Indonesia
26 Rohingya refugees died at sea making perilous journey: UN
At least 26 Rohingya Muslims had died in dire conditions during a month at open sea while making a dangerous voyage that brought scores of others to safety in Indonesia, a U.N. agency said Tuesday, adding there will likely be more.
Exhausted women and children were among 185 people who disembarked from a rickety wooden boat on Monday in a coastal village in Aceh’s Pidie district, authorities said. A distressing video circulated widely on social media showed the Rohingya worn out and emaciated, with many crying for help.
Read more: More Rohingya refugees reach Indonesia after weeks at sea
“They are very weak because of dehydration and exhaustion after weeks at sea,” said local police chief Fauzi, who goes by a single name.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that survivors told the agency that 26 people died during the long journey.
One of the refugees, who identified himself as Rosyid, told The Associated Press that they left the refugee camp in Bangladesh at the end of November and drifted on the open sea. He said at least “20 of us died aboard due to high waves and sick, and their bodies were thrown into the sea.”
According to UNHCR, more than 2,000 people are reported to have taken risky sea journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal this year, and nearly 200 have reportedly died.
UNHCR has also received unconfirmed reports of one additional boat with some 180 people still missing, with all passengers presumed dead.
“In the absence of an immediate, resourceful, and coordinated response by regional governments to help Rohingya refugees still aboard imperiled vessels, lives may be lost,” Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid said in an statement. “This is unacceptable.”
Read more: Urgently rescue boat carrying upto 200 Rohingyas: ASEAN parliamentarians urge member states, others
Chris Lewa, the director of the Arakan Project, which works in support of Myanmar’s Rohingya, said the latest arrivals were among five groups of Rohingya who had left refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh by smaller boats to avoid detection by local coast guards before they were transferred onto five larger boats for their respective journeys.
More than 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar over several decades, including about 740,000 who crossed the border starting in August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown.
Myanmar’s security forces were accused of mass rapes, killings and torching thousands of homes, and international courts are reviewing charges of genocide against them.
“This year could be one of the deadliest in recent memory for Rohingya people making the dangerous journey by sea. They continue to risk it all because of harsh conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh, where security and other living conditions have deteriorated, and the ever-worsening situation at home in Myanmar, which has been under military rule since a coup almost two years ago,” Amnesty International’s Usman said.
Malaysia has been a common destination for many of the refugees arriving by boat, but they also have been detained in the country. Engine troubles make others seek safety in Aceh province in Indonesia, on the way to Malaysia.
UNHCR praised authorities and Indonesia’s local community who brought ashore more than 200 desperate Rohingya, many of whom were in need of urgent medical attention.
Indonesian fishermen and local authorities rescued and disembarked two groups, 58 on Sunday and 174 on Monday, said Ann Maymann, the UNHCR representative in Indonesia, “We welcome this act of humanity by local communities and authorities in Indonesia.”
58 weak Rohingya land on Indonesian beach after weeks at sea
Dozens of hungry and weak Rohingya Muslims were found on a beach in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Sunday after weeks at sea, officials said.
The group of 58 men arrived on Indrapatra beach at Ladong, a fishing village in Aceh Besar district, early Sunday, said local police chief Rolly Yuiza Away. Villagers who saw the group of ethnic Rohingya on a rickety wooden boat helped them to land and then reported their arrival to authorities, he said.
“They look very weak from hunger and dehydration. Some of them are sick after a long and severe voyage at sea,” said Away, adding that the men received food and water from villagers and others as they waited for further instructions from immigration and local officials in Aceh.
Read more: Urgently rescue boat carrying upto 200 Rohingyas: ASEAN parliamentarians urge member states, others
At least three of the men were rushed to a health clinic for medical care, and others are also receiving various medical treatments, Away said.
The United Nations and other groups on Friday urged countries in South Asia to rescue as many as 190 people believed to be Rohingya refugees aboard a small boat that has been adrift for several weeks in the Andaman Sea.
“Reports indicate those onboard have now remained at sea for a month in dire conditions with insufficient food or water, without any efforts by States in the region to help save human lives,” the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a statement. “Many are women and children, with reports of up to 20 people dying on the unseaworthy vessel during the journey.”
