GENERAL NEWS AND HEADLINES

Jokowi orders police, military to monitor public
CNN Indonesia (https://tinyurl.com/y6aecwv7) 

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reportedly instructed Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and National Police chief Gen. Idham Azis to monitor public compliance with the COVID-19 health protocol amid the continuing rise in daily cases. Jokowi has formalized the directive in Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 6/2020 on improving discipline and law enforcement as regards the health protocol.

Presidential spokesperson for public affairs Angkie Yudistia said that in addition to the TNI and National Police chiefs, the President had also instructed Cabinet ministers and regional leaders to take an active part in monitoring public compliance. Angkie added that the Inpres mandated regional leaders to develop detailed instructions on implementing the health protocol in a gubernatorial, regent or mayoral decree.

 

Jakarta to add 11 extra referral hospitals after new surge
The Jakarta Post (https://tinyurl.com/y584hbjg) 

Jakarta is planning to designate another 11 healthcare facilities as COVID-19 referral hospitals as the coronavirus continues to spread in the city. The capital currently has 67 referral hospitals and 170 other hospitals providing COVID-19 patient services that are quickly becoming overwhelmed with new admissions of COVID-19 patients.

According to the national COVID-19 task force, the bed occupancy rate of isolation wards and intensive care units (ICUs) in Jakarta hospitals had reached respectively 69 percent and 77 percent on Monday. Task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito called the present rate "no longer ideal", and said that it needed to drop to 60 percent to reduce the burden on healthcare workers and facilities.

Jakarta currently has 513 ICU beds and 4,054 isolation ward beds reserved for COVID-19 patients. The city administration targets expanding the figures to 650 ICU beds and 4,800 isolation ward beds. The addition of 11 referral hospitals would increase the capital’s capacity by an extra 85 ICU beds and 286 isolation ward beds for COVID-19 patients.

 

Gerindra backs indigenous rights bill to reduce agrarian conflict
Kompas (https://tinyurl.com/yybp7fto) 

House Legislation Body (Baleg) chairman Supratman Andi Agtas of the Gerindra faction has called on the body to draft an indigenous peoples bill to acknowledge indigenous rights. Supratman said that the party supported drafting a bill on indigenous peoples and rights to guarantee state acknowledgement of and protection for indigenous peoples in Indonesia.

He pointed in particular to the prevalence of land rights inequity, in which a handful of elites continued to disregard customary land rights, and that the reluctance of both central and regional administrations to acknowledge indigenous peoples and their rights through legislation had often led to agrarian conflict.

 

Indonesia ‘will never’ host foreign military base: Retno
Kompas (https://tinyurl.com/y5xzkfz4) 

Responding to a US Department of Defense (Pentagon) report that China was considering the possibility of building a network of military logistics facilities in Asia and Africa, Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi asserted that Indonesia would never accommodate the military base of any country.

The report released by the Pentagon mentions several countries China was allegedly looking at to establish logistic facilities for its military, including Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Pakistan, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Tanzania and Angola.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS NEWS AND HEADLINES 

Biodiesel absorption reaches 4.36 M kiloliters in first half
Bisnis Indonesia (https://tinyurl.com/y4sk9t8e) 

Indonesia’s biodiesel absorption reached 4.36 kilolitres in the first half of this year, which is equal to 68 percent of total absorption in 2019. Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry spokesperson Agung Pribadi said the COVID-19 pandemic had weakened the transportation sector, which in turn had decreased the biodiesel absorption rate. But he is still confident that this year’s absorption rate will be higher than last year’s due to the mandatory use of 30 percent blended biodiesel (B30) policy.

 

Luhut: Australia’s FMG to invest in renewable energy sector
Kontan (https://tinyurl.com/y43lxhle); Detik (https://tinyurl.com/y6lv3ll9) 

Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan announced that Australian mining company Fortescue Metal Group (FMG) had signed an investment agreement in Indonesia’s renewable energy sector. FMG will invest in a 60 gigawatts (GW) hydropower plant and a 25 GW geothermal power plant. The investment will cost tens of billions of US dollar, Luhut said.

 

Fitch downgrades Modernland
CNBC Indonesia (https://tinyurl.com/y44je8vw) 

Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings had downgraded the bonds rating of publicly listed developer Modernland Reality from “CC” to “C” for missing its August coupon payment. Modernland missed the coupon payment of its US$150 million bonds on Aug. 31, issued by its subsidiary JGC Ventures Pte. Ltd. The bonds will be due in 2021. Another bond downgraded is the $240 million bonds, which is due in 2024 and issued by another subsidiary Modernland Overseas Pte. Ltd. Modernland has entered the 30-day grace period for missing its coupon payment, and Fitch predicts that the company needs to raise funding externally in order to meet its obligation.

 

Kimberly-Clark acquires Softex Indonesia for $1.2 B
CNBC Indonesia (https://tinyurl.com/yydbguzn); CNN Indonesia (https://tinyurl.com/y2zbca8j) 

United States-based Kimberly-Clark Corp has acquired consumer goods company PT Softex Indonesia for Rp 17.64 trillion (US$1.2 billion) to expand its presence in Southeast Asia. Kimberly-Clark chairman and CEO Mike Hsu said the acquisition would improve the company’s growth prospects and create more value for shareholders in the long-term. Mike also said the acquisition of Softex would help the company in expanding its market share in Indonesia, particularly in the diaper market that is worth US$1.6 billion.

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