GENERAL NEWS AND HEADLINES

Central govt’s COVID-19 data different from what we report: Ridwan Kamil
The Jakarta Post (https://tinyurl.com/yb2eqj2m)

As questions mount over the validity of the government’s COVID-19 data, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil confirmed that the numbers announced by the Health Ministry in its daily press conferences did not match that reported by his regional administration.

“After [the COVID-19 outbreak] ends, I need to press the central government to give more powers to regional governments in dealing with crises,” Ridwan said in a roundtable discussion with foreign ambassadors on Monday. He said this was necessary because regional administrations had a better grasp of grassroots level data.

“For example, I reported 30 cases today, the central government put five in the report. I reported seven today, the central government reports 50,” he said.

Ridwan said the data discrepancies also extended to government COVID-19 aid, adding that this confusion was the main cause of public dissatisfaction during the outbreak.

 

PCR testing still far from target: President Jokowi
Kompas (https://tinyurl.com/y8b7vyoe); Tempo (https://tinyurl.com/y76y2w97); Liputan6 (https://tinyurl.com/ybz6xz38); Detik (https://tinyurl.com/y7vddnbu)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said that the country’s polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing capacity has yet to reach the targeted 10,000 per day.

 “I just received a report that our PCR testing capacity has reached up to 4,000 to 5,000 samples per day. I think the number is still far from the target I previously set at 10,000 samples per day,” Jokowi said during a virtual meeting earlier Monday.

Currently, there are 104 laboratories available specifically for COVID-19 handling. However, only 53 of them are operating. President Jokowi therefore hoped that the remaining 51 would begin their operations in order to maximize PCR testing capacity.

 

House, Religious Affairs Ministry discuss haj embarkation
CNN Indonesia (https://tinyurl.com/y8zdndsp); Kompas (https://tinyurl.com/y85m96zs); TribunNews (https://tinyurl.com/y7oabnyk, https://tinyurl.com/y97xqkbn)

The House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing religious and social affairs and the Religious Affairs Ministry held a virtual meeting earlier today to discuss this year’s haj pilgrimage amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Both parties are currently still waiting for Saudi Arabia to announce its final decision on the matter.

Religious Affairs Deputy Minister Zainut Tauhid said that his party would wait for the Saudi authorities to announce their final decision until May 20. “It is necessary for us to set a deadline so that we will have enough time to prepare for the pilgrimage,” Zainut said.

The Saudi authorities previously informed Indonesia that they would announce their final decision on the pilgrimage by the end of April. However, they have rescheduled the announcement to May 12 at the latest.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS NEWS AND HEADLINES 

LPS waives fine for late second-half insurance premium payments
CNBC Indonesia, (https://tinyurl.com/ydaovuxk); Kontan, (https://tinyurl.com/y9cgnhyz); Bisnis Indonesia, (https://tinyurl.com/y8kewuh7); Investor Daily, (https://tinyurl.com/y8j344ce) 

The Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) will abolish fines for late insurance premium payments for the second half of this year. “With this policy relaxation, banks that are late in paying their insurance premium for the second half will not need to pay the fine,” LPS Commission Council chairman Halim Alamsyah said in a live conference today. Banks in Indonesia are mandated to pay insurance premiums to the LPS twice a year, on Jan. 31 for the first half and July 31 for the second half, amounting to 0.1 percent of their average third-party funds (DPK) – which cover savings, time deposits and demand deposits. The LPS policy relaxation will allow banks to pay their second-half insurance premium after July 31 without worrying about a fine amounting to Rp 1 million (US$67) per day.

 

OJK: 3.88 million borrowers restructure their debts
CNBC Indonesia, (https://tinyurl.com/ydbvbxo6); Bisnis Indonesia, (https://tinyurl.com/y8muop9a); Investor Daily, (https://tinyurl.com/y7d5duo4); Detik, (https://tinyurl.com/y7d5duo4) 

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has announced that 88 banks had approved debt restructuring requests from 3.88 million borrowers owing a total of Rp 336.97 trillion (US$ 22.6 billion) as of May 10. OJK chairman Wimboh Santoso said 3.42 million of the borrowers were micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with loans totalling Rp 167.1 trillion. Multifinance companies have also participated in the OJK’s debt-restructuring policy, he added. As of May 8, debt-restructuring requests from 1.32 million borrowers owing Rp 43.18 trillion had been approved by multifinance companies. Other restructuring requests from 743,785 borrowers are still being processed.

 

House to complete mining law revision
Kontan, (https://tinyurl.com/ybj9ngjv); Katadata, (https://tinyurl.com/y9bxfg58) 

House of Representatives Commission VII, which oversees energy policy, held a meeting today with the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the Home Ministry, the Law and Human Rights Ministry and the Finance Ministry to finalize revision of the Coal and Mineral Mining Law. Hikhmahanto Juwana, an international law expert with the University of Indonesia, criticized the bill’s deliberation. He said investors should not take contract extensions for granted as proposed in the current bill draft. On the other hand, Commission VII member Maman Abdurrahman defended the draft bill arguing that the bill’s deliberation started in 2015 and needed to be approved soon.

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