VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Aceh and North Sumatra earthquake map - 

The Medan Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (MKG) Center reported that 24 earthquakes had hit  North Sumatra and Aceh provinces on February 18-24, 2022.

"During this week, 18 land earthquakes and six sea earthquakes struck," the center’s head, Darmawan, noted here on Friday.

He noted the earthquakes that hit North Sumatra and Aceh originated from the Sumatra Fault segments, and some were scattered in several subduction areas.

"Stay alert and do not panic. Keep responding quickly to BMKG's information and maintain your distance when a significant earthquake occurs during the pandemic," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, Eridawati, the center's spokesperson, explained that based on the strength, the earthquakes in the past week were of low magnitude, with the 23 earthquakes recorded at magnitude 4.0 , while one earthquake was between 4.0 and 5.0 M.

The spokesperson called on the public to ensure obtaining official information only from the BMKG distributed through official verified communication channels, such as Instagram/Twitter @infoBMKG, website (http://www.bmkg.go.id or inatews.bmkg.go.id), or via Mobile Apps (IOS and Android): wrs-bmkg (user pemda ,pwd pemda-bmkg) or infobmkg.

Marzuki Sinambela, as a young researcher at the BBMKG Region I Medan, noted that the earthquake activity in Aceh and North Sumatra during the past week based on the depth was quite varied.

Shallow earthquakes under 60 km had occurred 19 times, while medium earthquakes of depths between 60 km and 300 km had occurred five times.

"Of the 24 earthquakes that occurred, none were significant and felt by the public this week," he stated//ANT

Library service building in North Gorontalo on progress - 

The head of the National Library (NLI), Muhammad Syarif Bando, appreciated the North Gorontalo Regency Government for the establishment of a library service building that had just been inaugurated.

This library building is expected to become a monumental facility for the people of North Gorontalo Regency. The building was built sourced from the central government budget using a physical special allocation fund (DAK) in 2021 for the education sub-sector of Rp. 10 billion.

"It is the duty of the central government to prepare DAK in the library sector in preparing basic service infrastructure for the community," said Syarif, after inaugurating the Regional Library Service Building of North Gorontalo Regency, on Tuesday (22/2/2022).

The Head of National Library added that libraries contribute to improving the quality of human resources (HR). Quality human resources must be prepared to manage abundant natural resources, he said, quoting President Joko Widodo's message.

According to a release received by Voice Of Indonesia on Tuesday (22/02/22), the hope is that the community can increase the selling value of the production, increase per capita income, increase foreign exchange, which ultimately brings Indonesia to be a country that is reckoned with in the global arena.

"Our task is how to provide community facilities to get out of the degradation zone living below the poverty line with the existing level of knowledge. One of them is providing applied science reading materials or life skills," he continued.

Meanwhile, the Regent of North Gorontalo, Indra Yasin, said that people often feel bored when they have to visit the library. "Maybe there is boredom because if the library has something to do with reading. I hope that literacy can change that literacy is not just reading, but there is also creativity that is carried out in the library," he said.

Regent Indra added that his party would instruct all personnel of regional apparatus organizations (OPD) who travel outside the region, to be required to bring books when they go to their regions.

"It is possible that anyone can send their books to this library to add to the collection of reading materials," he said.

The regent invited school principals to schedule student visits to the library. Likewise universities so that students can take advantage of the new library building which he calls this magnificent building.

"Let's use this library. This is the place to find knowledge and knowledge does not have to be obtained formally but also informally through the library," he continued.

Member of Commission X DPR RI, Elnino M. Husein Mohi, who was also present at the inauguration, said that literacy is very necessary in facing the current digital era. The reason is that if literacy blindness is still being treated, then the problem of poverty cannot be solved.

"Moreover, at this time we are faced with metaverse technology, an imitation of the world that is in cyberspace. It is very unfortunate if we do not take advantage of existing technological developments to get out of poverty," he said.

