An Indonesian prosecutor charged five men and a woman with treason on Thursday, accusing them of organizing a protest in Jakarta demanding independence for the easternmost province of Papua.The peaceful protest of about 100 people had been held outside the presidential palace and military headquarters on Aug. 28 and followed a period of unrest in Papua.Prosecutor P.  Permana read out the indictment in the Central Jakarta court saying the six defendants had organized a rally demanding the Indonesian government allow a vote in Papua to let it separate from Indonesia One of the six waved the “Morning Star” flag, while dancing and singing, the indictment said. The flag is a banned symbol of Papuan nationhood.”The action by the defendants is treason with the aim to separate Papua province and West Papua province from the unitary state of Indonesia,” said Permana.There was a small protest outside the court on Thursday held by pro-Papuan activists calling for the release of the six.The six could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.A hearing for the defense is due on Jan. 2, but the six have said it was their constitutional right to participate in the rally.Resource-rich Papua was a Dutch colony that was incorporated into Indonesia after a controversial U.N.-backed referendum in 1969. The region has since endured decades of mostly low-level separatist conflict. 
…

your ad here

Hong Kong police on Thursday said they had frozen HK$70 million ($10 million) from a major fund for donations to help pro-democracy protesters, and arrested its four members for money laundering.Police said their investigation focused on Spark Alliance, a non-profit online platform formed in 2016 that collects donations to provide support to political critics of the city’s pro-Beijing authorities.It is one of two crowd-sourced funding platforms that have collected millions of dollars to provide legal and other help for people arrested in the pro-democracy protests that have upended the city since early June.But police said some of the donations were allegedly used by the fund owners for other investments.”We found the donated money was transferred to a shell company and a significant portion of this money was invested in personal insurance products,” Senior Superintendent Chan Wai-kei told reporters.”The beneficiary of these products is the person in charge of the shell company.”Four people aged between 17 and 50 – three men and one woman – were arrested for money laundering, including the alleged director of the shell company.Chan did not respond directly to questions from reporters on whether donating to legal defense funds for arrested protesters could count as money laundering.”Money laundering means you continue to handle the money even when you know it’s gained from unlawful activities,” he said.He added people could risk committing offenses of inciting or facilitating crimes if a person knowingly financed unlawful activities.Last month, Spark Alliance announced on its Facebook account that HSBC was suspending its account without explanation.Neither Spark Alliance nor HSBC responded for requests to comment.Semi-autonomous Hong Kong has been battered by increasingly violent demonstrations in the starkest challenge the city has presented to Beijing since its 1997 handover from Britain.Millions have hit the streets in protests fueled by years of growing fears that authoritarian China is stamping out Hong Kong’s liberties.Police have arrested more than 6,000 people and charged around 1,000 of them, filling the city’s courts with cases that are likely to last for years.Around 40 percent of those arrested are students, some of whom face up to ten years in jail on rioting charges.
 
…

your ad here

A Philippine court on Thursday found members of a prominent political clan guilty of carrying out a 2009 massacre that left 57 people dead, including 32 media workers.The Manila court sentenced Andal Ampatuan Jr. and several other family members to life in prison. The case involved more than 100 detained suspects, and dozens were given lesser sentences while others were acquitted for a lack of evidence.Nicholas Bequelin of the London-based rights group Amnesty International said the government must take more steps to achieve justice for the victims with 80 other people accused of taking part in the massacre still at large.The killings took place after gunmen blocked a convoy carrying relatives and supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu. They were traveling to submit forms for his candidacy for governor of Maguindanao province in what was a challenge to the Ampatuan control in the area.The victims and their vehicles were dumped in a mass grave.The trial in the case began in 2010, and throughout the process the Ampatuan family members denied the charges against them.
…

