VILLAGE ASSISTANTS TO MONITOR UTILIZATION OF VILLAGE FUNDS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 28 (Antara) - The government has allocated budget worth Rp60 trillion this year as village funds to help develop villages and disadvantaged regions and to finance labor-intensive programs in villages.          Some 30 percent of the Rp60 trillion will be channeled to fund the labor-intensive program in a bid to help improve the welfare of villagers. The government has also deployed some 39 thousand village assistants to facilitate the implementation of this program.          According to the Ministry of Village, Disadvantaged Region Development, and Transmigration (PDTT), the village assistants are tasked with providing information and guidance on the use of the funds for village development.          For the management of funds, the PDTT Ministry has also urged village assistants to promote and supervise the cash labor-intensive program in villages.       "Currently, PDTT Minister (Eko Putro Sandjojo) continues to visit villages to raise awareness on the use of village funds through the cash labor-intensive program, and we have also mobilized 39 thousand village assistant officials to oversee the utilization of village funds through the cash-for-work programs," Director General for Disadvantaged Areas Development of the PDTT Syamsul Widodo noted in Jakarta on Thursday (Feb 15).

GOVT TO COMPLETE FIRST PHASE OF SOCIAL ASSISTANCE DISTRIBUTION

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 27 (Antara) - The government that is committed to providing social assistance to at least 15 million underprivileged families this year has targeted to complete the first phase of distribution of the assistance scheme in February 2018.          In a bid to boost the prosperity of Indonesia's underprivileged families, the government has been implementing various schemes of social affairs assistance that it will distribute in four stages.          "We have set February 2018 as the deadline for completing the distribution of the first phase of the assistance," Social Affairs Minister Idrus Marham noted while delivering the assistance in North Sumatra on Friday (Feb 23).          According to the minister, the government has also vowed to ensure that the assistance will reach the intended beneficiary families (KPM). He made this statement while handing over the same assistance in Cirebon, West Java, on Monday (Feb 25).          He said the government will ensure that all social assistance schemes, such as the Family Hope Program (PKH), Cashless Food Assistance (BPNT), and Rice Social Assistance (Rastra), reach the right KPM.          "I am assigned by the president to check directly whether the aid reaches the intended recipients (KPM). It should not happen that the eligible beneficiaries did not receive the assistance," Marham noted during the distribution of PKH and BPNT social assistance schemes in Cirebon District on Monday.

MORATORIUM ON TOLL ROADS EXPECTED TO END IN TWO WEEKS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 26 (Antara) - The government has issued a moratorium to temporarily stop the construction of 32 elevated roads, bridges, and Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects across the country, following the collapse of several infrastructure projects.          The construction work is temporarily halted pending thorough evaluation, which is expected to last for two weeks. The moratorium was announced by the government, through the Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry, on Feb 20, 2018.          "I have instructed that the construction work on all elevated sections of toll roads, LRT, and bridges should be halted beginning this morning. The Construction Safety Committee (KKK) will conduct an auditing," PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono told the press at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta on Tuesday (Feb 20).        The minister made the statement in connection with the collapse of a girder of the elevated Bekasi-Cawang-Kampung Malayu (Becakayu) toll road project in Jakarta recently, injuring seven workers. A number of similar incidents have previously taken place in Indonesia.           Based on records, since Aug 1, 2017, until Feb 20, 2018, at least 14 projects underwent accidents in Jakarta, Palembang (South Sumatra), Bogor (West Java), Cikampek (West Java), Pasuruan (East Java), Pemalang-Batang (Central Java), and Depok (West Java).          The most serious one was the collapse of a girder launcher at the construction site of a quadruple railway project on Feb 4, 2018, in East Jakarta, killing four workers and injuring others.

INDONESIA INTENSIFIES WAR ON RAMPANT SMUGGLING OF DRUGS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 24 (Antara) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized that Indonesia is one of the countries victimized by illegal drug trafficking from abroad and expressed concern over the huge number of drug addicts in the country.          At a limited cabinet meeting in September 2015, President Jokowi reminded that Indonesia was facing a major challenge of drug abuse due to which the country had witnessed 50 drug-related deaths every day.       "We are entering a state of drug emergency that has to be dealt with seriously," the president stated.          Drug smuggling has also shown an upward trend as indicated by the significant number of attempts being foiled by the authorities. On Friday (Feb 23), Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Muyani Indrawati expressed concern over the influx of illegal drugs into the country.           Indonesia's customs agency, in cooperation with other related agencies, has thwarted attempts to smuggle as much as five tons of methamphetamine.

GOVT GOES ALL OUT TO DOUBLE FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 22 (Antara) - The government, under President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), is resolved to advance the country's tourism sector by setting a target to increase foreign tourist arrivals by about 100 percent in five years in 2019.          The administration of Jokowi, who assumed the presidency in Oct 2014, has set the target of annual foreign tourist arrivals at 20 million in 2019 from 9.4 million in 2014.          Starting its tourism program in 2015, Jokowi's government set a tourist arrival target of 10 million in 2015 and succeeded to exceed the target, with 10.4 million tourists visiting the country that year.          In the following year, it was also successful in exceeding the 12 million target by recording arrivals of 12.02 million tourists based on data of the Tourism Ministry. Yet, the Central Bureau of Statistics noted that the number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2016 was only 11.52 million.          However, last year, the government failed to meet its 15 million visit target as it only booked 14.04 million foreign tourist arrivals.          Now, it has to work hard and make all-out efforts to meet its target of 17 million tourists this year and 20 million next year.

WIDODO EXPECTED TO SIGN LEGISLATIVE LAW SOON

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 21 (Antara) - President Joko Widodo is expected to soon sign the Legislative Law, locally known as MD3 Law, which has been approved by the House of Representatives (DPR) during its plenary session on Monday (Feb 12).         According to Bayu Dwi Anggono, who is the director of the Pancasila and Constitution Research Center of the Law Faculty of Jember University, the MD3 Law has several points, which have been rejected by the majority of the people.          However, the public cannot file a judicial review with the Constitution Court (MK) if the law has not yet been signed by the president and enacted into law.         "We hope the president will hear the aspirations of the majority of the public, which has rejected several points of the MD3 Law," Anggono was quoted as saying by Kompas.com on Wednesday (Feb 21).          The steps to be taken to follow up the public aspirations should be carried out through constitutional means and the country's state administration practices. Hence, according to Anggono, the president's move to avoid signing the MD3 Law immediately would hamper the public from filing a judicial review with the MK.

IPO CAN PREVENT POLEMICS AT FAMILY COMPANIES

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 20 (Antara) - Transparency is one of the reasons why family companies are often reluctant to go public through the initial public offering (IPO) while in fact IPO can prevent polemics regarding share ownership at family companies.          According to the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), one of the obstacles faced by companies in conducting an IPO is their uncertainty with regard to becoming more transparent, considering that most Apindo members are family companies.          "I see that the obstacle faced is their hesitation in terms of transparency. They are a little less comfortable with the openness," Apindo Chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said in Jakarta on Tuesday (Feb 20).          They are worried about the transparency, for fear it would cause other problems since transparency will place the company under the public spotlight. In fact, going public would help prevent polemics at family firms.          The Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) is of the view that companies which conducted IPO would prevent polemics at family firms especially with regard to share ownership.