The south-east Asian country is battling a recent surge in Covid-19 cases which has turned it into the latest epicentre of the pandemic…reports Asian Lite News.
An Indian Navy ship has reached Indonesia with essential relief supplies to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic raging in the country.
Indian Naval Ship Airavat arrived at the Port of Jakarta in Indonesia on Saturday with five Cryogenic containers containing 100 MT of Liquid Oxygen and 300 Concentraters to support Indonesia in its fight against the ongoing pandemic.
Indian Ambassador Manoj Kumar Bharti handed over essential medicines and relief materials to Bapak Eka Jusup Singka, Head, Crisis Centre, Ministry of Health, the Indian High Commission in Indonesia said.
The south-east Asian country is battling a recent surge in Covid-19 cases which has turned it into the latest epicentre of the pandemic.
The relief has been sent as part of the ongoing Samudra Setu-II campaign of the Indian Navy.
INS Airavat is a Landing Ship Tank (Large) type of ship with a primary role to carry out amphibious operations and is capable of carrying multiple tanks, amphibious vehicles and other military cargo.
Combating Covid, together.
INS Airavat has now reached Indonesia, carrying 300 oxygen concentrators and 100 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO). pic.twitter.com/m4W5IGr1ls
India’s Ministry of Defence noted that the ship is also deployed for HADR relief operations and has been a part of various relief efforts across the Indian Ocean Region.
India and Indonesia enjoy close cultural and commercial ties. Both countries have been working together in the maritime domain towards a safer Indo-Pacific.
The navies regularly carry out joint naval exercises in the form of bilateral exercises and coordinated patrols. (India News Network)
Indian strategic planners fully understand Indonesia’s importance in ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region, reports Rahul Kumar
India and Indonesia, two major democracies in Asia are moving fast to strengthen their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Despite Covid-19 bringing the world to a halt, the two have been working on improving defence, maritime and security related issues since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in May 2018.
Recently, V. Muraleedharan, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs discussed cooperation on regional issues with Mahendra Siregar, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia.
In an exclusive interview to India Narrative, Prof. Baladas Ghoshal, former chairman of the Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies, JNU, and former General Secretary at the Society for Indian Ocean Studies says: “Much is happening between India and Indonesia in defence and maritime arenas. The two nations have been discussing the sale of Brahmos and India’s role in capacity building Indonesia’s maritime forces”.
Indonesia, a prominent South East Asian nation, is also discussing the possibility of joint patrolling in the strategic strait of Malacca which connects the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea in the Pacific Ocean. This is a maritime route through which a large percentage of the global trade crosses. The two nations have also been discussing increased access for India to Indonesia ports including Sabang and Aceh.
Prof. Ghoshal says: “If we get access to Indonesia ports, we look into the Pacific. France already has a presence there. If we put ourselves there, we can put China in great difficulty”. He adds that the Aceh and Andaman link could be established for trade and financial purposes. “The Aceh port is only 80 km from Nicobar. The two countries are discussing creating a regional economic zone in this region”.
There is a convergence of interests between the two nations who share civilization links and take pride in a common cultural heritage. What also brings Delhi and Jakarta closer is the fact that both pursue an independent foreign policy doctrine. Located strategically, Indonesia as a matter of policy, does not allow foreign military bases on its territory.
Modi’s visit in 2018 led to a strategic engagement in which the nations decided to hold annual summit meetings and framed a “robust architecture of dialogue in place, including the Ministerial and Working Group Mechanisms”. They also agreed to enhance mutual trust through regular interactions between the defence forces of the two countries.
A joint statement by Modi and Indonesian President Joko Widodo led to the adoption of a ‘Shared Vision on Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific between India and Indonesia’, with the belief that the two nations can cooperate in the maritime sector and be a force of stability in the region. The two are engaged comprehensively on this.
