Riza Roidila M.

The Jakarta Post • 6th March 2023

‘New normal’ exposes poor railway infrastructure

Train passengers in Greater Jakarta have been struggling with their daily commutes during the so-called “new normal”, as long lines and crowded stations highlight the ongoing issues relating to the lack of public infrastructure and transportation facilities in the densely populated capital.

Commuter line operator PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) reported that passenger numbers surged to 279,000 on June 9 alone, from 80,000 per day on average during the large-scale social distancing (PSBB), as

The Jakarta Post • 6th March 2023

Tourism will take at least a year to recover from COVID-19 outbreak: Economists

Indonesia's tourism sector, the industry hardest-hit by COVID-19, is projected to take a long time to recover, although the pandemic is expected to slow down in the third quarter this year, economists and business players estimate.

Economist and director of the Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Mohammad Faisal said the tourism sector really depended on the people’s psychology, and was very sensitive to safety and security aspects. In the recovery period, regaining people's trust to travel ag

The Jakarta Post • 6th March 2023

Roadmap on single-use plastics to be ready by year end: Environment Ministry

The Environment and Forestry Ministry is currently drafting a roadmap to phase out the use and production of environmentally unfriendly packaging such as plastic, aluminum cans and glass.

The ministry’s Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste and Toxic Substance Management Director General Rosa Vivien Ratnawati said on Tuesday that the drafting of the roadmap, which would, among other things, provide guidelines for the reduction of single-use plastics, was to be completed by the end of this year.

Rosa sa

The Jakarta Post • 10th February 2020

Collaboration makes recycling possible

More and more food and beverage companies in Indonesia are pursuing recycling initiatives with the goal of reducing the amount of plastic waste produced from their products.

Indonesia produces around 64 million tons of waste annually, according Environment and Forestry Ministry data from February last year. Of the total amount, about 15 percent is plastic waste, much of which is food and beverage packaging and plastic bags.

In December last year, The Jakarta Post had the chance to see how bott

The Jakarta Post • 20th December 2019

2019 marks new era in Indonesian transportation system

The year 2019 has been marked by important milestones in the modernization of the country’s railway transportation system with the inauguration of the first ever rail-based mass rapid transportation system and the development of the first high-speed train.

On March 23, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated Jakarta’s MRT system, marking a new era in Indonesia’s railway transportation system.

After almost a year since it began commercially operating, the Jakarta MRT has become an importatio

The Jakarta Post • 16th December 2019

Likupang awaits its time in the tourism sun

When the government named Likupang in North Sulawesi as one of Indonesia’s top-five new tourist destinations, many eyebrows were raised with people asking, “Where?”

Likupang was listed along with four more popular destinations in the government’s so-called “five super-priority tourist destinations” in Indonesia, namely Borobudur in Central Java, Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara and Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo came up with the ide

The Jakarta Post • 30th November 2019

‘No more coins’: Micromerchants embrace cashless payments with direct assistance

Only a year ago, Widiastuti, 35, a food seller in an office canteen located in South Jakarta, knew nothing about Quick Response (QR) Code technology for payments. Back then, cash was still king in her food stall business, which sells nasi rames (steamed rice served with various dishes).

Today, around 60 percent of her food stall’s transactions are made through GoPay’s QR code payment system, which she started using just eight months ago. Her customers, she said, warmly welcomed the innovation a

The Jakarta Post • 18th November 2019

Disaster mitigation plan needed in infrastructure development

As a tropical country located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is prone to natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and landslides.

However, despite the high risk of such disasters, the country’s infrastructure development is not supported by a well-prepared mitigation plan, Khrisna Suryanto Pribadi, a professor at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), said during the 10th National Conference of Road Engineering in Jakarta on Nov. 5.

“We currently focus on post-di

The Jakarta Post • 21st August 2019

Finding the wise way to reduce plastic waste both for consumers and producers

It may not be difficult for many people to stop using plastic straws in a restaurant or to bring a tote bag when going shopping, but getting rid of plastic packaging such as that used for cosmetics products may present more of a challenge.

It could be in the form of shampoo sachets, detergent bottles, plastic packaging for sliced bread, or the plastic wrap used for new books. Many people just throw away such plastic packaging and it ends up in landfills or, at worst, in the ocean.

While plasti

The Jakarta Post • 11th March 2019

‘Build Back Better’ and lessons learned from Japan’s 2011 earthquake, tsunami

Giant seawall: After the 2011 disaster, a giant seawall facing the Pacific Ocean was built to replace the previous one that was broken after the tsunami. The new seawall is 9 kilometers long and 7 meters high.(JP/Riza Roidila Mufti)

Eight years after it was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami, Japan has been aggressively campaigning for disaster preparedness and mitigation. The Jakarta Post’s Riza Roidila Mufti was among a number of Indonesian journalists invited by Japan’s Ministry of Fore

The Jakarta Post • 9th January 2018

Bantar Gebang, the landfill of survival

A huge pile of trash, standing more than 30 meters high, towered over the landfill. Plastic bottles, leftover food, paper, glass, needles — all kinds of trash — were scattered everywhere. The vile stench of rotten food and human waste filled the air. Thousands of flies buzzed around constantly, swarming all over the place. This is the everyday situation at Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West java, which has been receiving and accommodating garbage from Greater Jakarta since 1989.

It was a la