Away said it wasn’t clear where the group was traveling from or if they were part of the group of 190 Rohingya refugees that has been adrift in the Andaman Sea. But one of the men who spoke some Malay said they had been at sea for more than a month and had aimed to land in Malaysia to seek a better life and work there.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel group. Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of homes.
Groups of Rohingya have attempted to leave the crowded camps in Bangladesh and travel by sea in hazardous voyages to other Muslim-majority countries in the region.
Read more: Very limited spaces offered for Rohingya resettlement: UNHCR
Muslim-dominated Malaysia has been a common destination for the boats, and traffickers have promised the refugees a better life there. But many Rohingya refugees who land in Malaysia face detention.
Although Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention, the UNHCR said that a 2016 presidential regulation provides a national legal framework governing the treatment of refugees on boats in distress near Indonesia and to help them disembark.
These provisions have been implemented for years, most recently last month when about 219 Rohingya refugees, including 63 women and 40 children, were rescued off the coast of North Aceh district aboard two rickety boats.
“We urge the government of Indonesia to rescue the boats and allow them to safely disembark," Amnesty International Indonesia's executive director Usman Hamid said. “We also urge the Indonesian government to lead a regional initiative to resolve the refugee crisis.”
On Thursday, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged governments in South and Southeast Asia “to immediately and urgently coordinate search and rescue for this boat and ensure safe disembarkation of those aboard before any further loss of life occurs.”
“While many in the world are preparing to enjoy a holiday season and ring in a new year, boats bearing desperate Rohingya men, women and young children, are setting off on perilous journeys in unseaworthy vessels,” Andrews said in a statement.
Foreigners need not worry: Bali governor says on Indonesia’s law on sex outside marriage
The governor of Bali has dismissed worries that amended rules, which include provisions criminalising sex outside marriage, may frighten tourists away from its coasts – saying that foreign visitors to Bali are not in danger.
Last week, the contentious measure that forbids cohabitation of unmarried couples was approved by Indonesia's parliament.
In an effort to reassure tourists, Bali Governor Wayan Koster underlined in a statement on Sunday (December 11) that the new regulations, which take effect in three years, may only be prosecuted if a parent, spouse, or child files a complaint, AsiaOne reports.
He stated that anyone who “visits or resides” in Bali would not need to fear over the implementation of the Indonesian criminal code.
The Bali governor said that laws regarding this matter in the penal code had been changed from a previous, more stringent version so as to “give a greater assurance of everyone's privacy and comfort,” the report added.
Read: 2002 Bali terrorist attack: Australia wants Indonesia to monitor released bombmaker
According to Wayan, the Bali government would make sure that “there will be no checking on marital status upon check-in at any tourism accommodation, such as hotels, villas, apartments, guest houses, lodges and spas.”
In addition, Wayan refuted what he called “hoax” predictions of flight and hotel cancellations, noting that information from airlines, travel agencies, and tour operators showed an increase in the number of people planning to come to Bali between December 2022 and March 2023.
The tourist organisation wants international visitors to the mostly Hindu island of Bali to achieve pre-pandemic levels of six million per year by 2025. Bali is the epicentre of Indonesian tourism.
The governor of Bali has dismissed worries that amended rules, which include provisions criminalising sex outside marriage, may frighten tourists away from its coasts – saying that foreign visitors to Bali are not in danger.
Last week, the contentious measure that forbids cohabitation of unmarried couples was approved by Indonesia's parliament.
In an effort to reassure tourists, Bali Governor Wayan Koster underlined in a statement on Sunday (December 11) that the new regulations, which take effect in three years, may only be prosecuted if a parent, spouse, or child files a complaint, AsiaOne reports.
Read: Indonesia’s Parliament votes to ban sex outside of marriage
He stated that anyone who “visits or resides” in Bali would not need to fear over the implementation of the Indonesian criminal code.
The Bali governor said that laws regarding this matter in the penal code had been changed from a previous, more stringent version so as to “give a greater assurance of everyone's privacy and comfort,” the report added.
According to Wayan, the Bali government would make sure that “there will be no checking on marital status upon check-in at any tourism accommodation, such as hotels, villas, apartments, guest houses, lodges and spas.”
