Latest news with #DediMulyadi
Straits Times
14-06-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
Indonesian province dangles cash for men to get vasectomy, in bid to slow population growth
West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi wants men to join in the move to slow population growth, as previous government efforts had mainly involved women. PHOTO: BERITA HARIAN Indonesian province dangles cash for men to get vasectomy, in bid to slow population growth - In a first for the country, the authorities in Indonesia's most populous province of West Java have introduced a new incentive to slow population growth by offering 500,000 rupiah (S$40) in cash to men who undergo vasectomies. The men must be aged 35 and above, are healthy, have fathered at least two children, and have the consent of their wives for the procedure. In West Java, a person is defined as living below the poverty line if he lives on 535,000 rupiah, or lower, a month. 'Response has been way above expectations,' said Mr Enda Suganda, a senior official at West Java's population control and family planning department in Subang regency. 'We had more than 200 men coming forward but we could only do 60. We will budget again for further vasectomies later this year,' he told The Straits Times at his office on June 12. The sterilisation programme , which is the brainchild of West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, will be rolled out in other regencies including Purwakarta, Cirebon and Indramayu in the coming months. A small but undisclosed amount for the programme will come from the province's social assistance fund for 2025, which is earmarked at 14 trillion rupiah, according to Mr Enda. 'There are always pros and cons, but I believe vasectomy gives a lot of benefits,' goods trader Mr Asep Dadi, 50, who has three children, told ST. 'It does not do harm to us men,' added Mr Asep, one of the 60 who underwent the minor surgical procedure in Subang regency, saying he planned to use the money for household expenses. Indonesia's population of nearly 286 million makes it the world's fourth most populous country. West Java alone has a population of 49.9 million – about the same as South Korea's. Since Jakarta launched its family planning programme in the 1970s, Indonesia's total fertility rate, or births per woman, has fallen from 5.6 to around 2 today. To date, efforts to slow population growth had focused mainly on birth control for women, with commonly used methods such as oral contraceptive pills taken daily or regular injections every quarter. Some feel more could be done. In April, governor Dedi made headlines for his proposal requiring men to undergo sterilisation in exchange for access to the government's social assistance programme, known locally as bansos. Recently, he also proposed military-style boot camps to instill discipline among delinquent youth. Vasectomy is a sterilisation procedure for males, in which the tubes that carry sperm are cut or blocked. It is considered a simple and permanent form of birth control. Although it can be reversed in some cases, success is not guaranteed. 'Stop having children if you can't provide for them well,' he told reporters , suggesting funds used to subsidise hospital births for underprivileged women be redirected towards building simple housing. Mr Dedi's proposal went further, outlining that vasectomy would also be a requirement for poor families seeking new electricity connections, food aid, scholarships or public housing. ' We now expect the husband to join the programme , as a form of responsibility for himself and his family. Don't always place the responsibility on women,' he said. Mr Dedi argued that vasectomies would help reduce the poverty rate as 'poor families generally have many children' . Some 7 per cent of West Java's population live below the province's poverty line. The regional governor's controversial vasectomy-for-aid proposal has raised eyebrows, drawing backlash from rights and religious groups. His idea did not go down well with the West Java Ulema Council of Islamic leaders, whose chairman Mr Rahmat Syafei said vasectomy could only be used as an incentive, not a prerequisite for social aid. 'If it is for an incentive, that is acceptable, but still it must comply with religious teachings,' he told local news agency Antara on May 1. Chairperson of the National Commission on Human Rights for Indonesia, Atnike Nova Sigiro, who spoke to reporters in May, said: 'Whatever is medically being done to your body is (a matter of) privacy and... human rights. It should not be linked to social aid.' That same month, Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf said that Mr Dedi's idea was 'not relevant' to solving the poverty issue and would 'be difficult (to implement).' Pangeran Khairul Saleh, a member of a Parliamentary group that oversees human rights issues, stressed that sterilisation cannot be made mandatory or conditional. 'Social assistance fund is a citizen's constitutional right and cannot be linked to any medical procedure, which is a private matter,' he said in a statement to local media on June 5. In the digital public sphere, reaction was divided. One social media user who backed the proposal, in principle, expressed hopes that men 'will make more effort to improve their standard of living, and that the family planning programme doesn't only burden women'. Others gave the idea a flat thumbs down, likening birth control as a population control tool, particularly for the poor, to eugenics. 'Reproductive rights or reproductive abuse?' posted an Instagram user. But for freelance electrician Mr Nana Suryana, who was among the first batch of 60 to be vasectomised, the cash payout will come in handy. 'Any further social aid linked to my vasectomy will be very welcome,' the 46-year-old father of six told ST. Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja has been Indonesia correspondent at The Straits Times since 2008, and is based in Jakarta. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Old Indonesian landslide clip misrepresented as deadly mining disaster
"Rockfall in Mount Kuda. The information is 8 dead, 12 injured, and 10 still missing. May the deceased get the best place in the sight of God," reads the Indonesian-language caption to an Instagram video shared on May 31, 2025. The video shows a rocky cliff collapsing while several people in the foreground run away. The video circulated after a landslide at a limestone mine in Mount Kuda in Cirebon on May 30 that local media outlet reported killed 21 people and left four missing (archived link). The company overseeing the mine was operating legally, but safety standards were lacking, according to West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, who said he had ordered its closure (archived link). Similar posts purportedly showing the landslide were also shared on Facebook, TikTok and X. The video, however, does not show the May 30 landslide. A combination of reverse image searches using keyframes from the falsely shared video and keyword searches on Google led to the same footage published on June 20, 2023 by an Instagram account that shares information about West Java (archived link). "These are the seconds before rockfall occurred in Mount Kuda, Bobos Village, Dukupuntang District, Cirebon Regency, on Monday (June 19, 2023). There were no fatalities in this incident," reads its Indonesian-language caption. The footage was also used by local media outlet Tribun Jateng and Dutch digital media company KameraOne in June 2023 (archived here and here). According to local media platform Kumparan, the landslide was caused by heavy rainfall and an undercutting mining method (archived link). No fatalities were recorded. AFP has debunked other false claims that misrepresented old landslide footage here and here.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Old Indonesian landslide clip misrepresented as deadly mining disaster
