Indonesia Roundup: Rice importation, earthquake housing project, open election campaign
Rice importation
Indonesia will import three million tonnes of rice this year to address its rice deficit caused by the El Nino weather pattern. Indonesia’s economic minister Airlangga Hartarto is quoted by the state news agency saying, "The government has decided to import three million tonnes of rice. Two million of these are being processed at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog). Last year, Indonesia imported around 3.5 million tonnes of rice. Three million tons had been received while 500 thousand tons of the imported rice are expected to arrive this month." According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the country would have a 2.83 million tonne rice shortage from January to February of 2024. It is anticipated that the shortfall will be 1.61 million tonnes in January and 1.22 million tonnes in February.
Houses for earthquake victims
The Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing plans to complete 190 more permanent houses for victims of the Cianjur earthquake in West Java by January 2024, Iwan Suprijanto, the ministry's Director General of Housing said on January 21. "The construction of permanent houses is one of the efforts to relocate people to a safer area. We are also using earthquake-resistant house construction technology to anticipate if natural disasters occur one day," said Suprijanto. The construction of the 190 houses is the third phase of the project, the first phase included the construction of 200 permanent homes, and the second phase included the construction of 151 units, Indonesia’s national news agency reports.
Candidates begin open election campaign
Open campaigning for candidates and political parties taking part in the 2024 Indonesia Election began on January 21. According to the Indonesia General Election Commission (KPU) has established a schedule and stages for the public campaign rallies, which will take place over 21 days, from January 21 to February 7, 2024. The KPU has arranged public campaign rallies in three zones to prevent candidate collisions. Zone A, comprising 13 provinces, is where the first presidential and vice-presidential candidates Anies Rasyid Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar are expected to begin their open campaigns. Zone B, also with 13 provinces is where Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the second candidate for president and vice president, will begin. Zone C is where the third presidential and vice presidential candidate, Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD will launch their open campaign in 12 provinces, the Kompas Indonesia reported.
Attracting Chinese tourists
Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has set a target of attracting 1 million to 1.5 million Chinese tourists in 2024, aiming to provide equal distribution of tourism benefits in the country. "Last year, we targeted 361,000 Chinese tourists, and we achieved 707,000. This year, we increase the target to 1 million-1.5 million," said the ministry's Regional I Director of Tourism Marketing Wisnu Sindhutrisno on January 20. 65% of Chinese travelling to Indonesia are young people with longer trips and prefer activities related to adventure, nature, and culture, the ministry disclosed. China is still rated fourth for the number of international visitors arriving in Indonesia, particularly in Bali, behind visitors from Australia and India, Antara news agency reports.
Possibility of coastal flooding
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Maritime Meteorological has warned residents of the northern coast of Jakarta about the possibility of coastal flooding from January 21 to January 27, 2024, the Indonesian state news agency reported. Head of the Jakarta Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Isnawa AjiI said that the northern coastlines of Jakarta may experience coastal flooding as a result of the new moon phase's potential increase in the maximum sea tide height. According to him, the highest point of the high tide occurs between 7 am and 11 am Indonesia time.