your ad here

The tented business next to the Tirtonadi Bus Terminal blends in with nearby food stalls selling local favorites.The “warung” displays its menus on a stick attached to the side of the tent. “Warung Makan Kuliner Daging Guk Guk” proclaims this busy stall serves dog, as “guk-guk” is how Indonesians describe a A customer eats dog meat in Yogyakarta May 28, 2011. A meal comprising of dog meat and plain rice costs about 8000 rupiah ($0.90).The coalition believes that while only 7% of Indonesians consume dog meat this means millions of dogs are killed for their meat annually.“We didn’t ask for a bylaw, but at least there is a progress toward reducing dog consumption” said Pranowo. “It will be great if there is a ban. Without a regulation, the danger of rabies can be high.”According to scientists, it is rare for rabies to be transmitted to those who eat cooked dog meat. The risk of transmission is to those who capture the dogs, some of them pets, and to those who slaughter and butcher the dogs. The virus is transmitted in the saliva of rabid animals that enters the human body via a wound or a scratch, according to the World Health Organization.Putting an end to the tradeData from Dog Meat Free Indonesia, which wants the dog meat trade abolished, suggests that 13,700 dogs are slaughtered every month in Solo. Most of the dogs are transported from West Java, which has yet to be declared as a rabies-free region, according to the organization. The group also said Central Java Province, where Solo is located, has been rabies-free since 1995 but is threatened by the high consumption of dog meat.Pranowo urged owners of food stalls and restaurants that serve dog meat dishes to substitute other meats for dog if they want to remain in the food business.Solo Mayor Hadi Rudyatmo said the plentiful supply of dog meat contributed to proliferation of dog meat dining options in Solo.The growing popularity of dog meat in Indonesia stands in opposition to other nations in the region where people eat dogs. The meat is falling out of favor with South Korean and Chinese diners as growing prosperity makes other meats more affordable and owning dogs as pets fashionable.But in Indonesia, many people too poor to purchase beef can afford dog, a less expensive meat in part because dogs do not require pastures or grain for feeding.                                                                                                           “By prohibiting the sales of dog meat, will it end? No,” said the mayor. “Even before I was born, the dog meat sellers have been in the business.”Ending dog meat consumption has proved challenging elsewhere in Indonesia. Although Bali banned the trade in 2017, authorities in April and May 2019 found many food stalls serving dog meat.Solo’s mayor, aware that people in the dog meat trade will need a new source of income to support their families, cautioned the proposed ban should not add any financial burden to the city government.“We will do it slowly,” he added. “We will talk them into the possibility of replacing dog meat with other ingredients in their cooking.”Fitri Wulandari contributed to this report.
…

your ad here

There was lots of posturing but little progress in 2019, as the United States and North Korea spent much of the year trying to convince the other side to take the first step in nuclear talks. With North Korea’s end-of-year threats and its misguided belief that it can influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, some fear the Korean Peninsula could soon return to a state of major tensions, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul.
…

your ad here

Australia experienced its hottest day on record and temperatures are expected to soar even higher as heatwave conditions embrace most of the country.The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said the average temperature across the country of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) Tuesday beat the record of 40.3 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) from Jan. 7, 2013.”This hot air mass is so extensive, the preliminary figures show that yesterday was the hottest day on record in Australia, beating out the previous record from 2013 and this heat will only intensify,” bureau meteorologist Diana Eadie said in a video statement on Wednesday.The weather bureau said temperatures in southern and central Australia on Thursday may reach between 8 and 16 degrees higher than normal.On Wednesday temperatures soared to 47.7 Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) in Birdsville, Queensland, 46.9 Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) in Mandora, Western Australia and similar levels in southern and central Australia.The highest temperature reliably recorded in any location in Australia was 50.7 Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) in January 1960, at Oodnadatta, a desert settlement in outback South Australia .High temperatures and strong winds are also fanning bushfires around Australia, including more than 100 in New South Wales state where heat and smoke have caused an increase in hospital admissions.Cooler conditions are forecast from Friday.
…

