Indonesia President Prabowo replaces controversial minister in first Cabinet change

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Prabowo Subianto, the president of Indonesia, has changed his first cabinet position, moving up to the position of senior secretary. &nbsp,

On Wednesday ( Feb 19 ), Prabowo announced that Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister, 69-year-old academic Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro, would be replaced by Brian Yuliarto, another academic serving as a deputy rector at the Bandung Institute of Technology in West Java. &nbsp,

Brian was inaugurated at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday evening, local media reported. &nbsp,

He claimed that Prabowo himself offered him the place on Wednesday night before swearing the oath of office in the day.

At the State Palace’s opening ceremony, Brian said,” I received the call while I was in Bandung at around 9am.

” I was instructed to strengthen the government and maintain position with the government’s programs”, he added, as quoted by the Jakarta Globe.

On Wednesday evening, Brian declined to name his interests, saying only that he would be focusing on” strategic initiatives in Prabowo’s Asta Cita program, such as producing high-quality manpower”, according to the Jakarta Post.

The Asta Cita “eight visions” program is Prabowo’s strategy to address Indonesia’s socio-economic problems.

Satryo claimed to have written to the president before on Wednesday and that he had submitted his resignation soon after Brian was appointed as his son. &nbsp,

After submitting my departure letter, I recently left the State Secretariat. According to the original minister, who was quoted by the Jakarta Globe,” I have worked difficult over the past four weeks, but perhaps I did not match the government’s anticipation. I therefore decided to resign rather than be dismissed,” he said to the internet in Jakarta on Wednesday. &nbsp,

” I believe I have done my best and worked honestly. If that wasn’t enough, he said, noting that he had already written his resignation notice on Tuesday night and had privately delivered it to the State Secretariat the following day to be sent to the leader.

Since final month, Satryo has been under pressure to move along in the higher education ministry following allegations that he had instantly fired a civil servant, which sparked a protest by thousands of the agency’s staff on January 20 in Central Jakarta. &nbsp,

In January, a crucial staff member who had worked for 24 years at the government, Neni Herlina, claimed that she was immediately removed from her work, reportedly at the education of Satryo’s spouse.

Following Satryo’s own “reconciliatory” meet with the civil servants who organized the opposition, the cancellation was later reversed.

Suwitno, the mind of the Higher Education Employees Association, informed Tempo that Neni had been given a rotation and not fired.

Satryo added that the common restructuring of his government was “in collection with the government’s call to be more successful with the budget.” &nbsp,

The former chancellor has also been accused of repeatedly assaulting his staff, despite his denunciation. &nbsp,

A words related to Satryo’s that was heard supposedly scolding and slapping one of his agency’s vendors due to some water problems at his house was heard in a voice recording that had already been made available online in January. &nbsp,

” That is not my words”, he said in January, as quoted by local media app Tempo. &nbsp,

Additionally, Satryo was recently criticized for putting off the implementation of a law mandating reward pay for lecturers, according to the Jakarta Post. The former chancellor made the announcement in December of last year that his government would examine the rule that his predecessor, Nadiem Makarim, signed.

He claimed that this was done so that his government may examine the law as per recommendations from various stakeholders in the higher education sector. &nbsp,

However, the analysis had the potential to have delayed the payment of educators ‘ salaries, according to The Jakarta Post.

In addition to Brian, Prabowo also appointed Amelia Adininggar Widyasanti and Sonny Harry Budiutomo Harmadi as the brain and deputy head of Statistics Indonesia, as well as Muhammad Yusuf Ateh and Agustina Arumsari as the fresh mind and deputy head of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency.

Nugroho Sulistyo Budi was chosen as the agency’s fresh leader.

On Jan 23, the president ordered a 256 trillion rupiah ( US$ 15.67 billion ) budget cut for ministries and state agencies, along with a 50 trillion rupiah reduction in central government transfers to regional administrations. &nbsp,

His January law did not provide a justification for the budget breaks. However, according to reports, the savings would go toward his administration’s flagship completely nutritional meals effort as well as Danantara, Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund, which will launch on February 24. &nbsp,

Some civil servants have raised concerns about Prabowo’s budget performance travel, as staff morale has been harmed by the belt-tightening measures, which have resulted in the funding of many important programs, according to CNA.

