DEVELOPING FISHERY INDUSTRY IN PAPUA by Fardah

Jakarta, Aug 31, 2017 (Antara)  - Papua Island has abundant marine resources, particularly in the Arafura Sea, which is rich in economically important fish species that include Barramundi, grouper, Penaeid shrimp, and Nemipteridae fishes.

          In a world where marine ecosystems and fish stocks are generally collapsing, the Arafura Sea stands out as among the richest marine fisheries in the world, making it a target for poaching by foreign fishing boats.

           The Indonesian Government has intensified the fight against illegal fishing activities and has intended to accelerate the development of fishery industry in various regions, including Papua, particularly for the welfare of traditional fishermen.

        Several Papuan regions having huge potential in the fishery industry include Biak, Jayapura, Merauke, Timika, Nabire, and Yapen Islands, F.X. Motte, head of the Papua maritime and fishery office, stated recently.

        The Papuan provincial administration will invite local and national businessmen to invest in fishery field, in order to boost the province's fishery industry development.

        Motte invited investors to also develop fish processing and canning plants in Papua.

        "Right now, Jayapura is flooded with canned fish and meat from Papua New Guinea. It is our challenge to develop similar plants in our neighboring country too," he noted.

        In the past, Papua had successful fishery companies, such as PT Mina Jaya located in Biak. The fish canning industry, however, was closed down due to several reasons.

STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST ROHINGYA MINORITY by Fardah

Jakarta, Aug 30, 2017 (Antara) - Rakhine State, home to some one million Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, has been bleeding again over the last several days following an escalation of tensions triggered by clashes between militants and Myanmar's security forces.

         In its latest report on Aug 28, the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi noted that the death toll from clashes between the security forces and Rohingya militants that began on Aug 25, has reached 96, which not only included alleged Rohingya attackers but also 12 security personnel, according to a report by Aljazeera.

         Myanmar's government has accused armed militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army for carrying out deadly attacks on police outposts, which sparked the latest violence.

         Since the violence erupted, thousands of Rohingyas, mostly women, children, and elderly, had fled towards Bangladesh, but authorities there refused entry to most of them.

         The Rohingya ethnic group living in Myanmar's Rakhine State is one of the world's most persecuted minority groups, according to a UN report.

         Indonesia has always expressed concern over the problem in Rakhine, where the Muslim Rohingyas  continue to face persecution and atrocities, and several women were raped and children were killed.

         Indonesia, singlehandedly as well as in cooperation with other members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has been working on measures to help improve the situation in Rakhine, where the Muslim minority have been oppressed and discriminated for years.

INDONESIA INVITES DIASPORA TO CONTRIBUTE CONCRETELY, POSITIVELY by Fardah

Jakarta, Aug 26, 2017 (Antara) - The Indonesian government has pinned high hopes on some eight million members of the Indonesian diaspora living in various countries, as they are viewed as valuable assets and envoys representing the interests of Indonesia.

            In July this year, the fourth Diaspora Congress, organized by the Indonesian Diaspora Network Global (IDN Global), discussed recent issues, including tolerance, diplomacy, business, innovation, and cultural inheritance.

            A month later, the Indonesian Diaspora Global Summit was held for the first time by IDN Global and the Indonesian Diaspora Business Council in Jakarta on Aug 21-22 that focused on three main topics: education and health for Papua and West Papua, contribution of the diaspora to energy savings through the use of cutting-edge technology; as well as protection to the Indonesian diaspora.

           Edward Wanandi, who is in charge of holding the IDN Global Meeting, said the event was organized to exchange ideas between members of the diaspora and national stakeholders for the development of Indonesia.

           "We also want to seek inputs from the Indonesian government regarding the community's needs, so that we can better participate in the development of Indonesia, as sometimes, the things that we consider important are not really needed by our society," he pointed out.

        The Indonesian Government and the people have hoped that the Indonesian diaspora could contribute positively and concretely to national development by using the sciences and knowledge they have obtained overseas.