In addition, Wayan refuted what he called “hoax” predictions of flight and hotel cancellations, noting that information from airlines, travel agencies, and tour operators showed an increase in the number of people planning to come to Bali between December 2022 and March 2023.
The tourist organisation wants international visitors to the mostly Hindu island of Bali to achieve pre-pandemic levels of six million per year by 2025. Bali is the epicentre of Indonesian tourism.
Indonesia’s Parliament votes to ban sex outside of marriage
Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously voted on Tuesday to ban sex outside of marriage and insulting the president and state institutions.
Once in force, the bans will affect foreign visitors as well as citizens. They’re part of an overhaul of the country’s criminal code that has been in the works for years. The new code also expands an existing blasphemy law and keeps a five-year prison term for deviations from the central tenets of Indonesia’s six recognized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The code still needs approval from the president, and the government says it will not be fully implemented for several years.
The amended code says sex outside marriage is punishable by a year in jail and cohabitation by six months, but adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by a spouse, parents or children.
Citizens could also face a 10-year prison term for associating with organizations that follow Marxist-Leninist ideology and a four-year sentence for spreading communism.
Rights groups criticized some of the revisions as overly broad or vague and warned that adding them to the code could penalize normal activities and threaten freedom of expression and privacy rights.
However, some advocates hailed the passage as a victory for the country’s LGBTQ community. After fierce deliberation, lawmakers eventually agreed to remove an article proposed by Islamic groups that would have made gay sex illegal.
The revised code also preserves the death penalty, despite calls from the National Commission on Human Rights and other groups to abolish capital punishment. But the new code adds a 10-year probationary period to the death penalty. If the convict behaves well during this period, their sentence will be reduced to life imprisonment or 20 years’ imprisonment.
The code maintains a previous ban on abortion, but updates it to add exceptions already provided in a 2004 Medical Practice Law, for women with life-threatening medical conditions and for rape, provided that the fetus is less than 12 weeks old.
Under Indonesian regulations, legislation passed by Parliament becomes law after being signed by the president. But even without the president’s signature, it automatically takes effect after 30 days unless the president issues a regulation to cancel it.
Read more: Indonesia approves legislation criminalizing sex outside marriage for citizens and foreigners
President Joko Widodo is widely expected to sign the revised code in light of its extended approval process in Parliament. But the law is likely to gradually take effect over a period of up to three years, according to Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights Edward Hiariej.
“A lot of implementing regulations must be worked out, so it’s impossible in one year,” he said.
The code restores a ban on insulting a sitting president or vice president, state institutions and the national ideology. Insults to a sitting president must be reported by the president and can lead to up to three years in jail.
Hiariej said the government provided “the strictest possible explanation that distinguishes between insults and criticism.”
The current penal code is a legacy of Dutch colonial administration. Updates have languished for decades while legislators in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation debated how to adapt the code to its traditional cultures and norms. Indonesia proclaimed independence on Aug. 17, 1945.
A previous revised code was poised for passage in 2019, but President Widodo urged lawmakers to delay a vote amid mounting public criticism that led to nationwide protests in which tens of thousands of people participated. Opponents said it contained articles that discriminated against minorities and that the legislative process lacked transparency. Widodo instructed Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly to obtain input from various groups as lawmakers debated the articles.
A parliamentary taskforce finalized the bill in November and lawmakers unanimously approved it on Tuesday, in what Laoly praised as a “historic step.”
“It turns out that it is not easy for us to break away from the colonial living legacy, even though this nation no longer wants to use colonial products,” Laoly said in a news conference.
“Finalizing this process demonstrates that even 76 years after the Dutch Criminal Code was adopted as the Indonesian Criminal Code, it is never too late to produce laws on our own,” Laoly said. “The Criminal Code is a reflection of the civilization of a nation.”
Read more: Keen to strengthen relations with Bangladesh: Indonesian Ambassador
Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that laws penalizing criticism of public leaders are contrary to international law, and the fact that some forms of expression are considered insulting is not sufficient to justify restrictions or penalties.
“The danger of oppressive laws is not that they’ll be broadly applied, it’s that they provide avenue for selective enforcement,” said Andreas Harsono, a senior Indonesia researcher at the group.