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Watch: CNA Summit 2025 – Trade-offs in Leadership

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SINGAPORE: This year’s CNA Summit digits in on” Trade-offs in Leadership”, exploring how today’s Directors balance the critical factors that determine whether an institution flourishes or flounders. The keynote address will be delivered by Minister for National Development and Minister-in-Charge of Social Services Integration Desmond Lee on Thursday ( FebContinue Reading

Watch live: CNA Summit 2025 – Trade-offs in Leadership

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SINGAPORE: This year’s CNA Summit digits in on” Trade-offs in Leadership”, exploring how today’s Directors balance the critical factors that determine whether an organisation flourishes or flounders. The keynote address will be delivered by Minister for National Development and Minister-in-Charge of Social Services Integration Desmond Lee on Thursday ( FebContinue Reading

Total Defence food resilience programme suspended as precautionary measure due to SOTA food poisoning cases

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Following cases of food poisoning at the School of the Arts ( SOTA ) arising from the meals, a national preparedness initiative that involves ready-to-eat meals was temporarily halted on Thursday ( Feb 20 ).

The Singapore Food Agency ( SFA ), in a joint statement released on Thursday morning, stated that it” will pause the Food Resilience Preparedness Programme as a precautionary measure until investigations on the SOTA gastroenteritis cases are concluded.

CNA first reported on Wednesday about the hepatitis cluster at SOTA.

After eating the meals, 20 students in total developed symptoms like vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea.

In order to be able to serve the ready-to-eat dishes to more than 100, 000 students and teachers from more than 90 schools, the program led by SFA was originally intended to be distributed as part of this week’s Food Resilience Preparedness Programme.

With over 8, 000 seniors taking part in 111 centers across the island, it had planned to work with AIC to spread the foods to seniors.

Exams created the meals for public consumption during regional emergencies. Exams developed these foods to be stored without refrigeration, consumed at room temperature, and have a shelf life of up to eight weeks using its expertise in producing military conflict meals.

As part of Exercise SG Ready, which simulates problems like power outages and food interruptions under the Total Defense symbol, SOTA students were given the dishes on Tuesday. &nbsp,

The affected individuals form about 1 per share of the total number of students in the class who consumed the ready-to-eat foods, said SFA, MOE, AIC and SATS on Wednesday.

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Heard of obstetric fistula? What women should know about this rare but severe childbirth injury

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Aeon Surgery, Colorectal Surgery and Endoscopy Clinic top specialist surgeon Dr. Cheryl Lau, who specializes in gastrointestinal surgery, explained to CNA Women that the vast majority of obstetric-related fistulas are anovaginal fistulas. In developed countries, they are rare and occur in about 1 to 3 per 10, 000 sales.

Worldwide, there are an estimated 100, 000 instances of maternal fistulas per month, according to Professor Christopher Chong, a urogynaecologist, physician and gynaecologist at Gleneagles Hospital. But, he added that such cases are less frequent in Singapore and other developed countries.

WHO IS AT RISK

During childbirth, specific factors may increase the risk.

According to Prof. Chong, Asian women typically have a shorter skin, which is the baby’s head’s pelvic opening, and the vaginal opening is smaller.

The doctor makes a slice called episiotomy ( commonly away from the anus ),” according to the article” the baby head coming through the cervix typically causes tears. He claimed that this helps to reduce ragged and chaotic tears and depart the tear from the anus.

However, an obstetric fistula may also arise due to complications, such as delivering a large baby, a baby with a massive head, an acoustic delivery ( for example, use of forceps ), a very fast labour or a continuous one, or when the baby is delivered in a non-optimal position.

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CNA Explains: What is ‘lawfare’, and how is Singapore cracking down on abuse of its legal system?

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How can exposure be balanced against use?

The Singapore government said it would strike a balance between the right for people to file legitimate says in jury and the need to prevent misuse of operation when passing the relevant article Bill.

Those who act with reasonable attention and in good faith would not be penalised, it added. &nbsp,

According to Mr. Pillai, even if a situation were discovered to be without merit, contempt of court would not be immediately equated with the changes.

Such cases would still be handled by being struck out and by imposing value orders, which may require parties to pay for court use.

Another “abusive factors” may be present: For instance, if a claim was made for an illegal purpose, or if it was filed several times or continuously without any basis. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

In crafting the revisions, authorities looked at prior examples, including a situation which led to the judge setting out categories of misuse of operation. The authorities finally narrowed the scope of the new law to include just flagrant violations of the law as contempt. &nbsp,

The amendments do not reduce the level for contempt of court, keeping cases within recently established standards.

Mr. Lau, the attorney, stated that it would be possible and helpful to develop basic guidelines for preventing the abuse of court procedures, but that each case had to be evaluated on its own merits as well. &nbsp, &nbsp,

In light of more such incidents and earlier laws that made justice more visible to the ordinary gentleman, Mr. Tan claimed the Bill was appropriate. &nbsp,

These include the Protection from Harassment Court, the Court Dispute Resolution Tribunal, where a person can file a dispute state against a neighbor, and the Protection from Harassment Court, where a person can apply to stop harassing behavior.