your ad here

Foreign tourists normally pour into Vietnam to see colonial architecture and limestone jutting out of the sea. Now some are headed to Vietnam’s clinics and hospitals. They’re part of Asia’s latest medical tourism industry.Vietnamese officials hope medical tourists will emerge from the threefold increase in arrivals between 2010 and 2018. The key attractions: dentists and cosmetic surgery.Vietnam’s political stability, affordability of healthcare and the relatively high quality of certain types of medicine are driving the incipient trend already, country analysts say. Vietnam stands to join Asian peers such as Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan as magnets for medical tourism, yet charge less.“I do see a trend of people coming here. It is cheaper to get things done here than it is in Thailand and definitely Singapore,” said Mike Lynch, managing director with SSI Institutional Brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. “The biggest group is cosmetic surgery. There’s a lot of it going on here.”Money maker for VietnamMore than 80,000 foreigners have traveled to Vietnam so far for medical “examinations and treatments” the government-run Vietnam Investment Review news website says, and they contributed combined income of more than $1 billion. The country’s medical sector grows 18% to 20% per cent every year, the website adds.Business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates places the 2017 revenue alone at $2 billion. “Vietnam is emerging as a key player in Southeast Asia’s medical tourism industry,” the consultancy says.Vietnamese money Dong is seen in Asia Commercial Bank in Hanoi, Vietnam.Tran Quoc Bao, the planning and marketing director at City International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, told a regional conference earlier this year that Vietnam was a “preferred hub for healthcare and wellness services”, the investment review says.Revenue from Singapore and Thailand suggest that medical tourism pays. The Tourism Authority of Thailand anticipated 26 billion baht ($860 million) in gross medical tourism revenue last year, up 14% over 2017, Thai media report. Singapore’s medical tourism revenue grew at a 10% compound annual growth rate in the to 2017, when it stood at $1 billion Singapore dollars ($737 million), online magazine Healthcare Asia says.Medical tourism generates at least one-third of private hospital revenue in most Southeast Asian countries, and the Asia Pacific was the world’s biggest medical tourism market as of 2017, Zion Market Research has found, as cited by the travel news website TTG Asia.Tourism boomBetween 2010 and 2018, the number of foreign tourists in Vietnam grew from 5 million to more than 15 million.General Statistics Office data show that more than 2.8 million Chinese tourists visited Vietnam from January through July this year and the number of South Korean tourists rose 22% over a period against the same span of 2018 to more than 2.4 million arrivals. China and South Korea are the top two sources of tourism.In coastal vacation spots frequented by these tourists – the likes of Phu Quoc and Da Nang — resorts have “tried to integrate facilities to make them more suitable for medical tourism”, Dezan Shira says.Dentistry is attracting Australians in “droves” as cosmetic surgery draws South Koreans, said Ralf Matthaes, founder of the Infocus Mekong Research consultancy in Ho Chi Minh City. Some of the dentists studied overseas and returned to Vietnam for work, he said. Resident Koreans are among the cosmetic surgeons.A Korean startup pitches to investors in Ho Chi Minh City. South Korean startups in areas like cosmetics and hotel smartphone apps are joining in on the investment in Vietnam.Dental work costs one-tenth of the prices asked in North America and the quality of doctors is slowly picking up, Lynch said. Regional medical service firms will eventually set up offices in Vietnam if not there already, he forecast.Risks and opportunitiesSingapore, Taiwan and Thailand still have a better reputation for general healthcare. In Thailand, for example, foreigners visit hospitals for full-blown checkups that test for tumors, blood sugar and any cardiovascular problems.Matthaes, a Vietnam dweller of 25 years, warned against hospital care in Vietnam. He said doctors put in the “wrong hardware” after he broke a leg and that successful medical malpractice lawsuits are rare.“I would say it’s spotty at best, but if it comes to dental, and if it comes to plastic surgery, yes,” he said.Paying extra can reduce risk and add comfort, yet a bill often still comes in below what patients would pay in a more developed country.American energy consultant John Rockhold, 67, said his wife stayed in a hospital for four days to give birth.“To me things have really improved,” said Rockhold, a Vietnam War veteran. “We’ve had our children here. My wife had to have a caesarian and we stayed in one of the international hospitals. I paid for the extra to have a suite. My mother in- law could stay with her, and she could order from five or six different restaurants. She was in there like four days and I got a bill of $1,200.”
…

