by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Jakarta : Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Australian Prime Minister Scott Marrison reached an agreement on Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) at a meeting in Indonesia’s city of Bogor on Friday.
“At the meeting, I stated the Indonesian commitment to promoting bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia. Australia is an important partner for ASEAN,” Jokowi said after the meeting at the Bogor Presidential Palace.
Jokowi and Morrison witnessed the signing of a joint declaration of IA-CEPA by Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukito and Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Simon Birmingham and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and Simon Birmingham.
“We welcome expansion of relations of comprehensive partnership into comprehensive strategic partnership,” President Jokowi said.
The two leaders also discussed and agreed on the importance of compliance with international law and respect for the sovereignty of each country.
“We also agree to cooperate and expand cooperation in security including in cybersecurity. We have a strong commitment to collaboration in handling global and regional issues including terrorism,” Jokowi said.
Indonesia is the first country visited by Morrison after he took over as new Australian prime minister on August 24, replacing Malcolm Turnbull.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
New Delhi : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved a pact with Indonesia for sharing of information in railway sector including modernisation of trains and maintenance of tracks and tunnels.
According to an official statement, the agreement will provide for exchange of knowledge and technology in modernisation of rolling stock (trains), signalling and communication system and railway operation, management and regulations.
It will also provide for sharing of information on the development of inter-model transport, logistics parks, and freight terminals, and construction and maintenance of tracks, bridges, tunnel, overhead electrification and power supply systems.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jakarta : An Indonesian court on Friday sentenced a hardline Muslim cleric to death for his role in a wave of terror attacks that were carried out in 2016 and 2017 killing more than a dozen people.
The prosecution had sought the death penalty for Oman Rochman, who they accused of planning a January 2016 attack — killing four civilians and injuring more than 20 — near a commercial centre in Jakarta, Efe news reported.
The court also found Rochman guilty of inciting other attacks, including the bombing of a bus station in Jakarta in 2017, in which three policemen and two suicide attackers had died, and in a church on Borneo island in 2016 where a two-year-old had died.
The court said that Rochman indoctrinated people by disseminating propaganda literature online as well as through audio sermons.
Rochman is considered one of the founders of the radical group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), formed in 2015 by several radical groups linked to the Islamic State terror group.
In May, JAD members attacked several cities in the country leaving 30 dead and 50 wounded.
Rochman who is already serving sentences for several convictions for terrorist activities was guiding the group’s activities from jail, according to the prosecution.
In January 2017, the US Department of State had classified JAD as a global terrorist organisation.
Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, has been the victim of several terror attacks, including one in 2002 on the tourist island of Bali, which killed 202.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jakarta : The Saudi Arabian authorities have allowed Indonesia`s customs to check Hajj pilgrims` identity by using biometrics in home country`s embarkation, according to Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin.
Saifuddin believes that the arrangement will cut queues during security check-in Saudi Arabia. “All this time, our Hajj pilgrims should wait for hours to queue, both in Jeddah or Madinah airport, now it can be checked in our Hajj embarkation,” he said here on Saturday.
The Minister was thankful for Indonesian government`s effort in convincing Saudi`s customs to permit such policy to improve security system`s efficiency.
By using biometrics in the Hajj dormitory, the Indonesian customs will verify each pilgrim`s fingerprints and iris scans, as well as travel documents. Hence, they just need to queue for passport stamp upon arrival in Saudi Arabia.
Besides cutting queues, Saifuddin said such system will allow Indonesian Hajj pilgrims to have more time to rest after a long hour flight.
In near future, the biometrics system will be fully regulated in 18 Hajj embarkation points in Indonesia.
—AG/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Jakarta : The police in Indonesia believe they have uncovered a clandestine fake news operation designed to destabilise the government and corrupt the political process, a media report said on Tuesday.
In a string of arrests across the archipelago in recent weeks, authorities have revealed the inner workings of a self-proclaimed cyber-jihadi network known as the Muslim Cyber Army (MCA), the Guardian report said.
The network is accused of spreading fake news and hate speeches to inflame religious and ethnic schisms, fan paranoia around gay men, lesbians, alleged communists and Chinese people and spread defamatory content to undermine the President.
The police have said that the network was orchestrated through a central Whatsapp group called the “Family MCA”.
One wing was tasked with stockpiling divisive content to disseminate, while a separate “sniper” team was employed to hack accounts and spread computer viruses on the electronic devices of their opponents.
In the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, among the top five biggest users of Facebook and Twitter globally, some say it is unsurprising that rising religiosity and racial division is playing out viciously online, according to the Guardian report.
It is in this environment that the Muslim Cyber Army was born and has since thrived, in a digital ecosystem flush with bots, fake accounts and lies.
The network, which functioned between July and November 2017, had all the tell-tale signs of a bot, or network of semi-automated accounts.
Posts were often identical in nature, with the same text, meme or hashtag repeated dozens of times.
The accounts would sometimes tweet up to 30 times a day. All accounts were opaque, with no name or location, and followed identifiable patterns.
—IANS
