Indonesia

KONFRONTASI -  

Several insightful analyses of Joko Widodo’s approach to the presidency have been advanced since he took office. For the most part, these have focused on his overriding preoccupation with domestic economic development, and his lack of a clear ideological orientation in the social and political arenas.

KONFRONTASI-The death toll from Indonesia's earthquake and tsunami has climbed past 2,000, as authorities prepare to end the search for thousands of victims feared buried in mud and rubble in the hardest-hit neighbourhoods of Sulawesi island.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesperson for the country's disaster agency, told reporters on Tuesday that the toll from the September 28 twin disasters had climbed to 2,010.

He said authorities will hold prayers on Thursday to mark the end of the search in the Petobo, Balaroa and Jono Oge areas of Palu city, where the quake caused loose soil to liquefy, swallowing houses and burying the occupants with them.

Efforts to retrieve bodies, many entombed under mud and rubble as deep as 3 metres, will not continue because of the difficult terrain and advanced state of decomposition that made the bodies unrecognisable and could cause contamination, Nugroho said.

"On October 11, we will hold joint prayers in Balaroa, Petobo and Jono Oge to end the evacuation of bodies," he told a daily news briefing on the relief efforts.

Most of the bodies have been found in Palu, where more than 10,000 rescue workers continued to scour expanses of debris.
"We're not sure what will happen afterwards, so we're trying to work as fast as possible," said rescue worker Ahmad Amin, 29, referring to the deadline, as he took a break in the badly hit Balaroa neighbourhood.

"There are so many children still missing, we want to find them quickly," said Amin, who is from Balaroa and has relatives unaccounted for.

At least nine excavators were working through the rubble of Balaroa, picking their way through smashed buildings and pummelled vehicles.

At least a dozen bodies were recovered, according to a Reuters news agency photographer.

KONFRONTASI -   International Monetary Fund (IMF) menilai di tengah kondisi ketidakpastian global dan peristiwa bencana yang melanda, Indonesia tidak membutuhkan utang dari IMF.

Direktur Pelaksana IMF, Christine Lagarde menuturkan perekonomian Indonesia telah dikelola dengan baik oleh pemerintah. Padahal, Indonesia tengah dirundung bencana alam.

KONFRONTASI -   Peneliti sekaligus pakar geologi dari Brigham Young University Profesor Ron Harris mengatakan gempa bumi dan tsunami yang terjadi di Aceh pada 2004 berpotensi terulang di selatan Pulau Jawa, Bali, dan Nusa Tenggara.  Harris dalam diskusi terkait mitigasi bencana gempa bumi di Jakarta, Jumat, mengatakan potensi tersebut didasarkan dari penelitian endapan tsunami yang dilakukan pada 2016 di beberapa wilayah selatan Pulau Jawa, Bali, dan Nusa Tenggara.

KONFRONTASI- A day after last week’s powerful earthquake and tsunami pummeled the Indonesian city of Palu and surrounding areas, a terrified young girl was dropped off in the courtyard of a military hospital.

It was uncertain who brought her there, but the girl, who appears around four years old, was deeply traumatized and has remained so as officials try to find her family.

“She won’t tell us her name,” the head of the Wirabuana hospital, Colonel Ahmad Zumaro, told Reuters.

“If you talk to her, she always cries, especially if you ask her about her mother or father.”

Her tragic ordeal is just one example of many such cases that authorities and aid groups have grappled with since the 7.5 magnitude quake and tsunami hit Sulawesi island last Friday.

Reuniting families and locating missing relatives - children and adults alike - is a process fraught with difficulties, say government officials and aid workers.

There is no list of those buried to cross-check against missing persons.

Moreover, many survivors lost their identification documents in the disaster.

Accompanied by child welfare officers, Reuters visited the girl in the hospital’s courtyard. Lying on an army cot, she was listless and quietly sobbing in a punishingly hot canvas tent.

Fanning her with a piece cardboard was a man, Ahuridin, who said he was the girl’s uncle, one of three men who had said they were related after authorities posted a picture of her on Facebook.

Zumaro questioned whether the claims were genuine.

Febraldi, an official from the ministry of social affairs who interviewed the man claiming to be the uncle, said his assertion would have to be checked.

“He keeps her calm,” said Febraldi. “But he must prove she is from his family.”

Authorities want him to show them a photo that proves he is indeed the uncle. DNA testing is too expensive, said a child protection officer from Save the Children, Zubedy Koteng.

“There is no proper verification or documentation for people who have been separated,” he said.

KONFRONTASI -  Praktik penjualan asisten rumah tangga (ART) asal Indonesia di Singapura melalui situs online Carousell sedang diselidiki. Kementerian Tenaga Kerja Singapura (MOM) langsung bergerak mengungkap kasus ini.

Akun @maid.recruitment menayangkan iklan penawaran ART secara online, namun pihak Carousell memastikan sejauh ini belum ada transaksi yang terjadi.

KONFRONTASI- Indonesia scrambled on Monday to get help into quake-hit Sulawesi island as survivors streamed away from their ruined homes and accounts of devastation filtered out of remote areas, including the death of 34 children at a Christian camp.

The confirmed death toll of 844 was certain to rise as rescuers reached devastated outlying communities hit on Friday by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami waves as high as six meters (20 feet).