Indonesia Economy Forum

[Indos]

@Indos - What you are saying is that it looks like as Indonesia develops to a high enough level, then maids will simply not be attracted enough to go overseas as salaries in Indonesia by then will not be much lower anyway and they get to stay in their home countries with their families.

As regards the cut in funding for R&D, that is a massive mistake as the money invested now will pay massive dividends down the line.

I do not know whether Jokowi's lack of interest may be due to his education but I think the best kind of leader is one that is educated in a technical field.

He comes from poor family so it tells a lot on his over emphasis on economy, infrastructure and village development. Later, when his administration has more money due to our revenue increase, he use much of the money for unemployment benefit. While spending on research keep stagnant.

I dont have any problem about his ambition on infrastructure and village development if he spend enough on research since research budget is relatively very small compared to other program. Research should be looked as investment and it is there for long term goal. Any one who doesnt have long term vision and doesnt believe with its own people brain will create such bad policy.

Indonesian people is clever as well, my older brother IQ for instant is 145 and got MENSA membership. Once he graduates from STEM faculty in University of Indonesia (second best STEM college after Bandung Institute of Technology), he then prefers to work with MNC like Nokia, Erricson, SIEMENS and has worked in many Western countries like USA/Spain and others. While one of my cousins who are graduated in similar electronics degree but coming from fifth tier (much lower rank) state university become government researcher and has been handling in most sophisticated research like Artificial Intelligent.

Look how our brain potency is wasted and not being optimized because our researcher since Soeharto regime are not paid well. Our education system spend huge money for state university and its best graduates will work for foreign companies. This simple logic is still not being understood. Even Ministry of Finance civil servant get better salary then our researcher despite working in administrative job.

So if any one see Indonesian cannot make defense product like China, Turkey, and Iran it is not because of we are less clever than them.

IMO It is better for our government to follow China that spend good amount of money on research and you can see its economy now can produce complex and advance product. Asian Development Bank has also made a long report in 2019 about the importance of Indonesia economy to make a complex and advance product in order to reach higher growth and developed country status.

 

[Indos]

Born to Help During Pandemic: Three Startups to Represent Indonesia in Int'l Competition
BY DIANA MARISKA

APRIL 27, 2020

Jakarta. Three Indonesian startups established on a shared initiative to help tackle problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic were declared winners of a national competition and will now represent Indonesia on the global stage.

The winners of Startup Weekend Indonesia Covid-19 Online were selected from 1,490 participants from 29 provinces in Indonesia.

The virtual event from April 24 to 26 aimed to discover startups that can resolve issues that have arisen during the global pandemic.

First-place winner MediKatalog is a marketplace platform for medical equipment and medicines initiated by Azhar Rafiq. It also provides automated stock inventory for hospitals.

Azhar hopes the platform could help medical workers and health facilities acquire personal protective equipment (PPE) and maintain a stable supply of the gear.

"The idea came to me when I became aware of doctors and nurses running out of PPE. This has put our medical workers on the frontline – many of which are my seniors – at great risk of contracting coronavirus," he said.

Runner-up Cook Like a Chef offers a grocery delivery service and food recipes for its users.

Third-placed MentorKU is an interactive education platform that offers career mentoring and consultancy.

The startups will represent Indonesia in the Top 20 Global Winner Startup Weekend to compete with winners from other countries in coming up with the most innovative ideas to help solve problems caused by the pandemic.

Support From Communication and Information Technology Ministry

Startup Weekend Indonesia Covid-19 Online was organized by Kumpul, a development program to build a startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Indonesia, and several local co-working networks.

Chief executive and co-founder of Kumpul Faye Alund said as en ecosystem builder, the involvement of co-working networks is essential in this competition and other similar events because it has the power to move communities.

For Startup Weekend Indonesia Covid-19 Online, at least six networks from across Indonesia took part, including Impala Network from Semarang and Startup Borneo from Banjarmasin.

During the competition, all participants were given training on canvassing business models, market validation, prototype development and pitching – assisted by 50 experienced mentors from various business backgrounds and expertise.

The event was also supported by the Communication and Information Technology Ministry.

Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, the ministry's director-general for informatics applications, said in a statement the ministry will continue to support similar events in the highly potential digital economy.

