VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), accompanied by Mrs. Iriana Joko Widodo, on Wednesday inaugurated the Wear Fair suspension bridge in Southeast Maluku District, Maluku Province, to accelerate the mobility of people and goods.

"This Wear Fair bridge is very important for the mobility of people and goods," President Jokowi remarked after inaugurating the suspension bridge.

The inauguration of the bridge connecting two small islands—Fair island and Kei Kecil island—is a form of the government's commitment to building infrastructure evenly throughout the country, he said.

In fact, within a year, the government has built around 200 similar bridges to ensure connectivity between sub-districts, villages, and islands, he pointed out.

"What we are building is not only big toll roads or big ports or big airports, but inter-village bridges, inter-island bridges like this. In one year, we have built approximately 200 suspension bridges to connect villages, sub-districts, and small islands," the President said.

On a separate occasion, director of bridge construction at the Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Ministry, Yudha Handita Pandjiriawan, said that the Wear Fair bridge spans 120 meters in length and 1.8 meters in width.

This type of suspension bridge was chosen because of the fast construction process and it was also in accordance with the needs of the surrounding community, he added.

Meanwhile, Head of the Maluku National Road Implementation Agency (BPJN) Jon Sudiman Damanik said he expected the community to properly maintain the Wear Fair suspension bridge as one of the state assets that provide real benefits to the community.

"Our hope is that the community will jointly protect this asset. So, we must protect this, the community must take care so that it can be maintained properly," Damanik said.

The inauguration of the bridge was also attended by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto; Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono; Maluku Governor Murad Ismail; Head of Southeast Maluku District Muhamad Thaher Hanubun; Deputy Head of Southeast Maluku District Petrus Beruatwarin; and Tual Mayor Adam Rahayaan. (Antaranews)

Geothermal energy utilization would not only provide low-emission electricity, but also generate additional revenues for local governments, which would, in turn, improve the people’s economy, the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry has said.

For instance, the Kamojang Geothermal Power Plant (PLTP) in West Java has continued to benefit the central government, local governments, and the community since 1983, Director General of New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at the ministry Dadan Kusdiana noted.

"Geothermal energy will be one of the backbones for the procurement of renewable energy since it is (the source of energy for) baseload (power plants),” he said at the 8th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention & Exhibition (IIGCE) 2022 here on Wednesday.

PLTPs can also generate non-tax revenues for the state as well as additional income for local governments, he added.

According to data from the ministry’s Geological Agency, there are 357 locations with geothermal energy potential in Indonesia, which can generate about 23.76 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

The support of all parties, including the local government and the community, can enable geothermal energy exploration activities as well as PLTP development, he said.

However, geothermal development projects often get rejected by the surrounding community, hence they tend to get delayed, he added.

"Therefore, I think that the dissemination (of information on PLTP projects to the community) needs to be improved. We can discuss (with the community regarding the geothermal projects),” he suggested.

According to Kusdiana, it is possible that information regarding the advantages of developing and operating PLTPs has not been conveyed well to communities so far, and therefore, they are getting influenced by false information and rejecting the exploration of the geothermal potential.

If the rejection continues, it will affect many aspects, for instance, it could hinder local governments in obtaining more revenues, hamper the development of new and renewable energy, as well as disrupt the government’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he pointed out.

"I think it (the rejection) will also cause a potential opportunity loss in the community’s economic activity as there are business opportunities (that are related to the development of PLTPs); however, since it (the project) is rejected, the opportunities cannot be used," he added. (Antaranews)

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin on Wednesday emphasized the urgent need for strengthening social protection for workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While delivering his remarks at the G20 Labor and Employment Ministers' Meeting (G20-LEMM), which he joined virtually from Jakarta, Amin said that one of the best ways to strengthen workers’ social protection is by ensuring the fulfillment of their rights through adaptive assistance and support, based on the prevailing conditions.