your ad here

As Pyongyang appears to be preparing to launch a long-range missile, experts see an end to a diplomatic process Washington has pursued to denuclearize North Korea.”I see no signs that the North Koreans are interested in talking to the U.S. at this time,” said Joshua Pollack, a North Korean expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. “They appear to have made their decision.”On Tuesday, a top U.S. Air Force general said he is expecting North Korea to launch a long-range ballistic missile as a “Christmas gift” to the U.S.”What I would expect is some type of long-range ballistic missile would be the gift,” said Gen. Charles Brown, commander of Pacific Air Forces and air component commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.”It’s just a matter of does it come on Christmas Eve? Does it come on Christmas Day? Does it come after the New Year?”  Earlier this month, North Korea said, “It is entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it will select to get.”The statement came as Pyongyang issued a series of warnings demanding that Washington change its stance on denuclearization talks by the end-of-the-year deadline Pyongyang unilaterally imposed on Washington.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they meet at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, June 30, 2019.Washington and Pyongyang have been locked in their respective positions since talks failed at the Hanoi Summit held in February. There, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un asked U.S. President Donald Trump for sanctions relief. Trump denied the request and asked instead for full denuclearization before granting any relaxation of sanctions.North Korea has increased provocations by conducting 13 rounds of missile tests since May in an effort to pressure the U.S. to grant sanctions relief.This month, North Korea conducted two tests within a week that experts think may be related to preparations for launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).  North Korea said it conducted a “crucial test” on Friday at its Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, the site of its long-range missile launch, to “bolster up the reliable strategic nuclear deterrent” against U.S. threats.   The test comes after another “very important test” North Korea said it carried out on Dec. 7 at the same launching site.  Experts think North Korea will continue to increase threats that could put an end to diplomacy.”Pyongyang is expected to move up the escalation ladder in attempts to induce U.S. concessions,” said Bruce Klingner, former CIA deputy division chief of Korea and current senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “The regime could incrementally raise tensions with medium- and intermediate-range missile launches or jump to an ICBM or nuclear test.”Evans Revere, a former State Department official who had negotiated with North Korea extensively, said, “A major military provocation, nuclear test or ICBM launch could well bring the diplomatic process to an abrupt end.”  People watch a TV screen showing a file image of a ground test of North Korea’s rocket engine during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 9, 2019.If North Korea conducts an ICBM or nuclear weapons test, experts think the U.S. is likely to respond with threats to use force rather than cave in to Pyongyang’s pressure, according to experts.”There are concerns that Trump could either return to threats of preventive attacks, which could lead to an all-out war on the peninsula, or accept a minimal, poorly crafted deal to maintain the façade of progress with Kim Jong Un,” said Klingner.Gary Samore, a former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction in the Obama administration, said, “A full long-range missile test is a little dangerous for Kim Jong Un because Trump may overreach and start threatening military actions.”  Earlier in December, Trump threatened to use force against North Korea if necessary.  He said, “We have the most powerful military we’ve ever had.”  He continued, “And hopefully, we don’t have to use it. But if we do, we’ll use it. If we have to, we’ll do it.”In response, North Korea’s army chief of staff Pak Jong Chon said, “The use of armed force is not the privilege of the U.S. only.  While tensions are expected to continue heightening, experts said the only way forward on denuclearization talks is for either Washington or Pyongyang to change position.”Unless the U.S. or North Korea change their position, there’s no progress on denuclearization,” said Samore.  Ken Gause, director of the adversary analytics program at CNA, said, “Unless the U.S. puts concessions on the table, it is unlikely that North Korea will come to the negotiating table.”However, a State Department spokesperson told VOA’s Korean Service on Monday the U.N. must maintain sanctions currently in place on North Korea.”Now is not the time for the U.N. Security Council to consider offering premature sanctions relief,” said the spokesperson. “The DPRK is threatening to conduct an escalated provocation, refusing to meet to discuss denuclearization and continuing to maintain and advance its prohibited weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile program.”The DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official English name.The statement was made in response to a Chinese and Russian proposal made on Monday for the U.N. Security Council to lift sanctions placed on North Korea’s major export commodities including coal, iron, seafood and textiles, and to ease restrictions on North Koreans working overseas whose remittance provide the Kim regime with much needed hard currency. The U.N. Security Council ramped up sanctions on North Korea in 2016 in an effort to make the country give up its nuclear weapons program.Ham Ji-ha contributed to this report.
…

your ad here

Netflix is seeing rapid subscriber growth in regions including Asia and Latin America as it girds for tougher competition in the streaming market, newly detailed figures show.In a regulatory filing this week, Netflix offered the first detailed look at its finances from various regions around the world.The figures showed nearly 14.5 million subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region at the end of September, representing growth of more than 50 percent over the previous 12 months.The region including Europe, the Middle East and Africa had some 47 million paid subscribers, up 40 percent year-over-year, in the largest segment outside North America.Latin America included some 29 million subscribers, a rise of 22 percent over the past year, Netflix said in the filing.North America is the largest market for Netflix with some 67 million subscribers but growth over the past year was just 6.5 percent.Netflix is the leader in streaming television, operating in some 190 countries, but it is facing new offerings from deep-pocketed rivals including Disney, Apple, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and AT&T’s WarnerMedia. 
…