"[I encourage] startups that didn't win this time to continue developing their ideas," Semuel said.

https://jakartaglobe.id/business/bo...ps-to-represent-indonesia-in-intl-competition

 

[Kansel]

Covid-19 rapid test strips are collected by a health worker in Jakarta on April 20. (JG Photo/Yudha Baskoro)

Indonesia Mass Produces Covid-19 Testing Kits
BY ARI SUPRIYANTI RIKIN, HERU ANDRIYANTO

MAY 04, 2020

Jakarta. A consortium of Indonesian research agencies and companies began mass producing Covid-19 testing kits this week to cope with domestic shortage during the pandemic and meet the target of at least 10,000 diagnostic tets per day, a state official said on Sunday.

The locally-made rapid testing kits will be available as soon as Friday, when at least 10,000 kits will be distributed across the country, Research and Technology Minister Bambang Soemantri Brodjonegoro said in Jakarta.

But it took longer to develop testing kits using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, of which the consortium has built only 10 units as prototypes, Bambang said.

The consortium comprises the Technology Assessment and Application Agency (BPPT), Surabaya-based Airlangga University, Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University and state-run medical equipment manufacturer Hepatika.

In a separate project to develop the PCR-based testing kits, the consortium is working with state-run pharmaceutical company Biofarma.

"We thank them for their close cooperation with the Health Ministry’s research and development center in developing rapid diagnostic testing kits and PCR-based testing kits using the strains of viruses from local transmission,” Bambang said in a video conference.

“Development of the rapid testing kits has now entered production stage and by May 8 we will see 10,000 kits ready for distribution,” he added.
By the end of this month, output is expected to reach 50,000 units, he said.

He said the kits were developed using the strains of viruses taken from confirmed Covid-19 patients who caught the disease in local transmissions for "more accurate results".

“This comes as a great relief to us because we now can produce our own testing kits, which are badly needed by the task force and the government to carry out massive testing across the country,” Bambang said.

Indonesia is racing against time to upscale Covid-19 diagnostics in its attempts to trace contacts and locate new breeding grounds of the virus, and ultimately contain the outbreak.

Indonesia reported 11,192 confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday, 349 more from the day before. The total cases included 845 deaths and 1,876 patients who have recovered.

The number of patients with probable cases stood at 23,130, more than double of confirmed cases, as the country is lacking equipment to test them.

Since the first cases were detected on March 2, just above 83,000 people have undergone PCR-based testing, representing only 0.03 percent of the country’s population of 272 million people.

Furthermore, the number of persons under surveillance for suspected Covid-19 infection is put at 236,369, according to the National Covid-19 Task Force.

People in this category are those who have had contacts with positive cases or showed mild clinical symptoms of the disease that don’t require hospitalization.

https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesia-mass-produces-covid19-testing-kits

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

Covid-19 rapid test strips are collected by a health worker in Jakarta on April 20. (JG Photo/Yudha Baskoro)

Indonesia Mass Produces Covid-19 Testing Kits
BY ARI SUPRIYANTI RIKIN, HERU ANDRIYANTO

MAY 04, 2020

Jakarta. A consortium of Indonesian research agencies and companies began mass producing Covid-19 testing kits this week to cope with domestic shortage during the pandemic and meet the target of at least 10,000 diagnostic tets per day, a state official said on Sunday.

The locally-made rapid testing kits will be available as soon as Friday, when at least 10,000 kits will be distributed across the country, Research and Technology Minister Bambang Soemantri Brodjonegoro said in Jakarta.

But it took longer to develop testing kits using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, of which the consortium has built only 10 units as prototypes, Bambang said.

The consortium comprises the Technology Assessment and Application Agency (BPPT), Surabaya-based Airlangga University, Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University and state-run medical equipment manufacturer Hepatika.

In a separate project to develop the PCR-based testing kits, the consortium is working with state-run pharmaceutical company Biofarma.

"We thank them for their close cooperation with the Health Ministry’s research and development center in developing rapid diagnostic testing kits and PCR-based testing kits using the strains of viruses from local transmission,” Bambang said in a video conference.

“Development of the rapid testing kits has now entered production stage and by May 8 we will see 10,000 kits ready for distribution,” he added.
By the end of this month, output is expected to reach 50,000 units, he said.

He said the kits were developed using the strains of viruses taken from confirmed Covid-19 patients who caught the disease in local transmissions for "more accurate results".