Despite the restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Delhi and Jakarta have made progress on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership through regular discussions. Prof. Ghoshal says: “A lot is happening in terms of foreign policy–dialogues, visits and discussions. But India will have to up its game by walking the talk and reducing its bureaucratic tape. The ASEAN nations, including Indonesia, look for clear objectives. India will have to move faster on the discussions”.
Analysts point out China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region is also providing the subtext for spurring stronger New Delhi-Jakarta ties. China has been intruding in the direction of the Natuna islands claimed by Indonesia. India, on its part, has still not seen the restoration of status quo ante following China’s ingress in Ladakh.
Indian strategic planners fully understand Indonesia’s importance in ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Indonesian archipelago hosts at least four major choke points, which can be leveraged to counter Beijing, as some of them are critical for China’s seaborne trade.
Foremost among these channels is the Malacca strait�a narrow, 890 km stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The vast majority of China’s oil imports, from the Gulf, Venezuela and Angola, passes through this route, which is also the lifeline for Japan and South Korea � the other major industrial economies of the region.
Indonesia also hosts the Sunda Strait�the channel between the islands of Sumatra and Java. It is an important waterway for ships travelling along the Cape route in Africa to East Asia. Australian vessels setting course to destinations in Southeast or East Asia, also make active use of this passage.
The third channel, the Lombok Strait, also a part of the Indonesian archipelago, is deep and wide. It is therefore ideal for transiting huge oil tankers and other monster ships with 100,000 dead weight tonnage or more. The Ombai-Wetar Straits, also in Indonesia, play a unique military role. Because they are extremely deep, they provide undetected passage for submarines traveling between the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Consequently, there is considerable interest in these straits among the strategic communities of the Indo-Pacific countries, who are wary of the transit of Chinese submarines from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean.
(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) also appealed to ensure thet the refugees are not pushed back…reports Anwesha Bhaumik
Human rights groups have appealed to Indonesia not to push back the 81 Rohingya refugees who landed on the country’s Aceh coast in a ramshackle boat.
“The 81 refugees have landed on Idaman Island in Aceh. We are told they are okay,” said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, that has researched the Rohingya issue for decades.
But speaking to IANS, Lewa said: “I am keeping my fingers crossed and just hope Indonesia will not push them back or hand them over to Myanmar, like Malaysia has often done.”
“Until we know for sure that they are not being pushed back, the Rohingya are not 100 per cent safe there.”
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) also appealed to ensure thet the refugees are not pushed back.
“ASEAN leaders, having done almost nothing for years, should dramatically rethink their approach to the Rohingya crisis,” said Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director.
“A coordinated regional response is desperately needed to protect Rohingya in Myanmar, in refugee camps abroad, and at sea, while pressing Myanmar to take the steps necessary for them to return home safely.”
Numerous boats, each with hundreds of Rohingya asylum seekers, have been leaving overcrowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh for Southeast Asian destinations every year.
Malaysian and Thai authorities have been pushing the boats back to sea, leaving hundreds of refugees in precarious condition, without access to adequate food and water for months.
Refugees in the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in July, 2018. (Photo: UN/IANS)
The boat that landed in Aceh had sailed on February 11 from Cox’s Bazar carrying 90 Rohingya refugees, most of them women and children, with the hope of reaching Malaysia.
But the boat’s engine failed four days after leaving Cox’s Bazar and it ran adrift until Indian Coast Guards rescued it.
Of the 90 people who set out on the voyage, eight were found dead by the Indian Coast Guards who later helped repair the vessel.
Indian authorities provided food and essential supplies to survivors but refused to let them set foot on their shores.
Bangladesh, too, denied re-entry to 81 survivors.
Over the last three months, international aid agencies and family members of those onboard have made repeated appeals to India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Malaysia for information about the fate of the survivors on the boat.
Dwi Prafitria, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia, has said that the refugees currently don’t have a place to stay.
“We have to coordinate with the local government.”
Authorities in Indonesia, including local police and immigration, were not immediately available for comment.
More than 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in teeming camps in Bangladesh, including tens of thousands who fled after a deadly crackdown in 2017.
