VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government is committed to increasing the contribution of funds to finance Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Forum programs up to US$5 million, or around Rp77.6 billion, in 2022.

While opening the 4th AIS Forum ministerial meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Tuesday, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan stated that the funds were intended to fund AIS Forum programs for the next five years.

"I think once this starts (Indonesia announces its contribution), other countries will follow it," Pandjaitan noted after opening the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the AIS Forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Tuesday.

The minister noted that in 2019, Indonesia had channeled contribution of US$1 million, or around Rp15.5 billion.

"The contribution of funds from Indonesia has been used effectively to build the Secretariat (AIS Forum), implement various cooperation programs, and strengthen concrete collaboration between member countries," he said while addressing the delegates.

To this end, Pandjaitan is optimistic that Indonesia's steps would be emulated by other members of the AIS Forum that currently comprised 47 countries. Most members of the AIS Forum are small- and middle-income countries, but some of them are developed countries, such as the UK and Japan.

On the same occasion, Minister Pandjaitan, as co-chair of the meeting, along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, announced that Indonesia was also committed to increasing its contribution up to three folds to the AIS Forum. However, he desisted from divulging details of the amount and when the funds would be distributed to the AIS Forum.

The AIS Forum was an association of island and archipelagic countries initiated by Indonesia since 2017, and the forum was officially formed in 2018 in Manado, North Sulawesi, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Since its formation in 2018, member countries of the AIS Forum regularly held meetings for their senior officials (SOM) and ministerial-level meetings (MM). However, the meetings were halted in 2021 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For this year's meeting, the AIS Forum was attended by representatives from 21 countries and two international organizations. Five countries were represented directly by their ministers while the rest by senior officials.

Meanwhile, Indonesia was represented directly by the coordinating minister for maritime affairs, minister of foreign affairs, and minister of maritime affairs and fisheries.

The coordinating minister for maritime affairs and the minister of foreign affairs delivered opening remarks that started the AIS Forum ministerial meeting in Bali, and the minister of maritime affairs and fisheries thereafter continued to chair the inter-ministerial meeting that raised the theme of "Elevating AIS Forum Collaborations for Sustainable and Healthy Ocean." (antaranews)

Head of the Presidential Staff Office (KSP), Moeldoko, has asked the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) to develop sorghum research to produce superior seeds and seedlings for farmers.



"I ask BRIN to take this seed research issue seriously," he said at the “Development Talk Series XII” event at the BRIN campus here on Monday.



According to him, research has a vital role in the development of Indonesia's agriculture sector. Without strong research, agriculture will not develop, he said.



The government is currently pushing the formation of a sorghum industry ecosystem as part of food diversification efforts, he noted.



Moeldoko said that one of the obstacles to food diversification is the Indonesian people’s emphasis on rice consumption.



"Sorghum is a food that has been consumed since the time of our ancestors. Why isn't it (the consumption) growing now? Because the ecosystem has not been built. For example, people want to plant it if there are those who want to buy it. That is why it is important for the government to start encouraging the formation of this sorghum ecosystem," he explained.



He informed that the government is currently preparing off-takers of sorghum. For example, with the demand for animal feed reaching 10 million tons of corn, one company has been encouraged to substitute 10 percent of the feed with sorghum, thereby providing an opportunity to absorb around 1 million tons of sorghum. In this way, the presence of sorghum off-takers can, later on, create an industry, develop cultivation, and advance sorghum research.



"I express hope to BRIN and relevant stakeholders, the existing research should not stop," he said.



He highlighted that research on sorghum, corn, and other commodities must be carried out in collaboration with the actors in the field.



"The research result must be applied and then evaluated. Thus, research efforts do not stop, and agricultural seeds will always be superior from time to time," he said.


Meanwhile, the development policy deputy at BRIN, Mego Pinandito, said that research institutions and the academic community are committed to supporting government programs for realizing food self-sufficiency and sustainable food production.



"We need to strengthen cooperation between ministries/institutions to strengthen technological research and innovation to jointly cooperate with the government, private parties, industries, universities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the community to strengthen the direction of development toward the development of agriculture and food sovereignty," Pinandito added. (Antaranews)

The 4th Ministerial Meeting of the AIS Forum - 

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut B. Pandjaitan gave a speech at the Welcoming Dinner of the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the AIS Forum in Bali, on Monday (5-12-2022).

Coordinating Minister Luhut warmly welcomed the delegates who attended the welcoming dinner.

"Welcome to Indonesia, on the beautiful island of Bali. I hope you can enjoy your visit, feel a warm welcome and bring a wonderful experience when you return to your country," said Coordinating Minister Luhut.

Coordinating Minister Luhut stated that the presence of the delegates at the AIS Forum event was proof of the dedication of each country to strengthen cooperation. In a world that is always changing, this meeting is a hope for us to be able to change the future.