“This comes as a great relief to us because we now can produce our own testing kits, which are badly needed by the task force and the government to carry out massive testing across the country,” Bambang said.

Indonesia is racing against time to upscale Covid-19 diagnostics in its attempts to trace contacts and locate new breeding grounds of the virus, and ultimately contain the outbreak.

Indonesia reported 11,192 confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday, 349 more from the day before. The total cases included 845 deaths and 1,876 patients who have recovered.

The number of patients with probable cases stood at 23,130, more than double of confirmed cases, as the country is lacking equipment to test them.

Since the first cases were detected on March 2, just above 83,000 people have undergone PCR-based testing, representing only 0.03 percent of the country’s population of 272 million people.

Furthermore, the number of persons under surveillance for suspected Covid-19 infection is put at 236,369, according to the National Covid-19 Task Force.

People in this category are those who have had contacts with positive cases or showed mild clinical symptoms of the disease that don’t require hospitalization.

https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesia-mass-produces-covid19-testing-kits

10000 test for 272million counts as 'massI've testing'?

 

[Nike]

10000 test for 272million counts as 'mass testing'?

Per day

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

Per day

What per day? The article stated the number of test kits available will hit 10k by 8 may, n to 50k by end of the month.

This is in a ratio of 272million people.

In other words, the most number of times a Covid19 positivity test could have been undertaken, would have been 50k- max- by the end of the month.
50000/272000000 *100 (n this is assuming every person is tested only once)

= 0.018%

How is this 'massive testing'?

 

[Nike]

Jakarta. A consortium of Indonesian research agencies and companies began mass producing Covid-19 testing kits this week to cope with domestic shortage during the pandemic and meet the target of at least 10,000 diagnostic tets per day, a state official said on Sunday.
------------------


You said the average test of only 10,000 before for 270 million people. And this news tell the government effort to made their own test kits, in which very insufficient in number to cope with 10,000 test per day

It seems they already hit the bottom number of 500,000 they imported before from China in March

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news...0-covid-19-rapid-testing-kits-from-china.html

What per day? The article stated the number of test kits available will hit 10k by 8 may, n to 50k by end of the month.

This is in a ratio of 272million people

Btw, rapid test and PCR based test is only preliminary test, need swab test to conclude the result.

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

Jakarta. A consortium of Indonesian research agencies and companies began mass producing Covid-19 testing kits this week to cope with domestic shortage during the pandemic and meet the target of at least 10,000 diagnostic tets per day, a state official said on Sunday.
------------------


You said the average test of only 10,000 before for 270 million people. And this news tell the government effort to made their own test kits, in which very insufficient in number to cope with 10,000 test per day

It seems they already hit the bottom number of 500,000 they imported before from China in March

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news...0-covid-19-rapid-testing-kits-from-china.html




Btw, rapid test and PCR based test is only preliminary test, need swab test to conclude the result.

Nonono.

I'm not talking about the target. I'm talking about the atual test kits that have been produced- or stipulated to be produced- which is 50k by end of the mth.

How is 50k, by end of the mth- gonna be counted as 'massive testing' in a population of 270+million


N BTW, for hospitalized patients, more than 1 test kit is gonna be needed per pax. 3-6 kits, depending on individual cases- would have been needed

 

[Nike]

Nonono.

I'm not talking about the target. I'm talking about the atual test kits that have been produced- or stipulated to be produced- which is 50k by end of the mth.

How is 50k, by end of the mth- gonna be counted as 'massive testing' in a population of 270+million


N BTW, for hospitalized patients, more than 1 test kit is gonna be needed per pax. 3-6 kits, depending on individual cases- would have been needed

The rest (bulk) had been imported from China, South korea , Japan and so on. This effort is to give more ways to boost the number as other countries will be in pressure to secure the test kits for their own use

 

[Indos]

Indonesia’s Q1 economic growth the weakest since 2001, slows more than expected

• Adrian Wail Akhlas
  The Jakarta Post

Jakarta / Tue, May 5, 2020 / 01:48 pm

Indonesia's economy grew 2.97 percent in the first quarter, the weakest since 2001, as household spending and investment growth slowed amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has started to wreak havoc on the economy, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Tuesday.

The first quarter figure had decreased from 5.07 percent recorded in the first three months last year.