The latter may also impose expenses on the group making the false claims.

” On one hand, they are trying to compromise the rights of individuals, there are a group of people who cannot obtain professionals. Additionally, it is their legal right to decide whether or not to protect themselves. You need to enable this class of people”, said Mr Josephus Tan.

” But on the other hand, you also need to prevent another group of people… from abusing ( the system )”.

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Budget 2025 will ease business costs but challenges remain, say firms and trade associations

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SINGAPORE: Like many in the food and beverage sector, Foreword Coffee has been feeling the heat from escalating company costs, especially for labor.

Co-founder Lim Wei Jie is relieved that some pleasure is coming with the expansion of the Enabling Employment Credit. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong stated in his Budget 2025 speech on Tuesday ( 18 February ) that the program would be extended until the end of 2028 ).

The scheme provides wage support of up to 20 per cent for workers with disabilities earning below S$ 4, 000 ( US$ 2, 980 ) a month, capped at S$ 400 for each employee.

The pay balances, disbursed on a half-yearly base, have been good for the social organization, which now has 21 workers with disabilities or special needs.

According to Mr. Lim, who founded Foreword Coffee in 2017 to combat social stigma and empower marginalized groups,” Extending the system may continue to support businesses that hire comprehensively and hopefully, encourage more to do so.”

Improvements to the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme, which co-funds available wage rises for lower-wage employees as they upskill and increase job performance, provide additional comfort.

The state will boost its co-funding levels to 40 per cent this year, up from 30 per share. Next time, this will be 20 per share, away from 15 per cent.

With the limited amount of training classes for workers with disabilities, Mr. Lim predicted that Foreword Coffee will be able to pay its employees more, despite the fact that it may not be easy to increase productivity.

” It’s not as easy as bringing in new systems, but whether our employees are able to react to them”, he said. There are very few courses we can send them to right now, but it ends up with a lot of domestic coaching on our own.

On Tuesday, businesses made announcements that included measures to help businesses with rising costs as well as long-term initiatives that aim to promote productivity growth and industrial transformations.

CNA spoke to a number of businesses and business organizations, who generally welcomed these methods, but they also raised fears about how the consequences might be limited in some circumstances.

CORPORATE INCOME TAX Return

A 50 % corporate income tax return may be provided to businesses for another year, according to the announcement. Even if they are not successful, available businesses will also be awarded a S$ 2, 000 cash grant, as long as they are active and employ at least one regional worker by 2024. &nbsp,

A company may receive a maximum of S$ 40, 000 if the full benefit is combined with the tax discount and the grant.

While the measures will help, the impact will vary across businesses, said Mr Ang Yuit, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises ( ASME).

The tax return and funds offer will usually benefit successful businesses, he said. For those that are costly, the importance of the money grant, if they are available, will depend on the number of employees.

” If they are a one-man display, the cash award will be a huge help in terms of price defrayment. But if I have more team, a S$ 2, 000 offer isn’t going to support me much in the overall scheme of things”, he said.

” Unfortunately, the last group of companies is the one that needs the most financial aid”.

Mr Ang noted there could have been” a bit more granularity” in how the taxes return and funds offer are administered.

” I can get more money aid but with a cap on the top end if I am not making money and I have three staff members and more.” I believe this will help the businesses that are attempting to keep afloat and are most impacted by rising fees,” he said.

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SOTA students get food poisoning after consuming ready-to-eat meals in Total Defence exercise

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SINGAPORE: After consuming ready-to-eat meals distributed as part of a national preparedness exercise, students from the School of the Arts ( SOTA ) reported symptoms of food poisoning.

As part of Exercise SG Ready, which simulates crises like power outages and food outages as part of the broader Total Defence exercise, meals were distributed on Tuesday ( Feb 18 ). &nbsp,

CNA understands that about 20 kids were affected.

SOTA vice-president Pauline Ann Tan acknowledged accounts of kids feeling sick after eating the ready-to-eat foods and said investigations were being conducted in an email to learners on Wednesday that CNA saw.

” As a precautionary measure, we would like to collect the unconsumed RTE ( ready-to-eat ) meals so that we can follow up on this matter”, she said in the email.

Learners were told to cut the boxes off at the college’s public office on Wednesday. The following morning, those who had brought dishes house were asked to return them.

Those who felt unwell were advised to seek medical attention and inform their course coaches.

An internet with a comparable concept was later sent to individuals ‘ kids.