your ad here

China’s second aircraft carrier entered service on Tuesday, adding major firepower to its military ambitions as it faces tensions with self-ruled Taiwan as well as the US and regional neighbors around the disputed South China Sea.The commissioning of the warship, named the Shandong, puts China in a small club of nations with multiple aircraft carriers, and the country is reportedly building a third.China’s first domestically built carrier was delivered to the People’s Liberation Army navy in Sanya, on the southern island of Hainan, at a ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping, state media said.China has one other carrier — the Liaoning  — a repurposed Soviet vessel bought from Ukraine that went into service in 2012.Around 5,000 people attended Tuesday’s ceremony, singing the national anthem as the national flag was raised, state broadcaster CCTV said.Xi inspected an honor guard during the ceremony and met with service personnel on board the warship.Hainan province is in the South China Sea east of Vietnam, which has competing claims in the waterway along with China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei.The 700-meter (2,400 feet) long carrier dock in Sanya is able to service multiple carriers simultaneously and is the largest port of its kind in Asia.It is also home to the Yulin nuclear submarine base.In November China confirmed that the Shandong aircraft carrier had sailed through the Taiwan Strait for “routine” training and tests, drawing the ire of Taipei.China, which sees democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, has stepped up military drills around the island since Beijing-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016.”With several Chinese carriers, the east coast of Taiwan may no longer be safe for Taiwan’s defenders,” said Steve Tsang, head of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.But it would take nearly a decade for the new carrier to be combat-ready, he added.”The carriers do not really effect the balance of force between China and the U.S. — or Japan with its sophisticated sea and air capabilities,” said James Goldrick, a naval and maritime strategy expert at the Australian National University”They are extremely vulnerable to submarine attacks, particularly nuclear-powered submarines such as the U.S. Navy operates in the Western Pacific.Big ambitionsBeijing has been ramping up its military ambitions and in July outlined a national defense plan to build a modern, high-tech army.China’s defense spending is second only to the United States  —  though it still lags far behind — and it said earlier this year it planned to raise it by 7.5 percent in 2019.In March, Beijing said it would spend 1.19 trillion yuan ($177.6 billion) on defense in 2019, after it increased its outlay by 8.1 percent to 1.11 trillion yuan in 2018, according to a government report presented at the start of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC).The nationalistic Global Times said Tuesday that thanks to “significant improvements,” the second carrier is “not a copy of the first one and is much more powerful”.The carriers “have the potential to greatly increase China’s capacity to coerce weaker Asian and Indian Ocean states, as well as to intervene to protect Chinese nationals and interests in failing states”, Goldrick said.A U.S. think tank reported in May that recent satellite photographs indicated that construction of a third Chinese aircraft carrier was well under way.Adding a third aircraft carrier will put China in an elite club among naval powers but it will still lag far behind the United States, which has 10 nuclear-powered Nimitz-class “supercarriers” currently in service.    
…

your ad here

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa said Monday she would not be silenced as she launched her defense against a libel charge that press advocates call an attempt to curb her news site’s critical coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte.Her site Rappler has written extensively and often critically on Duterte’s policies, including his deadly drugs war that rights groups say may amount to crimes against humanity.”I can go to jail for 12 years for this (case), that is the maximum sentence,” she told reporters outside court after the hearing, noting government investigators had initially dismissed the case.”From track record you can see the political goals to shut Rappler up … but we haven’t shut up yet,” said Ressa, who is free on bail.Besides the libel case, Ressa and Rappler have been hit with a string of criminal charges in the span of roughly a year, prompting allegations that authorities are targeting her and her team for their work.Ressa, named a Time Person of the Year in 2018 for her journalism, did not testify in court.The case centers on a Rappler report from 2012 about a businessperson’s alleged ties to a then-judge of the nation’s top court.Government investigators initially dismissed the businessman’s 2017 complaint about the article, but state prosecutors later decided to file charges.The legal underpinning of the charge is a controversial “cybercrime law” aimed at online offenses ranging from hacking and internet fraud to child pornography.In court on Monday, Ressa’s defense team highlighted investigators’ initial decision not to pursue the case, and her insulation from Rappler’s daily news decisions.”As an executive editor, she does not really edit,” Chay Hofilena, a Rappler investigative journalist, told the court.Criticism by DuterteThe government has repeatedly said the case has nothing to do with politics, adding that no one is above the law.However, Duterte has in speeches lashed out at Rappler and other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.He threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network’s franchise renewal application.Rights monitor Reporters Without Borders ranked the Philippines at 134 out of 178 countries on its annual World Press Freedom index this year, when at least three journalists were killed “most likely by agents working for local politicians.”
 