Many hotels, including in tourism areas such as Bali and metropolitan Jakarta, will risk losing visitors, he added.
“These laws let police extort bribes, let officials jail political foes, for instance, with the blasphemy law,” Harsono said.
Indonesia's Mt. Semeru eruption buries homes, damages bridge
Improved weather conditions Monday allowed rescuers to resume evacuation efforts and a search for possible victims after the highest volcano on Indonesia’s most densely populated island erupted, triggered by monsoon rains.
Mount Semeru in Lumajang district in East Java province spewed thick columns of ash more than 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) into the sky Sunday. Villages and nearby towns were blanketed with falling ash, blocking out the sun, but no casualties have been reported.
Read more: Strong quake shakes main Indonesia island; no tsunami alert
Hundreds of rescuers were deployed Monday in the worst-hit villages of Sumberwuluh and Supiturang, where houses and mosques were buried to their rooftops by tons of volcanic debris.
Heavy rains had eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop the 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) volcano, causing an avalanche of blistering gas and lava down its slopes toward a nearby river. Searing gas raced down the sides of the mountain, smothering entire villages and destroying a bridge that had just been rebuilt after a powerful eruption last year.
Semeru’s last major eruption was in December 2021, when it blew up with a fury that left 51 people dead in villages that were buried in layers of mud. Several hundred others suffered serious burns and the eruption forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. The government moved about 2,970 houses out of the danger zone, including from Sumberwuluh village.
Lumajang district chief Thoriqul Haq said villagers who are still haunted by last year's eruption fled on their own when they heard the mountain start to rumble early Sunday, so that “casualties could be avoided.”
“They have learned an important lesson on how to avoid the danger of eruption,” he said while inspecting a damaged bridge in Kajar Kuning hamlet.
He said nearly 2,000 people escaped to emergency shelters at several schools, but many were returned to their homes Monday to tend their livestock and protect their property.
Increased volcanic activity Sunday afternoon prompted authorities to widen the danger zone to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater, and scientists raised the volcano’s alert level to the highest, said Hendra Gunawan, who heads the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.
People were advised to keep off the southeastern sector along the Besuk Kobokan River, which is in the path of the lava flow.
Read more: Death toll from Indonesia earthquake reaches 310 as more bodies found
Semeru, also known as Mahameru, has erupted numerous times in the past 200 years. Still, as is the case with many of the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, tens of thousands of people continue to live on its fertile slopes.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.
162 dead as strong quake topples houses in Indonesia’s Java
A powerful earthquake killed at least 162 people and injured hundreds on Indonesia’s main island on Monday. Terrified residents fled into the street, some covered in blood and debris.
Many of the dead were public-school students who had finished their classes for the day and were taking extra lessons at several Islamic schools when they collapsed, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said as he announced the new death toll in the remote, rural area.
The toll is expected to rise further, but no estimates were immediately available because of the area’s far-flung, rural population. Roughly 175,000 people live in the town of Cianjur, part of a mountainous district of the same name with more than 2.5 million people. Known for their piety, the people of Cianjur live mostly in towns of one- and two-story buildings and in smaller homes in the surrounding countryside.
Kamil said that more than 13,000 people whose homes were heavily damaged were taken to evacuation centers.
Emergency workers treated the injured on stretchers and blankets outside hospitals, on terraces and in parking lots in the Cianjur region, about three hours drive from the capital, Java. The injured, including children, were given oxygen masks and IV lines. Some were resuscitated.
“I fainted. It was very strong,” said Hasan, a construction worker who, like many Indonesians, uses one name. “I saw my friends running to escape from the building. But it was too late to get out and I was hit by the wall.”
Residents, some crying and holding their children, fled damaged homes after the magnitude 5.6 quake shook the region in West Java province in the late afternoon, at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). It also caused panic in the greater Jakarta area, where high-rises swayed and some people evacuated.
Read: Violence, tear gas, crush: What's behind the Indonesia football stampede?
In many homes in Cianjur, chunks of concrete and roof tiles fell inside bedrooms.
Shopkeeper Dewi Risma was working with customers when the quake hit, and she ran for the exit.