“All of the economic sectors still grew in the first quarter despite slowdown in economic activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” BPS head Suhariyanto said on Tuesday. “This is far lower than many projections as it is not easy to make one with uncertainties surrounding the economy.”


The government expects the economy to grow between 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent in the first quarter, while Bank Indonesia (BI) has projected gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 4.3 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg also expect 4 percent growth in the quarter.

The GDP report reflected the early impact of widespread disruptions to the economy as the government called on people to implement physical distancing measures to contain the virus spread, forcing businesses and factories to shut down and consumers to stay home.

As many as four provinces and 22 regencies/cities nationwide have implemented large scale social restrictions (PSBB), including business hub Jakarta, to curb the spread of the virus.

Household spending, which accounts for more than half of GDP, grew sluggishly by 2.84 percent in the first quarter – far lower than 5.01 percent recorded over the same period in 2019 – led by a drop in vehicle sales and retail sales as people increased spending on health care.

Investment, meanwhile, grew 1.7 percent in the first quarter, a far cry from the 5.03 percent recorded over the same period last year.

However, despite the pandemic, exports grew 0.24 percent from last year’s contraction of 1.58 percent. Meanwhile, imports contracted 2.19 percent, slightly better than the 7.47 percent contraction in the corresponding period last year.

Government expenditure grew 3.74 percent in the first quarter, lower than the 5.22 percent recorded in the first quarter last year, as the government halted business trips and event spending as it refocused the budget on funding the fight against COVID-19.

The government has allocated Rp 436.1 trillion (US$28.9 billion), mainly for healthcare spending, social safety nets and tax incentives for almost all economic sectors, as well as incentives for small and medium firms as it works to cushion the pandemic impacts.

It expects a massive drop in economic activity in the second quarter as more regions impose PSBB.

Overall, the government expects the economy to grow 2.3 percent this year under the baseline scenario. However, under the worst-case scenario, the economy may shrink 0.4 percent.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news...kest-since-2001-slows-more-than-expected.html

Second Quarter data will be very bad for sure, but government now has been thinking to relax the lock down measure for some areas.

The title IMO should be like this: Indonesia Q1 economic growth the weakest since 2001, slowing more than expected. @jamahir Am I right ?

 

[jamahir]

@jamahir Am I right ?

I don't know much about capitalist economics but I will read the article tomorrow. I am logging-off now to go to sleep.

 

[striver44]

Indonesian government to purchase 10,000 tons of rubber from farmers

12 hours ago

A rubber plantation (Dokumentasi Kementerian PUPR)

The purchase of this rubberized asphalt is part of the ministry's mitigation efforts to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Public Works and Public Housing Ministry plans to purchase 10,000 tons of rubber from farmers for use in rubberized asphalt amid the new coronavirus pandemic impacting absorption of the rubber commodity by the market.

"The purchase of this rubberized asphalt is part of the ministry's mitigation efforts to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono noted in a press statement that ANTARA received here Tuesday.

The farmers' rubber commodity will be purchased by the ministry's National Road Management Agency in several cities, including Medan, Palembang, Padang, Lampung, Banjarmasin, Pontianak, and Balikpapan, he remarked.

The National Road Management Agency in the cities will buy the rubber from members of the Processing and Marketing of Processed Rubber Material Group of Farmers, he stated.

The ministry has frequently used rubberized asphalt for paving roads in various areas, including certain road sections of Ciawi-Sukabumi, Ajibarang-Banyumas-Klampok-Banjarnegara, and Muara Beliti-Musi Rawas-Tebing Tinggi-Lahat.

Hadimuljono revealed that the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry had allocated a budget of Rp100 billion to purchase the 10 thousand tons of rubber for rubberized asphalt.

ANTARA noted that to maintain the purchasing power of members of the low-income community amid this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry will also intensify manpower-intensive infrastructure projects in different parts of Indonesia.

In implementing these labor-intensive infrastructure projects to maintain the purchasing power of people from the low-income group and to reduce unemployment, the social distancing measures will consistently be enacted to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

"The manpower-intensive infrastructure projects are also aimed at boosting economic growth and distributing funds to villages and rural areas," Hadimuljono noted in his recent press statement.

