Indonesia looks to domestic tourists for tourism revival in 2021 by Fardah

 Jakarta, 12 April 2021 (ANTARA)  - The government is optimistic of ecotourism being among the driving forces for comprehensively implementing a green economy to boost Indonesia’s economic revival.

 

Ecotourism can be defined as tourism that is conducted responsibly to conserve the environment and sustain the well-being of the local people. Its benefits comprise promoting environmental awareness, offering direct financial benefits for conservation, and monetarily benefitting and empowering the local people.

Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Forestry (LHK) Alue Dohong affirmed that the management of nature tourism areas can generate income for the region and society in addition to creating jobs whilst abstaining from damaging and exploitative actions.

West Java has several ecotourism destinations, such as the Gede Pangrango National Park, which can boost local economic activities, and the Situgunung suspension bridge that has become a popular tourist attraction.

In West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), the LHK ministry has reopened Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island and Mount Tambora on Sumbawa Island in West Nusa Tenggara to climbers and tourists since April 1, 2021.

Climbing tourism activities at the two sites had earlier been closed since January 1, 2021, due to inhospitable weather in the mountains that endanger human life.

"Climbing activities at Mount Rinjani are still limited to a maximum quota of 50 percent of the normal capacity, and the length of the climbers' stay is only three days and two nights," Head of the Mount Rinjani National Park (TNGR) Dedy Asriady remarked.

Tourists keen on conducting climbing activities are required to place an order for climbing tickets through the e-Rinjani application downloadable via the Playstore.

The TNGR officers also enforce stringent COVID-19 health protocols on tourists, right from the entrance, at the tourist sites and while leaving the national park area.

Moreover, three COVID-19 green zones in Bali are planned to be opened from July this year amid a marked decline in the number of Indonesia's daily coronavirus disease cases and the nationwide mass vaccination campaign.

Vaccination campaign key for revival of Bali's tourism industry by Fardah

 Jakarta, April 3, 2021 (ANTARA) - The COVID-19 pandemic has dragged Indonesia into serious public health and economic crises, like many other countries in the world.

 

Tourism has been the worst affected by the impact of the pandemic, and the tourism industry of Bali, one of the world's most famous tourist resorts, has been especially hit hard by COVID-19.

 

Since the country recorded its first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020, the Indonesian government has been determined to win the battle against COVID-19. From January 13 this year, the government  has rolled out a nationwide vaccination program to arrest the spread of infections.

 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reviewed the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Gianyar and Denpasar, Bali province on March 16, 2021, and said he was optimistic that bringing the coronavirus infection under control would help revive the island's tourism industry around the middle of this year.

 

Accompanied by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Tourism and Creative Economic Minister Sandiaga Uno, and Bali Governor Wayan Koster, Widodo held dialogs with Balinese religious and community leaders as well as frontline public servants to ensure that the vaccination program is implemented properly and successfully as it is key for the revival of tourism.

 

The Balinese people must remain optimistic, as "hope is on the way”, he said. The economy in Bali is expected to recover soon amid the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program, he added.

 

He also spoke of the reopening of three COVID-19 green zones in Bali for tourism amid a marked decrease in the number of daily coronavirus cases nationwide.

FOOD ESTATE PROJECTS MUST NOT CONTRIBUTE TO DEFORESTATION, WARN EXPERTS by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 28/3/2021 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government last year started developing a food estate project in Pulang Pisau district, Central Kalimantan province to ensure national food security and resilience amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

While it is currently spread over 30 thousand hectares of land, the size of the food estate will be extended over the next two years.

 

Now, the food estate project has been expanded to several other regions such as North Sumatra, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), South Sumatra, Papua, and Riau.

 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on February 23, 2021 reviewed the implementation of a food estate project in Central Sumba district, NTT. Currently spread over five thousand hectares comprising three thousand hectares of rice and two thousand hectares of corn fields, the estate will be eventually expanded to 10 thousand hectares to comprise 5,600 hectares of rice and 4,400 hectares of corn fields.

 

During his visit, Widodo said he is optimistic the food estate will encourage rice farmers in Central Sumba to harvest rice twice a year, and corn and soybean once a year.

 

"As per data I have received, 34 percent of the residents in Central Sumba live in poverty and farmers harvest rice only once a year. We want them to harvest rice twice a year and corn or soybean once a year," Widodo said.

 

To scale up the irrigation system for farming, the government has built a number of reservoirs and dams in NTT, an arid province that often bears the brunt of water shortages.

Indonesia fights to prevent child marriage amid COVID-19 pandemic by Fardah

 Jakarta, March 27 , 2021 (ANTARA) - Eni, a resident of West Nusa Tengga (NTB),  regretted that she allowed her 14-year-old daughter to marry last May 2020. Eni (not her real name) told BBC Indonesia in August last year that her daughter was often beaten by her husband, who was four years older.

She recalled that her daughter insisted to get marriage because she had been often together with her boyfriend since the COVID-19 pandemic that forced students to study from home.

