REJECTING TO HELP ROHINGYA AKIN TO REJECTING ASEAN COMMUNITY by Fardah

Jakarta, 16/5/2020 (Antara) - The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has again placed the Rohingya under the media spotlight, as several ASEAN members are refusing helpless Rohingyas aboard boats from landing on their lands on pretext of the disease outbreak.
On April 16, 2020, the Malaysian navy had intercepted a boat, carrying aboard some 200 Rohingya refugees, off the coast of Malaysia and prevented it from entering the Malaysian waters.
Bangladeshi coast guards had earlier intercepted another boatload of refugees that, the survivors averred, had been turned away from the Malaysian waters almost two months earlier. A total of 382 starving Rohingya refugees were taken off the boat, and survivors reported that at least 30 people onboard had died before the rescue.
Following those incidents and fueled by misinformation, fake news, and provocations, the rising hostility towards refugees in Malaysia surfaced through several anti-Rohingya petitions and hate speeches on social media.
The COVID-19 pandemic does not create a justification for risking the lives of refugees on overcrowded boats, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated while expressing its concern.
Malaysias claims to support the rights of Rohingya mean shockingly little when they push desperate refugees back to sea, Phil Robertson, the deputy director of HRWs Asia division, affirmed.
In Indonesia, Acehs waters and air police currently intensified patrolling to stop some 500 Rohingya refugees aboard two boats, reportedly sailing nearby while en route to Malaysia, from making transits on Aceh soil.

INDONESIA AIMS FOR SELF-RELIANCE IN MEDICAL DEVICES, PRODUCTS by Fardah

Jakarta, 16/5/2020 (Antara) - The novel coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, has infected 17,025 Indonesians so far, with the number of dead reaching 1,089, including scores of medical workers.

The Task Force for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Response on May 6, 2020 stated that 55 medical workers 38 doctors and 12 nurses have succumbed to COVID-19.

The medical workers got infected due to several reasons, including contact with patients who did not accurately report their condition and lack of proper hazmat suits to protect them while treating patients.

President Joko Widodo has instructed that optimum protection be extended to doctors and medical workers at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic, according to Doni Monardo, head of the COVID-19 task force.

The protection encompasses ensuring the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for medical workers handling COVID-19 patients.
"We do not want to see more doctors die owing to a lack of protection. We need to cooperate with all parties to ensure that doctors receive better protection," he remarked on May 6, 2020.

In addition to lack of PPEs, Indonesia is also facing shortages of other medical devices, such as COVID-19 test kits, ventilators, and medical masks, as well as medicines.

In early April, Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto relaxed a regulation on the export and import of health equipment and PPEs to resolve the problem of their scarcity.
The Trade Minister's Regulation No. 34 of 2020 temporarily bans the exports of antiseptics, mask raw materials, PPE, masks, and ethyl alcohol, until June 30, 2020, as domestic demand has jumped owing to the pandemic.
The Trade Minister's Regulation No. 28 of 2020 on the import of certain products has temporarily scrapped the obligation to submit a Surveyor Report (LS) for the import of masks and PPE products and other health equipment until June 30.
The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR), however, has urged the government to mass-produce COVID-19 equipment, instead of relying on imports.

INDONESIA IN URGENT NEED OF LAW ON PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION by Fardah

Jakarta, 13/5/2020 (Antara) - Many Indonesians have shown a preference for online shopping ever since the Indonesian Government imposed large-scale social distancing measures to restrict public movement and curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, or COVID-19.

Data provided by ADA (Analytic Data Advertising) indicates a 300-400-percent increase in internet usage by adaptive shoppers last March, while internet use by WFH (work-from-home) professionals has climbed 400 percent.

Amid the jump in online shoppers, the Indonesian public was recently shocked to learn about the leaking of personal data of millions of users of e-commerce platform, Tokopedia.
According to some reports, a hacker put up a database containing the personal data of 91 million Tokopedia users for sale on the dark Web for US$5,000. Some reports say the data of 15 million users was breached.
Concerns over personal data safety have been gaining ground since the past several years, especially in view of the numerous credit and loan offers floating around via telephone and random short messages.

Last year, the Home Affairs Ministry, which is in charge of storing personal data of Indonesian citizens, admitted that at least 1,227 institutions, both government and private, have access to data on Indonesian citizenship.