IMPROVING NUTRITION OF INDONESIA'S FUTURE GENERATION by Fardah

  Jakarta, Aug 26 , 2017 (Antara) - Children are the most valuable assets of a nation, as the future of a country lies in their hands.

          If the children are malnourished, they will experience stunted growth, and their brain development will not be normal.

          Indonesia is currently facing the issue of child malnutrition, and the country needs to make breakthroughs to solve the problem that threatens its future generation.

          According to the Health Affairs Ministry, some 37 percent, or approximately nine million children, under the age of five in Indonesia experience stunted growth and such cases are found across Indonesia.   
     Stunting is impaired growth and development observed in children due to poor nutrition, repeated infections, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.

          Children are defined as stunted if their height-for-age is more than two standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median.

          Stunting in early life, particularly in the first one thousand days from conception until the age of two, has adverse functional consequences on the child.

          Some of these consequences include poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages, and lost productivity and when accompanied by excessive weight gain later in childhood can lead to an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life.

         Currently, Indonesia is one of the countries with a high prevalence of stunting as compared to that of other middle-income nations.

          Indonesia lies in the group of countries with the worst stunting conditions, with cases of stunting in infants and anemia in adult women, along with 47 other nations, including, Angola, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, and Timor-Leste.

ANTI-GRAFT AGENCY DETAINS ANOTHER DIRECTOR GENERAL OF SEA TRANSPORTATION by Fardah

Jakarta, Aug 26, 2017 (Antara) - Within two years in a row, two director generals of sea transportation of the Transportation Ministry have been arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

        In February 2016, the anti-graft agency had detained Bobby Reynold Mamahit, the then director general, in a corruption case. In August 2016, the anti-corruption court had sentenced Mamahit to five years' imprisonment.

        The Indonesian public was in shock when the KPK made an announcement on August 24, 2017, that it had detained Antonius Tonny Budiono, the successor of Mamahit, for allegedly receiving bribes in connection with the issuance of permits and procurement for projects under his supervision during the 2016-2017 period.

        "Antonius Tonny Budiono (ATB), a suspect in his capacity as the sea transportation director general, and Adiputra Kurniawan (APK), as commissioner of PT Adhi Guna Keruktama (AGK), have been detained for the initial 20 days," Febri Diansyah, the KPK spokesman, had noted on Aug 24.    
    The anti-graft agency had closely monitored and investigated Budiono for seven months before naming him a suspect.

        "After an initial examination and questioning, it was concluded that Director General of Sea Transportation Budiono had allegedly committed corruption in the goods and services procurement projects at the Directorate General of Sea Transportation in the 2016-2017 budget year," KPK Deputy Chairman Basaria Panjaitan had stated at a press conference at the KPK building in Jakarta, Aug 24.

         During an impromptu operation conducted by the KPK on Aug 23-24, the agency confiscated money and automatic teller machine (ATM) cards from Budiono's bags.

PAPUA STRIVES TO BECOME CHILD-FRIENDLY PROVINCE by Fardah

Jakarta, Aug 25, 2017 (Antara) - Indonesia's eastern most province of Papua is far from Jakarta, but the central government is paying special attention to it, particularly to public welfare, and protection of children and women in the province.

        It was with this purpose in mind that the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration had appointed Yohana Yembise, an indigenous Papuan, as Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister.

         Yembise has frequently visited Papua Island, comprising the Papua and West Papua Provinces, to participate in public awareness campaigns for the protection of children and women, and to help deal with various associated problems.

        Papua needs special attention, because the children and women on the island have been frequent victims of physical and sexual violence. In 2016, some 2,000 cases of violence against children were reported both in Papua and West Papua Province.

        "Most cases of violence against children include sexual abuse, physical violence and child neglect by parents," Harli Siregar, assistant to local public prosecutor office, said earlier this year.

        Speaking at a function to commemorate National Children's Day in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, on July 23, 2017, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah requested parents to provide the best education, healthcare, love and protection to their children.

         She urged the parents and teachers to not hurt children, but to keep them happy.