Another a story of a child marriage was about 17-year-old Dini (not her real name), whose life had been disturbed by a powerful earthquake in Central Sulawesi, that destroyed her school and buildings. While staying in refugee camp, she had often spent time with her boyfriend and as a consequence she got pregnant. So, she decided to get married and drop out of school.

Indonesia has been facing double disasters since last year, notably natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The two disasters have been identified of hampering efforts to prevent child married. Economic problem and out-of-wedlock pregnancies often forced girls under 19 years old to get marriage.

Save the Children has warned that up to 2.5 million more girls around the world are at risk of marriage in the next 5 years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic's damage to education and the economy could reverse decades of progress on child marriage and pregnancy.

"COVID-19 has made an already difficult situation for millions of girls even worse. Shuttered schools, isolation from friends and support networks, and rising poverty have added fuel to a fire the world is struggling to put out. But we can and we must extinguish child marriage,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

Worldwide, an estimated 650 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood, with about half of those occurring in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India and Nigeria, according to UNICEF.

“One year into the pandemic, immediate action is needed to mitigate the toll on girls and their families,” Fore said, adding: “By reopening schools, implementing effective laws and policies, ensuring access to health and social services – including sexual and reproductive health services – and providing comprehensive social protection measures for families, we can significantly reduce a girl’s risk of having her childhood stolen through child marriage.”

In certain regions in Indonesia, child marriage practices are quite common. According to the 2018 Socio-economic National Survey (Susenas), one in every nine girls aged 20-24 gets married before the age of 18. Its number is around 1.2 million, manifesting the 8th highest number of child marriages in the world.

INDONESIA SET TO FORGE FORWARD IN TB HANDLING AMID COVID-19 PANDEMIC by Fardah

Jakarta, 25/3/2021 (ANTARA) - Several nations observed Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 in a somber, concerned manner, as the fight against TB, one of the world's deadliest infectious killers, has been hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

World TB Day 2021 themed The Clock is Ticking" aims to send across the message that the world is running out of time to act on commitments made by global leaders to end TB.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that daily, nearly four thousand people die of TB and close to 28 thousand people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease.

Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 63 million lives since the year 2000. However, since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading in over 200 countries, TB handling has experienced a regress, according to the WHO.

The effects of COVID-19 go far beyond the death and disease caused by the virus itself. The disruption to essential services for people with TB is just one tragic example of the ways the pandemic is disproportionately affecting some of the worlds poorest people, who were already at the higher risk for TB, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, stated.

The pandemic has greatly exacerbated the situation. An estimated 1.4 million fewer people received care for TB in 2020 as compared to the previous year, or a reduction of 21 percent from 2019, according to preliminary data compiled by the UN health agency from over 80 countries.

Among countries with the biggest relative gaps were Indonesia, at 42 percent; followed by South Africa, 41 percent; the Philippines, 37 percent; and India, 25 percent.

The Indonesian Health Ministry's Director of Prevention and Control of Direct Communicable Diseases (P2PML) Siti Nadia Tarmizi recently quoted a study analyzing TB patients that only 24 percent of the people, who recognized the TB symptoms they experienced, had visited health facilities for a medical check-up.

Bank Sharia Indonesia vying for place among leading Islamic banks by Fardah

 Jakarta, March 20, 2021 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim majority country, may have been rather late in entering the Islamic (sharia) business compared to other countries, but the mood in the nation is upbeat that it is catching up thanks to several advantages.

The Southeast Asian country is projected to have a population of 184 million Muslim adults, of which over 50 percent are from the upper middle class and mostly work in the private sector.

Besides, the nation's Islamic financial services are growing at a swift pace even as the pandemic ploughs on. Indonesia’s Islamic banking assets in 2020 grew by 10.9 percent, while the conventional ones only clocked 7.7-percent growth.

Likewise with third-party funds — Islamic banking recorded an increase of 11.56 percent, slightly superior to conventional banks, which registered a rise of 11.49 percent.

"In terms of financing, Islamic banking recorded the largest growth of 9.4 percent, far ahead of conventional banking that only grew by 0.55 percent. In addition, the market share of the Islamic capital market has reached 17.39 percent, and the number of cooperatives for savings and loans and sharia financing has reached 4,115 units," State Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, concurrently chairman of the Sharia Economic Community, informed.

He said the development of Islamic economics and finance in Indonesia won it accolades from the international community in 2020.

This was apparent from the Islamic Finance Development Report 2020, which placed Indonesia in the second place globally and the Global Islamic Economy Indicator 2020, which placed Indonesia in the fourth position globally.

To strengthen the national sharia economy, the government on February 1 this year merged the sharia compliant subsidiaries of three state-owned lenders — Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) to form Bank Sharia Indonesia (BSI).

BSI is expected to be one of the largest sharia banks in Indonesia and also the world, with total assets of Rp214 trillion and core capital of Rp20.4 trillion. It is also expected to propel the development of the halal value chain in the country. Based on the global index, Indonesia’s ranking in sharia economy and finance is among the top 10 in the fields of finance, food, and fashion,