However, private institutions still have to seek permission from the ministry to access citizens data, the then home affairs minister, Tjahjo Kumolo, said in July, 2019.

The protection of people's data is regulated in Law Number 24 of 2013 concerning Population Administration and the Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 61 of 2015, among others, but there is no strict sanction for any institution found leaking personal data.

Therefore, Sukamta, member of Commission I of the House of Representatives (DPR), has suggested that the Bill on Personal Data Protection (PDP) encompass regulations on obligations of data managers and sanctions for data breach.
He pointed to the recent data breach at Tokopedia while sharing his concerns.

Komodo National Park, Labuan Bajo deserted amid COVID-19 outbreak by Fardah

Jakarta , May 8, 2020 (ANTARA) - Marcia Stephanie, owner of iDive Komodo diving operator, sent her employees home, as her business lost customers following the temporary closure of the Komodo National Park as a measure to break the COVID-19 transmission chain.
“We have had no trip since March 22 when the Komodo National Park director announced the park’s closure due to COVID-19,” she told Bisnis journalist on April 6, 2020.
Her employees received full salaries for the last time in February, while they got just quarter of their salaries in April.
All diving operations in Komodo Island and Labuan Bajo in West Manggarai District, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province, closed since no tourist had visited the two destinations owing to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The Komodo National Park has been closed from March 22 to May 29, 2020, to support the central government’s policy of large-scale social distancing measure imposed following announcement of the country’s first confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 2, 2020.
The Komodo Labuan Bajo International Airport has also temporarily ceased its operations from April 24 to June 1, 2020, in line with restricting the movement of people.
The Komodo National Park and its adjacent Labuan Bajo, both with unique and enthralling scenery, fauna, and flora, were recently designated by the central government as premium tourist destinations.
However, with the global economy, including the tourism industry, bearing a severe brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of tourists visiting the two destinations has dropped drastically, up to some 50 percent, since February.
"The number of foreign tourists to Labuan Bajo has decreased by nearly 50 percent," Agustinus Rinus, head of the West Manggarai tourism office, stated on April 6.

INDONESIA'S TOURISM INDUSTRY PROJECTED TO REBOUND IN 2021 by Fardah

Jakarta, 7/5/2020 (Antara) - The tourism industry in several countries, including Indonesia, has been seriously crippled by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, compelling people globally to stay at home and forego traveling to prevent transmission of the lethal virus.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Indonesia had outlined a target to receive at least 17 million foreign tourists in 2020.
However, in the wake of the viral outbreak, the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia had dropped sharply in March to 470,900, or equal to the figure in 2007, according to the Central Statistics Office (BPS) on April 4, 2020.
The March figure indicated a 45.5-percent drop as compared to February and 64.11 percent from that in March 2019, according to BPS Head Suhariyanto.
A decline in the number of foreign tourist arrivals was recorded at nearly all main airports, with a 64.72-percent drop at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport, 75 percent decrease at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport, and 64.11 percent decline at Kualanamu Airport, Medan.
The number of foreign tourist arrivals by sea also dropped drastically. Batam seaport in Riau Islands Province recorded a 75-percent drop, while a 92-percent decrease was witnessed at Tanjung Uban. A similar trend was observed among those coming by land, such as in Atambua and Entikong in Kalimantan that shares its border with Malaysia.

Based on nationality, the sharpest decline was observed in the number of tourists arriving from China, reaching 97.46 percent; followed by Hong Kong, down 96 percent; and Kuwait, down 89 percent, according to the BPS.

Bingka telur pandan by Nithaks

Bahan-bahan
4 butir telur ayam/bebek
100 gr gula pasir / 8 sdm
500 ml santan (me 2 kara + 370 ml air)
2-3 sdm tepung terigu
1/2 sdt garam
50 ml jus pandan/suji (dr 3 lebar daun pandan + 2 lembar daun suji)

cara membuat:

-  masukkan telur dan gula dalam wadah dan kocok
 -  tambahkan santan, jus pandan dan garam, kocok lagi
- tambahkan tepung terigu, kocok sampai rata
-saring adonan
- masukkan dalam loyang
kukus selama 30 menit, dengan api besar, dan tutup diberi serbet agar uap panas tidak menetes ke adonan