WHITE HOUSE REPORT

To : <redaksi@mediahukumindonesia.com>Date : Wed, 13 Sep 2017 00:16:34+0700   Subject : Continued Support for Hurricane Relief

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Hurricane Irma and 9/11 Counterterrorism Briefing 
Yesterday, President Trump received a Hurricane Irma and 9/11 counterterrorism briefing from his Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism Adviser Thomas Bossert and members of his National Security Council team.
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President Trump Approves Alabama Emergency Declaration 
President Trump declared that an emergency exists in the State of Alabama and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Irma beginning on September 8, 2017, and continuing.
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FEMA Resources
Residents and business owners who sustained losses in designated counties can begin applying for assistance by registering online at DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

Spirit of Unity
Tonight, President Trump will host a bipartisan Senators dinner at the White House to discuss tax reform. Continuing in that spirit of unity, the President will meet this week with Sen. Tim Scott to discuss racial reconciliation, and with a bipartisan group of legislators to discuss how to “change the tone” of divisiveness in Washington.

Photo of the Day

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in a Sept. 11 observance at the Pentagon | September 11, 2017 (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

POTUS and VP TODAY

Today, President Trump will meet with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt.

The President will then receive his daily intelligence briefing and meet with National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.

In the afternoon, the President will welcome Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia and lead an expanded meeting with him.

The President will then meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. This evening, the President will host a bipartisan Senators dinner.

Vice President Pence will join President Trump to participate in an expanded bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia. Following, the Vice President will travel to the U.S. Capitol to participate in the Senate Republican Policy Lunch. The Vice President will then participate in a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. In the evening, the Vice President will join the President for a bipartisan Senators dinner.

THE WHITE HOUSE  MHI 

Q-MHI Africa Weekly Brief ;

Hi, Q-MHI Africa readers!

DAEMONS & UNICORNS

  

In 1938, the Nigerian author D.O. Fagunwa published his seminal work, Forest of a Thousand Daemons (its title after being translated from Yoruba by Wole Soyinka). The novel’s vivid imagery tells the tale of the brave hunter Akara-ogun taking on spirits, snake people, magical trees and many other mythical beings in this forest.

But the hunter never meets a unicorn.

The point here is that Thousand Daemons is a perfectly fine book without the need to borrow or transfer the mythologies of other cultures to the author’s. The same kind of mindset is needed with startups across Africa’s various hubs, because in this context the unicorn is a startup valued at over a billion dollars. In Africa, that’s as rare as the mythical creature itself. Yet, some believe African hubs need to produce their own unicorns to be seen as successful as in Silicon Valley.

However, as investors and startup founders (including Lidya, Bitpesa, Beyonic and Impact Africa Industries) discussed at the Accelerating Africa 2.0 event earlier this week at Quartz’ offices, African startup ecosystems shouldn’t be trying to recreate Silicon Valley in Lagos, Nairobi or Cape Town.

Doing so is what creates a paradigm where young entrepreneurs pitch the ideas they believe investors want to hear rather than the ideas in which they believe, notes Eghosa Omoigui of Lagos-based EchoVC. In ecosystems where funding levels are still quite low relative to the opportunities, some Africa-based founders seem to think this is the best way to “get in the door”. It might very well be true, but it isn’t the way to build 10-million dollar companies, much less billion-dollar valuations.

To be clear, we’re not saying African startup hubs or cities will never produce billion-dollar companies, they have done so and will certainly do so again. But while an over-emphasis on valuation, rather than innovation and problem-solving, can be a mere distraction in Silicon Valley, in Africa it could do real harm with much smaller and sensitive startup ecosystems.

Every investor and entrepreneur said the same thing on our panels this week, they all think it’s still very early days in Africa. That said, those in the know say there are several African $100 million startup valuations which are much closer to fruition than we may realize, likely over the next year. That would have more impact today on Nairobi or Lagos than yet another $1 billion valuation would in the Valley.