Elnino also hopes that the people of North Gorontalo and its surroundings can use the library building as a place to improve literacy. "The building, which is an aid from the center, is expected to open our eyes to realize ourselves so that we can change to improve the welfare of life," he concluded.

On the same occasion, there was an inauguration of the literacy mother of North Gorontalo Regency, Reny Yasin Hiola followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the National Library of Indonesia and the Government of North Gorontalo Regency. The event was also coupled with a Talkshow on Improving the Public Literacy Index for Welfare with the theme “Library Transformation to Realize a National Digital Ecosystem”//VOI-NK

The UK’s Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP - 

The UK’s Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP visit Indonesia on 22-23 February 2022, to join her counterpart, Trade Minister of the Republic of Indonesia Mohammad Lutfi, for the first ever UK-Indonesia Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) before heading onto Japan and Singapore.

Her visit will cover several priority sectors such as stepping up green trade in areas like renewables, hydrogen and nickel investment. She will also discuss greater collaboration in the digital and financial services sectors.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan will also meet Minister of Investment and Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan to discuss UK partnerships on tidal energy and battery technology, and she will meet the Governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, to discuss collaborating on Jakarta Net Zero.

Minister Trevelyan will promote the UK’s rail expertise as she visits Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which British firms have helped to design. She will highlight how closer trade ties and UK Export Finance could help Indonesia to work with British firms who are bidding for multi-million pound contracts on Indonesian infrastructure projects, like Jakarta MRT.

Both the UK and Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, will commit to enhancing their trading relationship, to further develop the existing £2.6 billion in bilateral trade.

As Indonesia holds the G20 Presidency this year, the UK’s Trade Minister will also meet with B20 business leaders to discuss partnerships on digital transformation, energy transition and women in business. 

“Bilateral trade between the UK and Indonesia stands at £2.6 billion, and investment into Indonesia from the UK stood at £5.1 billion in 2020, creating 1 million jobs in Indonesia. We have a strong relationship, but with Indonesia going from strength-to-strength, and there is still room for growth. Increasing trade is a win-win, that benefits both nations and with that ambition in mind, we are convinced that the launch of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee with the Indonesian Government will accelerate the steps we can take to increase trade especially in the priority sectors",British Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste Owen Jenkins said. 

The UK and ASEAN are keen to boost trade ties, from a strong base. The UK is attractive to ASEAN as the world’s 5^th largest economy, with strengths in industries essential to the future – such as digital and financial services. Meanwhile ASEAN’s ten member countries have a combined GDP of £2.4 trillion, and will grow rapidly into economic powerhouses of the future. Trade between the UK and ASEAN is already worth over £33.8 billion in 2020 and the UK is already a major development partner for Southeast Asia, investing more than £3.5 billion of total UK Official Development Assistance in ASEAN over the past decade.

On the visit, the UK’s Trade Minister set out the UK’s ambition for a dynamic, impactful and unique relationship with ASEAN on economics, development and trade – reflecting the drive, resilience and ingenuity of our respective business communities and people.

The Secretary of State and ASEAN Secretary General met to discuss opening up markets between UK and ASEAN, across key sectors including sustainable development, digital innovation and financial services.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Tuesday (22/02/22),The UK as the first major economy to legislate a commitment to net zero by 2050 and is the world leader in tidal energy technology. UK is also the home of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) Ltd, the world’s leading facility for demonstrating and testing wave and tidal energy technologies. With the plan from the UK government to invest £20 million per year in Tidal Stream electricity as part of its flagship renewable energy auction scheme, the UK is kickstarting a brand-new chapter for the tidal industry and these technologies can be used to support Indonesia’s effort in achieving its goal of 23% renewable energy mix by 2025. There are already UK companies interested to develop projects in Indonesia.

As Indonesia has the world’s fourth largest number of Internet users of around 185 million, the digital natives that consists of Millennials and Generation Z consumers account for a significant proportion of Indonesia’s population and are increasingly becoming the main drivers of growth for its digital economy, which contributed 4% of GDP in 2020.