“Through this AIS Forum, we are optimistic that we can become a resilient and adaptive society that relies on our own strengths and abilities to come up with solutions. We have committed to produce a better future through collaboration," he said.

The Coordinating Minister Luhut further said that as guardians of the vast ocean areas in the world, our commitments and actions today are important for the future of the world. The ocean regulates the climate, conserves enough carbon and provides a large amount of food sources for the world.

"We as island and archipelagic countries must ensure that we are the driving force to accelerate the sustainable use and protection of the world's oceans," said Coordinating Minister Luhut.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Monday, the series of discussions that have been carried out over the last four years have brought us to a critical point to form a more effective collaboration, he added. Much progress has been made and positive results have been produced, but there are also some challenges that we must overcome.

"Indonesia in this case facilitates meaningful discussions, cooperation and positive results and we have committed to continuing our modest contribution to creating an effective secretariat for the next five years and holding a meeting of leaders of AIS Forum participating countries as mandated in the second ministerial meeting, "explained the Coordinating Minister.

The AIS Forum is a space for bridging collaboration, strengthening coordination so that each country can strategically increase capacity, resilience and maximize the benefits they have for the good of the people, nation and global community.

“Despite the uniqueness that we have, I believe we have one goal. Let's mark this peaceful night as a good intention for our future collaboration," concluded Coordinating Minister Luhut//VOI

The 2022 Inclusion-Based Library Transformation Program - 

The Social Inclusion-Based Library Transformation Program (TPBIS) which is implemented in libraries at the provincial, district/city to village/kelurahan levels is considered effective and the benefits are felt by the community.

Implementation of the 2020-2021 TPBIS program provides benefits in an effort to improve people's welfare with a program effectiveness value of 4.09 on a scale of 1-5. The total benefits of this program in 2020-2021 will reach more than IDR 570 billion.

This program has been independently replicated in 18 districts/cities and 1,125 villages/kelurahans. This can be seen in the evaluation delivered at the National Peer Learning Meeting (PLM) for the 2022 Inclusion-Based Library Transformation Program which was held in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday (5/12/2022).

The TPBIS program has been run by the National Library of Indonesia (Perpusnas) with support from Bappenas RI since 2018. This program is a library service approach that is committed to improving the quality of life and welfare of library users in all provinces in Indonesia.

The Head of National Library, Muhammad Syarif Bando, stated that the library's task is to educate and improve the welfare of the nation's children according to the mandate of the 1945 Constitution. The essence is to reduce marginalized communities. For this reason, libraries must transform from an exclusive paradigm to an inclusive one.

"This is the spirit of the spirit of library transformation," he added.

Indonesia, according to him, has abundant natural resources but has not been managed optimally. Therefore, people need to be equipped with innovation and creativity as well as digital accessibility to increase their knowledge.
“There is no use for libraries if people are still below the level of welfare. Don't let the library become an ivory tower," added the Head of National Library.

Welfare improvements can only be made if economic conditions are good, which is marked by an increase in per capita income and employment. One way to achieve prosperity is obtained by literacy skills.

Secretary to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Susiwijono Moegiarso, explained that the role of the library is very much needed in preparing excellent and competitive human resources in facing global challenges.

"Libraries based on social inclusion are expected to increase information literacy for the community and based on information and communication technology can improve the quality of life of the community, improve welfare and also encourage creativity and reduce various gaps in access to information," he said.

He hopes that the 2022 National PLM can give birth to many innovative and applicable ideas and ideas in presenting a more inclusive library.

Head of General Affairs and Human Resources Bureau, Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Khamim, said the Social Inclusion-Based Library program had encouraged the birth of micro, small and medium enterprises (UMKM) by the community around the library.

"Within the framework of the mental revolution policy, especially the Indonesia Mandiri MSMEs Movement, it is necessary to accommodate it in the form of cooperatives so that the spirit of mutual cooperation and togetherness will always be the pillar or basis of economic development," he said.

He requested that the TPBIS program continue to be expanded. “We need to push even harder to increase the participation of other villages. Therefore, budget support and collaboration across ministries/agencies are needed to expand the program," he added.

In the National PLM, National Library of Indonesia gives awards to libraries that have successfully implemented TPBIS, namely the Best Synergy Team for 2022 coming from the Provinces of South Sumatra, West Sumatra Province, and South Sulawesi Province.

The three best Regency/City Libraries in 2022 are the Singkawang City Library and Archives Service, West Kalimantan; Padang Panjang City Library and Archive Service, West Sumatra; and the Library and Archives Service of Kapuas Hulu District, West Kalimantan.

The Best Village/Kelurahan Libraries for 2022 in implementing social inclusion-based library transformation are the Rambah Muda Village Library, Rokan Hulu Regency, Riau; Kariango Village Library, North Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi; Iloponu Village Library, Gorontalo District, Gorontalo//VOI