GOVERNMENT PLANNING TO CERTIFY ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS PREACHERS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 4 (Antara) - The government, through the Religious Affairs Ministry, is contemplating certifying religious clerics and preachers of Friday prayers in a bid to offer standardization guidelines and to reinforce religious propagation in the country.          Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin stated that certification is necessary to maintain unity among Muslims and to foster plurality among Indonesians. However, the minister claimed that the discourse on the certification of religious preachers did not come from him but from the people.          "The government, through the Ministry of Religious Affairs, will only facilitate the people's aspirations. The idea to certify religious clerics and preachers of Friday prayers came from Islamic organizations," Minister Saifuddin noted in Jakarta on Jan 30.          The government, as the facilitator, will give authority to Ulmas (Islamic scholars) or Islamic organizations to decide the standardization guidelines. The government will not act alone in deciding the certification of preachers, as the request came from the people who are represented by the Islamic organizations.

STOCKTAKING ON LAND ASSETS AND CERTIFICATION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 5 (Antara) - The central government is carrying out land certification throughout the country and encouraging regional administrations to make inventory on land assets.         Data collected through land stocktaking is intended to serve as a basis or data bank, which provides information on land matters such as the need for housing development, including the need for the government's one-million housing development program.         In Indonesia, there are 178 million hectares of land plots, but only about 46 percent of them have been certified. About 90 percent of the certified land plots are in urban areas while the remaining 30 percent are in villages. Therefore, the government is launching the land certification program across the country hoping that by 2025, all land plots would be certified.         According to Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution, the land certification is the backbone of the government's financial inclusive strategy because it would enable the people to obtain credits through the government's micro credit scheme (KUR).         "Actually, the KUR credit can be obtained by low-income people without any collateral; yet with certificates, people can get the KUR credits easily," Darmin said on Thursday (Nov 3).

RI SECURES CERTIFICATION FOR TIMBER EXPORTS TO EUROPE

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, May 20 (Antara) - Indonesia, through the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), has secured the Forestry Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) certification for the exports of timber products to the European Union.          The FLEGT-VPA certification guarantees the legality of timber product exports to the European Union.           "If the FLEGT certification is implemented in the coming several months, Indonesia will become the first country in the world to have the license acknowledging that our forest timber products are sustainable and eco-friendly," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stated in Jakarta on Thursday (May 12).           The minister said Indonesia's success in securing the FLEGT-VPA certification was the culmination of a lengthy process, which began in 2003. At that time, the Forestry and Environment Ministry had developed the Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK).Thereafter, the Foreign Ministry had initiated negotiations with the European Union in 2007.           Indonesia and the European Union had signed an agreement on the implementation of the license regarding the FLEGT in 2013, and its ratification process was completed in 2014. The Indonesian Government and the European Union (EU) signed a Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade - Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) on May 1, 2014.