…

your ad here

Indonesian students are among the lowest performers in Southeast Asia, according to a recent report, The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA),  released  this month by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Indonesian 15-year-olds ranked in the bottom ten across 79 surveyed countries in all three subjects under consideration:   math, reading, and science. The results point to education quality issues  in the region’s most populous country.“It’s a wake-up call for all of us in the education sector,” said Totok Amin Soefijanto, a policy expert at Paramadina University in Jakarta.Imperfect incentives
Indonesia’s so-called demographic dividend, meaning its proportionally large youth population in a country of over 260 million, holds considerable potential for economic growth, but it is diminished by its low educational achievement to date.Poorly qualified teachers are a major problem. Sixty-five percent of students surveyed by PISA said their teachers rarely provided direct feedback to them. One in five teachers are regularly absent, according to the World Bank in 2017. The government has run teacher competency tests and in 2015, the average score for the nearly three million teachers who took it was 53 percent, according to an analysis by University of Melbourne professor Andrew Rosser. “We have not repeated the competency assessment since 2015, which I think was another one of our mistakes, because if we don’t measure this, we don’t know where their skills are decreasing,” said Soefijanto.Indonesian teachers also face chronically low salaries and are often appointed on the basis of cronyism or favor-trading, according to Rosser, which further decreases their competency.
 Decentralization has been another challenge for improving education. Under the authoritarian regime of military general Suharto from 1965 to 1998, the school system was highly centralized. But after the regime ceded to a full democracy, Jakarta slowly yielded control of  educational policy to regional governments. Given Indonesia’s geographic reach of over 15,000 islands, this spread has made it difficult to enforce things like standard curricula or teacher qualifications.“We also have challenges when it comes to geographic inequities, as we have a lot of remote areas in the country,” said Jakarta-based social worker and activist Ryan Febrianto. “It’s a big country that has a lot of administrative areas, languages, and cultures, so what’s important is to develop policies that can accommodate that.”Some recent advancesThe OECD report itself notes that last year’s country results “must be seen in the context of the vast strides that Indonesia has made in increasing enrolment.” From 2001 to 2018, the PISA sample coverage leaped from 46 percent to 85 percent of 15-year-old students. According to the report’s authors, when accounting for the weakness of new entrants into a school system, the fact that Indonesia’s results have been relatively stable over this period actually indicates that “Indonesia has been able to raise the quality of its education system.”Indonesia’s high-profile education minister, Nadiem Makarim, former CEO of the influential ride-hailing startup Go-Jek, told Indonesian newspaper Kompas that the PISA results “should not be packaged as good news” and called for a “paradigm shift” in educational standards. He announced this week that the country’s National Examination would be revamped as a Minimum Competency Assessment that tests students on math and literacy skills.Weak core subjectsMath was a particularly sore subject for Indonesian students, with only one percent of them performing at the highest levels, compared to 44 percent in mainland China and 37 percent in Singapore, according to the report. The World Bank has also claimed that 55 percent of Indonesians who complete school are functionally illiterate.FILE – A teacher explains verses of the Quran imprinted on metal plates at a recital class during the holy fasting month of Ramadan at the Al-Ashriyyah Nurul Iman Islamic boarding school in Parung, West Java, Indonesia,In recent years, some resources have been redirected from core subjects to religious studies.   Almost two-thirds of the country’s secondary schools are private and the majority (about 90%) of them are Islamic in nature. Students at religious boarding schools typically score lower than students at nonreligious schools on exams, according to one 2017 study.
It is worth noting that Indonesia may not lack absolute resources to fund education, but rather that its allocation deserves further review. The country spent about 3.6 percent of its GDP on education in 2015, somewhat lower than regional neighbors like Malaysia and Vietnam, but in accordance with a constitutional mandate to spend 20 percent of its national budget on education.“In recent years, I think the government has been focusing on maintaining and improving enrollment levels as well as improving school facilities… but we [still] have issues in terms of quality improvement,” said Febrianto.
 
There is much low-hanging fruit for Indonesia’s education budget in coming years, from incentivizing absentee teachers to fine-tuning its domestic national examinations. In the meantime, there is one area in which Indonesian students already score undeniably high: 91 percent of them reported “sometimes or always feeling happy,” a full six points higher than the global average.
…

your ad here