"The adaptive assistance and support in Indonesia is part of the National Economic Recovery Program, in the form of the Wage Subsidy Assistance Program, the Pre-Work Card Program, the Micro Business Productive Assistance Program, and the Labor Intensive Program at Ministries/Institutions and Local Governments," the Vice President noted, according to a press release issued by the Manpower Ministry’s public relations bureau.

In addition to direct assistance, Amin highlighted the importance of strengthening workers’ innovation and literacy capabilities, particularly in areas that will create new jobs in the future, such as digital technology and the green economy.

Innovation and digitalization are expected to be critical assets in facing increasingly rapid global competition.

"For example, the Indonesian government is continuing to improve the digital literacy of MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprise) actors to achieve the target of 30 million MSMEs entering the digital ecosystem by 2024," he noted.

Meanwhile, from the aspect of capability, Amin emphasized the significance of increasing skills as part of efforts to improve the competitiveness of Indonesian human resources (HR) at the national and global levels. These efforts can involve continuous skilling, re-skilling, and up-skilling, among other things.

"In this regard, Indonesia continues to build Community Work Training Centers to meet the vocational training needs by collaborating with the government and the private sector/industry and academia/higher education," he added.

The G20 LEMM was attended by manpower ministers from G20 countries, ministers of invited countries, heads of international institutions, and also several chairs of engagement groups. (Antaranews)

Head of the National Library Muhammad Syarif Bando, at the Inspirato Sharing Session discussion entitled "Library Transformation to Form a National Digital Ecosystem" - 

Welcoming the era of metavers, the National Library in recent years has transformed, and is struggling to produce a number of popular digital applications, such as Indonesia One Search (IOS) to Ipusnas. Even so, the National Library of Indonesia feels that this is not enough to create a national digital ecosystem.

“This year the tagline of the National Library is the transformation of libraries into a national digital ecosystem. Our target is three million creator content in the links that we collect from all existing creator content from all subjects of knowledge," said Head of the National Library Muhammad Syarif Bando, in the Inspirato Sharing Session discussion entitled "Library Transformation to Form a National Digital Ecosystem" which broadcast by Vidio.com, Wednesday (14/9/2022).

Coinciding today, September 14, 2022, Indonesia commemorates Library Visit Day and International Literacy Day on September 8, we have succeeded in producing 3 million content creators.

"We will launch in January 2023," said Syarif.

Syarif Bando said that his party has also discussed the connectivity between National Library and digital data storage technology (block chain) so that it can be connected with major libraries in the world. To support this, the National Library of Indonesia needs to change the library paradigm. From being only a provider of book collections to transferring knowledge.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Wednesday, member of Commission X DPR RI, Putra Nababan expressed his appreciation for what the National Library of Indonesia did in accelerating the library transformation process.

“It is extraordinary what the National Library has done. It is very anticipatory even though the budget is minimal," he said.

The National Library of Indonesia has a far-reaching vision that needs to be collaborated with many parties, starting from literacy activists and the community, literacy, local government, and other stakeholders. Regarding the creation of 3 million content creators, his party really appreciates it as a social movement to form a digital community.

“There are advantages for the digital community, viewers will definitely increase, more research is full. Content creators will also include sources from the National Library, so that the content created is very helpful in the development of digital literacy education in Indonesia," he said.

Commission X of the DPR RI strongly supports the transformation of libraries in forming a digital community in Indonesia, by providing a supervisory function.

At the end of the discussion, Syarif again reminded all children of the nation, especially the millennial generation, to submit content to the National Library. Content that can guide marginalized communities affected by the pandemic in creating goods and services in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.

"We don't want to be too grandiose. We can build a network that contributes to building the nation's children," he said.

Meanwhile, Putra Nababan said that what the National Library had to do at this time was to invite all citizens to produce content, considering that the digital infrastructure had been prepared.

He also reminded the importance of library transformation in the digital era, namely a knowledge center, a vehicle for learning, giving birth to innovation, and community creativity//VOI