen to witness a sudden acceleration of the transition by utilizing renewable energy. The government assumed it would create problems in terms of electricity supply, akin to several cases in European countries recently.

The Indonesian government will bring up the issue of energy transition during the G20 presidency since the forum is able to voice energy management at the world level.

Kusdiana further expressed hope that the idea regarding energy transition aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be heard by all participants during Indonesia's G20 presidency.

"Hopefully, this idea would be heard by all. President Joko Widodo will propose the initiation for energy transition as one of the topics that will be discussed specifically at the Energy Sustainability Working Group (ETWG) G20," he stated.

In the energy transition roadmap, the government is committed to achieving a 23-percent share of the new and renewable energy in the energy mix by 2025. By the end of 2021, the share of new and renewable energy in the energy mix had reached around 11.7 percent.

After 2030, additional power generation will only be coming from new and renewable energy. Starting in 2035, electricity will be generated largely by using variable renewable energy resources, such as solar power, followed by power generation from wind and ocean currents in the following year.

Hydrogen will also be used gradually starting in 2031 and massively in 2051. Thereafter, nuclear power will be included in the generation system starting in 2049, he noted.

In an effort to achieve the new and renewable energy mix target, the ministry has passed regulations related to rooftop solar power plants. The government has targeted to install rooftop solar panels of an additional 3.6-gigawatt capacity by 2025, Kusdiana stated//ANT