When you have daemons, who needs unicorns?

— Yinka Adegoke, Q-MHI Africa editor

SPONSOR CONTENT BY BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

Bill and Melinda Gates: A 10% cut in funding for HIV treatment could cost the lives of 5.6 million people. The world’s response to the AIDS epidemic in the early 2000’s should be counted among our greatest successes. But the progress we made is at risk—leaders everywhere need to reaffirm the commitments they made just two years ago to conquer extreme poverty and disease.

STORIES FROM THIS WEEK

African universities are not producing graduates for the modern workplace. In many higher education institutions across Africa, rote learning is still encouraged and is the preferred method of teaching. As Seth Trudeau and Keno Omu argue, it’s time to revisit these models if the continent is to produce employable and analytical graduates.

South Africa has spent millions of dollars subsidizing papers in scam academic journals. After two years of widespread student protests and shrinking budgets, South African universities have been struggling. But as Sarah Wild finds out, the government has unknowingly been wasting millions of dollars funding articles published in predatory journals.

It’s time to get rid of “Out of Africa” and its outdated tropes. It’s been 80 years since the Danish baroness Karen Blixen published “Out of Africa,” her much-touted book about managing a coffee farm in Kenya. Recognizing and celebrating Blixen’s work as a historical record writes Abdi Latif Dahir, explains why white savior tropes still persist.

East Africa’s family-owned retailers are having to come to each other’s rescue. After closing down branches in Uganda and struggling to fill shelves in Kenya, east Africa’s largest retailer Nakumatt signed a merger deal with its rival Tuskys. It shows how family-owned enterprises are struggling to cope with a changing business ecosystem, explains Joshua Masinde.

Vintage photos capture lives of young Ethiopians in Addis Ababa 50 years ago. A stunning crowd-sourced collection of black & white photos of the way young Ethiopians lived more than 50 years ago through to the 1980s, writes Khanya Mtshali. Ordinary Ethiopians are sharing their photos via a Tumblr page.

https://youtu.be/Gs5P0YRHt6o

Unmasking Donald Trump’s quest to lead a 21st-century scramble for Africa. Following an address to African leaders attending the UN general assembly, Donald Trump was ridiculed for misspeaking and making up a fictional African country. But worse than that says Matthew T. Page is Trump’s policy speech was filled with tone-deaf sentences and lacked clarity in general. While Lily Kuonotes the one thing the US president actually got right about Africa.

CHART OF THE WEEK

African languages are driving the British Broadcasting Corporation’s expansion in Africa. After recently launching a Pidgin service to cater for west African speakers, the BBC announced that it was launching news sites and radio programs that will target tens of millions of people in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

OTHER THINGS WE LIKED

A Nigerian designer is using fashion to make a feminist statement. Fashion designer Amaka Osakwe’s label has been worn by Nigeria’s elite and global icons like Michele Obama. Reporting from Lagos for the New Yorker, Alexis Okeowo explain show Osakwe is breaking new ground by using her clothes to critique sexist attitudes towards women.

Why do African judges still wear colonial-style wigs? British imperialism ended over 50 years ago yet colonial-style courtroom wigs are still worn by some African judges. In the Washington Post, Kevin Sieffanswers why these relics are favored by countries with strong anti-colonial politics.

Egypt’s most unlikely correspondent on American politics. From a studio at the back of his deli in New York, Hatem El-Gamasy regularly comments on American politics for Egyptian television networks. Despite his unlikely job writes Sarah Maslin Nir for New York Times, his understanding of Trump’s America make him invaluable to Middle Eastern audiences.

Q-MHI Africa 

Presiden Tinjau “Groundbreaking” IPP Jawa 7, 9 dan 10 4000 MW serta Peresmian PLTU IPP Banten 660 MW

Presiden Jokowi saat peresmian PLTU IPP Banten 660 megawatt di Provinsi Banten, Kamis (5/10)

BANTEN ,05 Oct 2017-Tiga tahun lalu, setiap pergi ke Sumatra, Kalimantan, Maluku, Bali, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) selalu keluhannya sama yakni kekurangan listrik namun sekarang ini penyampaian mengenai hal tersebut berkurang dan itu bukti kalau Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) bekerja.