Human traffickers often lure Rohingya refugees, persuading them to travel on rickety vessels with the promise of work in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia.
General Min Aung Hlaing has attended a summit of the South East Asian regional body Asean in Indonesia…reports Asian Lite News
The head of the Myanmar military on Saturday met international leaders on his first known foreign trip since the army took power in a coup on February 1.
General Min Aung Hlaing has attended a summit of the South East Asian regional body Asean in Indonesia, in which the leaders of other Southeast Asian nations expressed concern about the army’s killing of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters.
The military seized power after claiming there had been voter fraud in the 2020 General Election.
Since then, more than 700 people have been killed in protests against the military government.
ASEAN leaders meeting(Twitter)
The talks in the Indonesian capital Jakarta will be the first international effort to address the crisis. Leaders and foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) will take part.
Despite the risk of massive refugee flows or even civil war, the 10 members of Asean have been divided over whether to even hold a meeting. There are clear signs of splits between governments that want to take action and those that don’t.
Asean appears divided along geographical lines, with the “mainland” countries – those physically closest to China – more opposed to intervention in Myanmar, while the “maritime” countries – those furthest from China – are more in favour of taking action.
Among the latter group, it is host Indonesia that has been pushing hardest for a collective response to the crisis.
But persuading the other nine countries to take a unified stance will be just as much a challenge as persuading the Myanmar junta to de-escalate the crisis.
ASEAN leaders meeting(Twitter)
While the bloc prides itself on its ability to persuade rather than coerce, that ability is much weaker if the organisation is not united.
Thailand’s Prime Minister as well as the President of the Philippines have said that they would only send their foreign ministers.
The bloc’s other members include Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, host Indonesia and Myanmar itself.
There have been calls for Myanmar, also known as Burma, to be expelled from Asean but the members historically do not get involved in each other’s internal affairs.
The United Nation’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the Asean summit to resolve the crisis and prevent “possible grave humanitarian implications beyond Myanmar’s borders,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
A demonstrator stacks bags on a street as a barricade during a demonstration against the military coup and the detention of civilian leaders in Myanmar(ians)
The UN special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, will be in Jakarta for meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
Mass protests have been taking place across Myanmar since the military seized control and declared a year-long state of emergency.
The armed forces claim there had been widespread fraud during a General Election late last year which had returned elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party (NLD) to power.
The military promised instead that it would hold “free and fair” elections once the state of emergency is over.
In the past few weeks, the military has been increasing its use of force against protesters – with one incident earlier this month in the city of Bago seeing more than 80 people killed.
Witnesses told local media that soldiers had used heavy weapons and had shot at anything that moved.
The disasters also left 146 people injured and 8,424 others displaced, and damaged 45 public facilities…reports Asian Lite News.
The death toll due to the flash floods and landslides in Indonesia has increased much. The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Cyclone Seroja in Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara rose to 117, the National Disaster Management Agency said on Tuesday.
“The number of bodies that have been found is 117, while 76 people are still missing,” the agency’s head Doni Monardo told a virtual press conference.
The deaths were reported in East Flores district (60), Lembata district (28), Alor district (21), Malaka district (3), Ende district (1), Sabu Raijua district (2), Kupang district (1), and Kupang city (1), the Xinhua news agency reported.
The disasters also left 146 people injured and 8,424 others displaced, and damaged 45 public facilities.
Meanwhile, 343 houses were heavily devastated, 133 were moderately destroyed and 110 were slightly damaged.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency said that extreme weather such as heavy rains, strong winds, and high sea waves of up to six meters occurred after Seroja hit the Savu Sea, south of East Nusa Tenggara province.
Seroja’s wind speed will pick up to 130 km per hour on Wednesday from 110 km per hour on Tuesday.
“The wind speed is indeed increasing, but the impact on Indonesia is getting weaker because it is moving away,” the agency’s head Dwikorita Karnawati said.