"Rockfall in Mount Kuda. The information is 8 dead, 12 injured, and 10 still missing. May the deceased get the best place in the sight of God," reads the Indonesian-language caption to an Instagram video shared on May 31, 2025. The video shows a rocky cliff collapsing while several people in the foreground run away. The video circulated after a landslide at a limestone mine in Mount Kuda in Cirebon on May 30 that local media outlet reported killed 21 people and left four missing (archived link). The company overseeing the mine was operating legally, but safety standards were lacking, according to West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, who said he had ordered its closure (archived link). Similar posts purportedly showing the landslide were also shared on Facebook, TikTok and X. The video, however, does not show the May 30 landslide. A combination of reverse image searches using keyframes from the falsely shared video and keyword searches on Google led to the same footage published on June 20, 2023 by an Instagram account that shares information about West Java (archived link). "These are the seconds before rockfall occurred in Mount Kuda, Bobos Village, Dukupuntang District, Cirebon Regency, on Monday (June 19, 2023). There were no fatalities in this incident," reads its Indonesian-language caption. The footage was also used by local media outlet Tribun Jateng and Dutch digital media company KameraOne in June 2023 (archived here and here). According to local media platform Kumparan, the landslide was caused by heavy rainfall and an undercutting mining method (archived link). No fatalities were recorded. AFP has debunked other false claims that misrepresented old landslide footage here and here.
AFP
09-06-2025
- General
- AFP
Old Indonesian landslide clip misrepresented as deadly mining disaster
"Rockfall in Mount Kuda. The information is 8 dead, 12 injured, and 10 still missing. May the deceased get the best place in the sight of God," reads the Indonesian-language caption to an Instagram video shared on May 31, 2025. The video shows a rocky cliff collapsing while several people in the foreground run away. Image Screenshot of the false Instagram post, captured on June 8, 2025 The video circulated after a landslide at a limestone mine in Mount Kuda in Cirebon on May 30 that local media outlet reported killed 21 people and left four missing (archived link). The company overseeing the mine was operating legally, but safety standards were lacking, according to West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, who said he had ordered its closure (archived link). Similar posts purportedly showing the landslide were also shared on , TikTok and X. The video, however, does not show the May 30 landslide. A combination of reverse image searches using keyframes from the falsely shared video and keyword searches on Google led to the same footage published on June 20, 2023 by an Instagram account that shares information about West Java (archived link). "These are the seconds before rockfall occurred in Mount Kuda, Bobos Village, Dukupuntang District, Cirebon Regency, on Monday (June 19, 2023). There were no fatalities in this incident," reads its Indonesian-language caption. Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the video from June 2023 (right) The footage was also used by local media outlet Tribun Jateng and Dutch digital media company KameraOne in June 2023 (archived here and here). According to local media platform Kumparan, the landslide was caused by heavy rainfall and an undercutting mining method (archived link). No fatalities were recorded. AFP has debunked other false claims that misrepresented old landslide footage here and here.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
False subtitles misrepresent Kim Jong Un speech as support for West Java governor
"Kim Jong-un speaks about West Javan Governor Dedi Mulyadi, he respects him so much," reads Indonesian-language text superimposed on a TikTok video posted on May 6, 2025. The video features photos of Dedi Mulyadi and North Korea's Kim Jong Un above a clip of Kim speaking. Subtitles on the clip, purportedly translating what Kim was saying, read: "Corruption has slowed Indonesia's development. This culture must be changed, beginning with its young generation. I fully support West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi's policy to educate Indonesian students and teenagers so they become obedient and disciplined." The text refers to a programme where students labelled "naughty" are sent to military barracks for 14 days of character education (archived link). According to a BBC Indonesia report about the programme, some psychologists and education experts have questioned its efficacy and whether it may have a detrimental impact on the teens' development. The clip was also shared in similar posts elsewhere on TikTok. "What else can you say about Mr Governor? A foreign country praises him, so why do his own people in the country mock him?" reads a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "Thank you to his excellency Mr Kim Jong-un for supporting Dedi Mulyadi." The video, however, does not show Kim praising Dedi or the education programme. AFP previously debunked another claim using the same video with different subtitles to make it appear as if Kim were commenting on a local corruption case. A reverse image search on Google led to the same footage uploaded to YouTube by the North Korea Now news outlet on February 13, 2024 (archived link). The YouTube video is titled, "Kim orders military to prepare for the occupation of S. Korean territory". The clip used in the false posts starts at the YouTube video's 25:37 mark, when Kim speaks about the importance of the military in maintaining peace. "Our military must possess even stronger power, prevent war and unconditionally safeguard peace with its irresistible force. Peace is not something to beg for or negotiate," says Kim. "Let us remember once again that war is not advertised in advance. We must always maintain a state of readiness." He makes no mention of the Indonesian governor or his education policy. A transcript of Kim's speech was also included in a report in the newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmun, on February 9, 2024 (archived link). The transcript also shows Kim did not mention Dedi.
