Indonesia Highlights: Heatwave Hoax Goes Viral | Borobudur Marathon Still a Go Despite Mt Merapi Rumbling | President Joko Widodo Attends Virtual East Asia Summit

KOMPAS.com – Amid the already challenging time of the Covid-19 pandemic, a heatwave post went viral on social media. The hoax urged people to remain alert and keep themselves hydrated after a supposed heatwave swept through Indonesia with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius. The country’s weather agency promptly said this was untrue.

In the Indonesian province of Yogyakarta, the 2020 Borobudur Marathon will still go on Sunday, November 15, amid the increasing volcanic activity of Mount Merapi. Last week the authorities raised the emergency alert to ‘watch’ or the second-highest level. The event will take place at the world’s biggest Buddhist temple in the country’s ancient city of Yogyakarta.

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo attended the East Asia Summit on Saturday, calling the participating countries to build strategic partnerships in enhancing the cooperation with each other during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Below are the editors’ picks published on Kompas.com:

1. Indonesia’s Heatwave Hoax Goes Viral on Social Media

KOMPAS.com/ELSA CATRIANA An illustration of hoax.

Unproven information went viral on social media, saying that Indonesia suffered from a heatwave as the temperatures reached 40-50 degrees Celsius on Saturday, November 14.
The fake information recommended that peple take necessary actions to protect themselves, including avoiding drinking cold water.

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has advised that the information was incorrect. “The circulating news is certainly inaccurate because the current conditions cannot be said to be a heatwave,” the BMKG said in a statement on Saturday.

Source: https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2020/11/14/175649165/hoaks-informasi-gelombang-panas-di-indonesia.

2. Borobudur Marathon Still a Go amid Mt Merapi Volcanic Activity

KOMPAS.com/MOCHAMAD SADHELI Borobudur Marathon 2020 in Magelang, Central Java is set to take place on Saturday, November 15, 2020.

A prestigious running race in Central Java called the Borobudur Marathon 2020 is set to begin on Sunday, November 15 amid the increasing volcanic activity at Mount Merapi.

Organized by the Central Java administration in collaboration with Bank Jateng and Kompas Daily, the race will be divided into two categories: elite race and virtual challenge. The elite race category will take place Sunday at the Borobudur Temple complex in Magelang, Central Java. A total of 26 participants will run a 3.5-kilometer route under this category.

Meanwhile, the virtual challenge category will take place from November 15-30. All preparations have been made for the smooth running of the event, including to ensure the readiness of the route at the Borobudur Temple Complex.

“I hope we will break a record,” said the Foundation of Borobudur Marathon chairman Liem Chie An in a press conference on Saturday, November 14.

“Let's pray together that there won’t be an eruption,” said Liem Chie An.

It was reported that there has been an increasing volcanic activity at Mount Merapi in the past few days, causing the authorities to raise the emergency alert to the second-highest level.

Source: https://www.kompas.com/sports/read/2020/11/14/17000038/borobudur-marathon-2020-berharap-gunung-merapi-tidak-meletus?page=all.

3. President Joko Widodo Attends Virtual East Asia Summit

Dokumentasi/Biro Pers Media dan Informasi Sekretariat Presiden President Joko Widodo during a virtual East Asia Summit on Saturday, November 14, 2020 from the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java.

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo attended the virtual East Asia Summit (EAS) on Saturday, calling for greater cooperation in health resilient amid the Covid-19 pandemic and maintaining peace and stability among the members.

During the meeting President Jokowi also described that 2020 is a very tough year, according to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. "The President of the Republic of Indonesia said that it is a very tough year for all of us. However, no matter how difficult the situation is, we will be able to overcome it together,” said Retno in a press conference broadcast via the Presidential Secretariat Youtube channel on November 14.

Retno said Jokowi told the participants that EAS must be used to build strategic partnerships and trust to strengthen cooperation.

EAS has very strong potential as the members comprise five countries who are sitting on the UN Security Council, eight countries who are members of the G20, and EAS represents 54 percent of the world’s population and 58 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product.

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/11/14/20460771/hadiri-pertemuan-east-asia-summit-jokowi-sebut-2020-sebagai-tahun-yang.