DIARRHOEA, NAUSEA, VOMITING

The ready-to-eat dishes were developed by food cook SATS for public use in regional emergencies. Exams developed these foods to be stored without refrigeration, consumed at room temperature, and with a shelf life of up to eight weeks, using its expertise in producing military conflict supplies.

There are five different types of meals: meat italian pasta, recipe meat with biryani corn, fish porridge with sweet potatoes and pumpkin, and sweet spicy tomato fish with basmati rice and vegetable marinara pasta.

CNA is aware of the symptoms that some students who ate the meat bolognese pasta had: nausea, diarrhea, and nausea.

CNA has contacted the appropriate authorities for opinion.

As part of the Singapore Food Agency’s ( SFA ) initiative, over 100, 000 students and teachers from more than 90 schools are receiving these ready-to-eat meals as part of the Food Resilience Preparedness Programme.

With over 8, 000 elderly taking part in the 111 participating centers, SFA is also working with the Agency for Integrated Care to deliver the foods to elders at Active Ageing Centers across the beach.

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SingPost to lay off 45 employees in restructuring exercise

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SINGAPORE: Singapore Post will lay off 45 employees as it carries out a “restructuring” exercise, the company said in a statement on Wednesday ( Feb 19 ).

A SingPost spokeswoman said in response to inquiries from CNA that the 45 positions are mostly in commercial support units, with a tiny number coming from the international business unit.

” This choice has not been taken casually. The business has exhausted its options to consider replacement positions within SingPost in regards to the damaged roles, the spokesperson continued.

The organization is “right-size and delegate business functions to its business units” as part of the restructuring process.

” The initiative aims to improve the business models ‘ operating capability by removing duplicate works,” the organization states.

According to SingPost, “prolonged economic challenges facing the company, including intensive competition,” led to the restructuring.

The spokesperson said,” We would like to point out that this program is not related to any previous situations or reporting information.”

Additionally, the spokesperson stated that all affected staff will have access to employment and counseling services.

” Our main concern is maintaining our operations ‘ power and conservation. We are dedicated to treating our people as we would a family approach.

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Small nuclear reactors a viable option for Singapore, but managing waste is key: Energy experts

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SINGAPORE: Advancements in nuclear technology, specifically modular reactors, have made nuclear power a more appropriate opportunity for land-scarce Singapore compared to a decade ago.

However, spectators told CNA that in order to harness this potent source of clean energy, concerns about how to manage nuclear waste and win public support must first be answered.

In his Budget 2025 speech on Tuesday ( Feb. 18 ), Prime Minister Lawrence Wong stated that Singapore would research potential nuclear deployment and develop its capabilities in this area.

Given the technologies at the time, a government pre-feasibility research in 2012 determined that nuclear power was impractical for use in Singapore.

A century later, nuclear power appeared in an expert document on Singapore’s energy transition to 2050&nbsp, as&nbsp, a clear alternative that could meet the fuel mix once “technologically intelligent and economically feasible”.

And last year, Singapore signed a” 123 Agreement” on civil nuclear cooperation with the United States after announcing plans to build a pool of about 100 nuclear energy experts in the medium to long run.

Energy experts told CNA that small modular reactors ( SMRs ) are a key innovation that has made this change in stance possible.

Compact and scalable, SMRs are a fraction of the size of a conventional nuclear reactor, and can be prefabricated for easier transport and installation. Their output is about one-third the generating capacity of conventional reactors, or 300 megawatts per unit.

They are also safer, said Mr Somnath Kansabanik, principal at Rystad Energy.

” Gen III and IV reactors, which are newer generations of nuclear technology, feature’ passive safety systems ‘ designed to significantly reduce accident risks”, he said.

SMRs are already in use in China and Russia. The United States, Europe and Britain are also pursuing SMR projects, and corporations like Meta, Google and Amazon have recently announced large investments in nuclear technologies, including SMRs.

In a more personal way, Mr. Kansabanik noted that Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand have joined the US’s program called” Foundation for the Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology ( FIRS T ) and have begun nuclear feasibility studies.

Advanced SMR technologies are at a “tipping point for becoming commercially viable,” according to Mr. Nick Ash, Southeast Asia energy business leader at Arup.

Nuclear power could enhance Singapore’s energy security and support its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, he noted.

Singapore still relies on natural gas, a fossil fuel, for about 95 per cent of its electricity supply, making it vulnerable to price volatility and supply chain disruptions.

According to Professor Lee Poh Seng, executive director of the Energy Studies Institute, if advanced nuclear technology is made practical, it could account for 10 % of the country’s electricity supply by 2050.

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