Hal tersebut disampaikan Presiden Joko Widodo saat melihat pembangunan Coal Terminal 20 juta ton serta groundbreaking Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Uap (PLTU) Independent Power Producer (IPP) Jawa 7, 9, dan 10 dengan total kapasitas 4000 megawatt dan peresmian PLTU IPP Banten 660 megawatt di Provinsi Banten, Kamis . 

Lebih lanjut, Presiden Jokowi sampaikan bahwa pembangkit-pembangkit listrik yang sedang dibangun diproses itu juga masih banyak dan diharapkan nantinya 2019 telah kelihatan selesai.

“Tadi di petanya juga sudah kelihatan enggak ada yang warnanya merah. Warnanya hijau hanya ada yang sedikit kuning. Kuningnya nanti semuanya akan hilang seluruh provinsi dari Sabang sampai Merauke semuanya akan teraliri karena listriknya cukup,” tegas Presiden.

Hal kedua, menurut Presiden, ini menyangkut proyek di sini di Jawa ada tujuh. Ia menambahkan bahwa tadi mendapat laporan proyek-proyek yang ada ini menyerap karyawan atau tenaga kerja kurang lebih 10.000 orang.

Investasi itu perlu, menurut Presiden, karena menyerap tenaga kerja dan mengurangi pengangguran selama proyek itu dibangun. “Selain misalnya pada tahun ini telah dibuka juga penerimaan untuk CPNS itu sebanyak 43.000 kemudian untuk BUMN itu 17.000. Kalau tambah proyek proyek yang gede gede seperti ini 10.000, kemudian 10.000 di Sumatra ada, Kalimantan ada, itu akan mengurangi pengangguran yang banyak,” tambah Kepala Negara.

Dalam kesempatan ini, Presiden sekali lagi saya minta kepada PLN dan perusahaan mitra agar lebih banyak mempekerjakan karyawan-karyawan dari sekitar pabrik, sekitar lokasi. Ia menambahkan bahwa itulah yang namanya investasi, baik berupa pabrik, industri, maupun pembangkit listrik dan hal itu sangat diperlukan.

“Listrik ini seperti tadi sudah disampaikan Pak Menteri ESDM bisa mengaliri kurang lebih 2 juta rumah tangga. Nanti kalau ini selesai bisa mengaliri 4,6 juta rumah tangga, sehingga anak-anak kita kalau malam bisa belajar, ini yang sering lupa,” ujar Presiden.

Kepala Negara juga menyampaikan bahwa masih banyak terutama Saudara-saudara di bagian timur yang belum teraliri listrik. Presiden menegaskan bahwa dirinya ssudah perintahkan pada Menteri ESDM untuk diberikan prioritas agar Saudara yang ada di Indonesia bagian timur untuk segera mendapatkan listrik.

Presiden Jokowi saat meninjau maket pembangkit listrik di Provinsi Banten, Kamis (5/10).

“Yang ketiga saya titip kepada PLN, ini masalah efisiensi agar semua biaya yang ada dicek betul secara detail baik yang berkaitan dengan harga batubara. Baik  berkaitan dengan biaya transportasi untuk mengangkut batubara dari Sumatra ke Jawa, dari Kalimantan ke Jawa, sehingga ongkos tranportasinya menjadi tinggi, kalau sudah tinggi sehingga tidak efisien, bebannya nanti yang menanggung adalah masyarakat,” pungkas Presiden.

Dalam peresmian tersebut tampak hadir mendampingi Presiden Jokowi, Menteri ESDM Ignasius Jonan, Menteri BUMN Rini Soemarno, Gubernur Banten Wahidin Halim, Direktur PLN Sofyan Basir.

(SM/JAY/EN) MHI