As the UK has world-leading capabilities in financial technology, AI, Big Data, health tech, and cyber security are keen to work with Indonesian companies to invest in and partner with UK tech companies or raise capital in the UK. More collaborations can flourish from these opportunities to deepen the UK-Indonesia digital relationship across the public and private sectors, especially with the support from existing initiatives through the Embassy’s Digital Trade Network, Tech Hub and Digital Access Programme//VOI-NK

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Maves) Luhut B. Pandjaitan at the PPKM Press Conference which was held virtually, Monday (21-02-2022) - 

In handling the Covid-19 pandemic, several countries have begun to implement easing policies, namely from the pandemic to endemic transition. However, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Maves) Luhut B. Pandjaitan revealed that for Indonesia itself it would be more prudent to apply the principle of prudence.

“Although several other countries have started to implement easing policies for transition to endemic, such as the UK, Denmark, and Singapore, we don't need to be talkative like these countries. We will carry out this transition gradually, in stages, and continuously based on data based on health, economic, and socio-cultural indicators, and continue to apply the precautionary principle. We will continue to evaluate the pre-endemic conditions in the future," said Coordinating Minister Luhut at the PPKM Press Conference which was held virtually, Monday (21-02-2022).

Coordinating Minister Luhut explained, in this case the government uses pre-endemic conditions as a foothold by using indicators, namely high levels of community immunity, low case rates based on WHO indicators, adequate response capacity of health facilities and using active surveillance.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Monday (21/02/22), this pre-condition must also occur in a fairly long time span and be stable or consistent. Proposed concepts, criteria, and indicators for pandemics to endemic from time to time will continue to be refined with experts and experts in their fields. To be able to achieve the goal of transitioning from pandemic to endemic, the main thing that needs to be done is to boost the second and main booster doses of vaccination for the elderly.

"The government also continues to encourage and ask for assistance from the Regional Government and its staff to continue to actively socialize and maximize the number of booster vaccinations for those who already have a third vaccine ticket. I also ask that people who already have a third vaccine ticket or who have been fully vaccinated within a 6-month period can go directly to the vaccine outlets that have been prepared," he explained.

On this occasion, Coordinating Minister Luhut also revealed that the government will reduce the mortality rate by providing a faster response to treatment for groups with comorbidities.

“In today's limited meeting (ratas), the President asked that the risk of death for the elderly, people who have not been vaccinated and have comorbidities to be minimized as much as possible with good treatment. For this reason, the Government will immediately take mitigation steps from this President's directive," he said.

Therefore, Coordinating Minister Luhut continued, the government encourages data interconnection between BPJS Health which has comorbid data and data on additional cases in the Ministry of Health's NAR, so that if there are additional cases, it is immediately detected whether the person is comorbid or not, and response actions can be taken quickly.

Coordinating Minister Luhut revealed that several regencies/cities had returned to levels 4 and 3. The increase in levels was due to the increase in hospitalizations in the related regencies/cities.

"Although we have followed the PPKM Assessment Level which we have adjusted by giving greater weight to hospital inpatients, currently there are several regencies/cities entering Level 4. 3 of them Solo Raya and Semarang Raya. The agglomeration areas of Jabodetabek, Bali, DIY, Greater Bandung, Greater Surabaya, and Greater Malang are currently still at Level 3," he explained.

“The increase in the assessment level in each of these areas is due to the increase in hospitalization rates. The details regarding this regulation will be stated in the Inmendagri which will be issued this afternoon," added Coordinating Minister Luhut.

With these data, Coordinating Minister Luhut again reminded that what we need to do today is to continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle, ensure that we are vaccinated, and adhere to health protocols.

"I also need to reiterate based on our data that those who are infected with this variant and have severe symptoms to death are identified as people who have not been vaccinated or have been vaccinated but not yet complete, have comorbidities, and are elderly," concluded Coordinating Minister Luhut//VOI-NK