“The vehicles on the road stopped because the quake was very strong,” she said. “I felt it shook three times, but the first one was the strongest one for around 10 seconds. The roof of the shop next to the store I work in had collapsed, and people said two had been hit.”
Twenty-five people were still stuck buried in the debris in Cijedil village, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said earlier in the day.
Several landslides closed roads around the Cianjur district. Among the dozens of buildings that were damaged was a hospital, the agency said. Power outages were reported.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency recorded at least 25 aftershocks.
“The quake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to get out of our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs,” said Vidi Primadhania, a worked in the capital, where many residents ran into the streets and others hid under desks.
Woman in Indonesia killed, swallowed whole by python
A woman in Indonesia's Jambi province was killed and swallowed whole by a python, according to local reports.
Jahrah, a rubber-tapper reportedly in her 50s, had made her way to work at a rubber plantation on Sunday morning, reports BBC.
She was reported missing after failing to return that night, and search parties sent out to find her. A day later villagers found a python with what appeared to be a large stomach.
Locals later killed the snake and found her body inside.
"The victim was found in the snake's stomach," Betara Jambi police chief AKP S Harefa told local media outlets, adding that her body appeared to be largely intact when it was found.
He said the victim's husband had on Sunday night found some of her clothes and tools she had used at the rubber plantation, leading him to call on a search party.
Read:Florida teen wins $10,000 by capturing 28 pythons
After the snake - which was at least 5m (16ft) long - was spotted on Monday, villagers then caught and killed it to verify the victim's identity.
"After they cut the belly apart, they found it was Jahrah inside," Mr Harefa told CNN Indoneisa.
Though such incidents are rare, this is not the first time someone in Indonesia has been killed and eaten by a python. Two similar deaths were reported in the country between 2017 and 2018.
Pythons swallow their food whole. Their jaws are connected by very flexible ligaments so they can stretch around large prey.
One expert had earlier told the BBC that pythons typically eat rats and other animals, "but once they reach a certain size it's almost like they don't bother with rats anymore because the calories are not worth it".
"In essence they can go as large as their prey goes," said Mary-Ruth Low, conservation & research officer for Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
That can include animals as large as pigs or even cows.
Indonesian football match stampede: Death toll climbs to 174
The death toll from panic at an Indonesian soccer match climbed to 174, most of whom trampled to death after police fired tear gas to dispel riots Saturday, making it one of the deadliest sports events in the world.
Riots broke out after the game ended Saturday evening with host Arema FC of East Java’s Malang city losing to Persebaya of Surabaya 3-2.
Disappointed after their team’s loss, thousands of supporters of Arema, known as “Aremania,” reacted by throwing bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials. Fans flooded the Kanjuruhan Stadium pitch in protest and demanded that Arema management explain why, after 23 years of undefeated home games, this match ended in a loss, witnesses said.
The rioting spread outside the stadium where at least five police vehicles were toppled and set ablaze amid the chaos. Riot police responded by firing tear gas, including toward the stadium's stands, causing panic among the crowd. Tear gas is banned at soccer stadiums by FIFA.
Some suffocated and others were trampled as hundreds of people ran to the exit in an effort to avoid the tear gas. In the chaos, 34 died at the stadium, including two officers, and some reports include children among the casualties.
“We have already done a preventive action before finally firing the tear gas as (fans) began to attack the police, acting anarchically and burning vehicles,” said East Java Police chief Nico Afinta in a news conference early Sunday.
More than 300 were rushed to nearby hospitals to treat injuries but many died on the way and during a treatment, Afinta said.
East Java’s Vice Gov. Emil Dardak told Kompas TV in an interview Sunday the death toll has climbed to 174, while more than 100 injured people are receiving intensive treatment in eight hospitals without any charge, 11 of them in critical condition.
Indonesia’s soccer association, known as PSSI, has suspended the premier soccer league Liga 1 indefinitely in light of the tragedy and banned Arema from hosting soccer matches for the remainder of the season.
Television reports showed police and rescuers evacuating the injured and carrying the dead to ambulances.
Grieving relatives waited for information about their loved ones at Malang's Saiful Anwar General Hospital. Others tried to identify the bodies laid at a morgue.
Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo expressed his deep condolences for the dead in televised remarks Sunday.
“I deeply regret this tragedy and I hope this is the last soccer tragedy in this country, don’t let another human tragedy like this happen in the future,” Widodo said. “We must continue to maintain sportsmanship, humanity and a sense of brotherhood of the Indonesian nation.”
He ordered the Youth and Sports minister, the National Police chief and the PSSI chair to conduct a thorough evaluation of the country’s soccer match and its security procedure.
He also ordered PSSI to temporarily suspend Liga 1 until it could be evaluated and security procedures improved.
Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali also expressed his regret that “this tragedy happened when we were preparing for soccer game activities, both national and international level.”
Indonesia is due to host the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup from May 20 to June 11, with 24 participating teams. As the host, the country automatically qualifies for the cup.
“Unfortunately, this incident has certainly injured our soccer image,” Amali said.
Ferli Hidayat, local police chief of Malang, said there were some 42,000 spectators at the game Saturday, all of whom were Aremanias because the organizer had banned Persebaya fans from entering the stadium in an effort to avoid brawls.
The restriction was imposed after clashes between supporters of the two rival soccer teams in East Java's Blitar stadium in February 2020 caused a total of 250 million rupiah ($18,000) in material losses. Brawls were reported outside the stadium during and after the semifinal round match of the East Java Governor’s Cup, which ended with Persebaya beating Arema 4-2.
Despite Indonesia’s lack of international accolades in the sport, hooliganism is rife in the soccer-obsessed country where fanaticism often ends in violence, as in the 2018 death of a Persija Jakarta supporter who was killed by a mob of hardcore fans of rival club Persib Bandung in 2018.
Saturday's game is already among the world's worst crowd disasters, including the 1996 World Cup qualifier between Guatemala and Costa Rica in Guatemala City where over 80 died and over 100 more were injured. In April 2001, more than 40 people are crushed to death during a soccer match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Keen to strengthen relations with Bangladesh: Indonesian Ambassador
The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Dhaka celebrated its 77th Independence Day on Thursday evening demonstrating an enhanced partnership between Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh Heru Hartanto Subolo welcomed guests from Bangladesh government, diplomatic corps, political figures, nilitary officers, international organizations, businessmen, and academicians as well as journalists.
Ambassador Heru highlighted that this year marks the 50-years of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Read:“Sadly, Rohingya repatriation doesn’t look likely any time soon”
He said his country is committed to strengthening the friendly relations with Bangladesh in many aspects, especially in bilateral trade and cooperation in more comprehensive sectors.
He also touched on Indonesia's roles in ASEAN and Indonesia’s presidency at the G20.
Information and Broadcasting Hasan Mahmud was present as the guest of honour at the event.
He applauded the strong bonding and partnership that goes beyond its current relations ranging from partners in the United Nations and various multilateral organisations, particularly in the Developing 8 Countries, the Non-Aligned Movement, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and other international fora.
He also hoped for Indonesia’s bigger role in supporting efforts in sending Rohinggyas back to their country.
After hiking fuel price by 30%, Indonesia considering buying cheap Russian oil
Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia, is contemplating buying Russian oil to ease the burden of rising energy prices.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Widodo said, “We always monitor all of the options. If there is the country (and) they give a better price, of course,”
Widodo raised the price of subsidised fuel by 30% earlier this month, citing financial concerns as the reason for the price increase.
Read: Indonesia hikes fuel prices by 30%, cuts energy subsidies
Thousands of protestors gathered last week in Jakarta and other major cities to condemn the government’s decision to reduce fuel subsidies. The 270 million-strong nation was rocked by demonstrations after the decision.
However, any decision to buy Russian crude oil at a price higher than the G7-agreed price cap could result in US penalties against Indonesia.
Sandiaga Uno, Indonesia’s minister of tourism, claimed in August that Indonesia had received a 30% discount on Russian petroleum. The nation’s state-owned oil corporation, Pertamina, then declared that it was examining the risks of acquiring Russian oil.
Read: Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Kerry to visit Greece, Indonesia, Vietnam
Due to rising food costs, Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, reported annual inflation of 4.7% in August.