With budget totaling Rp10 trillion, the projects cover seven programs, including the Irrigation System Accelerated Program (P3-TGAI), Socio-Economic Regional Infrastructure Development Program (PISEW), and Reduced, Reused, and Recycled Waste Management Sites (TPS3R), he stated.

The coronavirus outbreak initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 and thereafter spread across the globe, including to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indonesian government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020, and has declared the COVID-19 pandemic as Indonesia's national disaster.

Related news: South Sumatra still faces shortage of rubber processing plants

Related news: Government ensures adequate food stocks until next 3-4 months

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMHO, contrary to the popular believe, I think after the pandemics is gone we will see huge government spending on domestic weapons companies to bring the back the workforce and recover the economy.

it'll not be a surprise if our MoD awarded huge contracts on shipbuilding @Indos

 

[Indos]

it'll not be a surprise if our MoD awarded huge contracts on shipbuilding @Indos

Shipbuilding contract for local companies is already stated by Defense Ministry Deputy for 2 OPV ships, even for frigates he said those 2 ships should be constructed by local company although the design comes from western company.

What I want to hear is the contract for another CN 235 from government. We are anyway still lacking in MPA and ASW planes to cover our vast sea area. PTDI also hasnt get any new contract for CN 235 since last year, so the new contract is badly needed until demand from abroad can go up again, at least another 4-5 CN 235 should be ordered to assure CN 235 production line keep being busy until 2022.

 

[Nike]

Shipbuilding contract for local companies is already stated by Defense Ministry Deputy for 2 OPV ships, even for frigates he said those 2 ships should be constructed by local company although the design comes from western company.

What I want to hear is the contract for another CN 235 from government. We are anyway still lacking in MPA and ASW planes to cover our vast sea area. PTDI also hasnt get any new contract for CN 235 since last year, so the new contract is badly needed until demand from abroad can go up again, at least another 4-5 CN 235 should be ordered to assure CN 235 production line keep being busy until 2022.

Even if you put the contract here today, the SoE defense cant utilize them as many tools and spare parts is must be imported from abroad and as many original manufacturing country is at lock down there is difficulties to secure such chain supplier. I had stated this before on other thread and there is report about that from janes defense

https://www.janes.com/article/95944/covid-19-indonesian-companies-point-to-contract-delays

Unless you are building comprehensive local chain supplier like Japan, Italy, French, China, UK, South Korean had there is little you can do when global disruption happened just like today. CN 235 must importing alot, starting from specialized alumunium sheets to build the airframe, tyre, kaki hidrolik, machine block and gear power, avionic components like radar, panel display and so on all of them is from abroad.

The only order you can put is for local shipbuilding industry, as they can starting to build the hull blocks and then trying to secure imported components later, the same can be said for local made APC. For aircraft industry is not gonna work

 

[Indos]

‘No need for unusual policies’: BI refuses to print money to support economy

• Adrian Wail Akhlas
  The Jakarta Post

Jakarta / Wed, May 6, 2020 / 06:46 pm

Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo talks during a livestreamed briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Bank Indonesia/-)

Bank Indonesia (BI) has emphasized that it will not print money to help fund the surge in government spending to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said the suggestion to print money was not a prudent monetary policy, pledging that the central bank would never take the measure.

“This is an unusual policy and BI will never take such measures, including giving out money to the general public to face the COVID-19 pandemic,” Perry told reporters on Wednesday. “I am very sorry, but we should not confuse the public.”


Calls have grown among lawmakers as well as former trade minister Gita Wirjawan, among others, for the central bank to print money to support the virus-battered economy and help fund the COVID-19 battle.

Gita asked the central bank to print Rp 4 quadrillion (US$264.29 billion) to protect the economy, adding that the money should be used by the public to purchase their basic needs.

“The money will not only be used to provide stimulus packages for those who have lost their jobs, but also to rescue the real sector, as well as micro, small and medium businesses,” Gita said, as quoted by Kompas.com.

“There is no need for unusual policies like printing money” to meet liquidity needs, he added.

The government will offer another Rp 856.8 trillion in government bonds for the rest the year to address the widening budget deficit.

BI has ramped up its bond-buying program by purchasing Rp 173.1 trillion worth of government bonds from the primary market and from foreign investors in the secondary market, similar to the moves made by the United States Federal Reserve, among other central banks, to support their countries’ fiscal needs.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news...efuses-to-print-money-to-support-economy.html