VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: The Ministry of Trade urges all franchise businesses to have a franchise registration certificate (STPW). Septo Soepriyatno, Director of Business Development for Distribution Actors at the Ministry of Trade, said that a business cannot be called a franchise if it does not have an STPW.

According to Septo, the designation of a company as a franchise is regulated in Government Regulation No. 42/2007 on Franchising and Minister of Trade Regulation No. 71/2019 on Franchising.

"Franchise companies are required to have STWP. If there is no STWP, the company is not a franchise," Septo said through a written statement in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Government Regulation No. 42/2007 Article 10 paragraph (1) states that franchisors must register a franchise offering prospectus before entering into a franchise agreement with the franchisee.

Meanwhile, Minister of Trade Regulation 71/2019 Article 10 states that franchisors, advanced franchisors, franchisees, and advanced franchisees are required to have STPW. MOT 71/2019 Article 3 states that individuals or business entities are prohibited from using franchise terms and/or names for their business names and/or activities, if they do not meet the franchise criteria.

Septo mentioned that the criteria for franchising include, among others, having business characteristics, proven to have provided benefits, having standards for services and goods and/or services offered that are made in writing, easy to teach and apply, continuous support, and registered intellectual property rights (IPR).

If an individual or business entity violates the provisions in Permendag 71/2019 Article 3, he said, administrative sanctions will be imposed in the form of recommendations for revocation of business licenses and/or operational/commercial licenses to the issuing official in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations. This is regulated in Permendag 71/2019 Article 32.

"For this reason, the mention of a franchise business must fulfill these provisions and cannot be used for companies that do not have an STPW," Septo said.(ANTARA)

VOInews, Jakarta: Vice Presidential candidate number 3 Mahfud Md assessed that the problem of rampant corruption is the main root of the inequality of economic growth in various parts of Indonesia to this day.

"Why is it still unequal now? Why has growth not yet touched six percent? The theory that can explain it all is because Indonesia has too much corruption," Mahfud said in the NTT Diaspora Dialogue with Prof. Mahfud MD in Jakarta, Tuesday (19/12/2023).

Mahfud believes that Indonesia's economy has the potential to grow more than six percent annually, but corruption cases that the government has not been able to overcome have created an imbalance between natural resources and human resource managers.

"For example, I noted that in the last four years the cases I handled alone involved Rp701 trillion in corruption," he said. This imbalance practically makes economic growth in Indonesia uneven.

He cited the contribution of the western region of Indonesia, which dominates 80 percent of economic growth. Even Java Island contributes 57 percent of the national economy, while eastern Indonesia only contributes 20 percent. Mahfud regretted this considering that eastern Indonesia, such as East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), has natural potential, very rich cultural diversity, but its condition is still below the national average because it has not maximally managed its existing potential.

"So I say, whatever theory you use if you are not able to eradicate corruption, at least stop the continuation of corruption from time to time, then economic growth will never reach its maximum," said the man who still serves as Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.(ANTARA)

VOInews, Jakarta: The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Jakarta on Monday (18/12) hosted a celebration of World Arabic Language Day at the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Science in South Jakarta. The celebration took the theme 'Arabic: The Language of Poetry and Art'. The event was attended by ambassadors from Arab countries, the Indonesian Arabic Language Teachers Association, and several delegates from Islamic universities around Indonesia. This annual celebration was also enlivened by the reading of Arabic poetry and role-play dramas acted out by the academic community of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Science.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Faisal Abdullah El 'Amudi, in his opening remarks, said that the Government of Saudi Arabia has great attention to the development of the Arabic language, which according to him has advantages as an Islamic identity and the language of the Koran. "Attention to the Arabic language has been carried out by the founders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, since King Abdul Aziz, then the rulers who guard the two holy mosques after that in spreading the Arabic language in various corners of the world." according to the Ambassador who was appointed in January 2023.

"Attention to the Arabic language is carried out through the establishment of various special institutions related to the Arabic language in all Islamic countries, including Indonesia. Arabic is the identity of Muslims and the language of the Koran. Our attention to the Arabic language is in line with the context of maintaining our identity. We hope that those who are concerned about Arabic in Indonesia will continue to collaborate, and the Saudi embassy is very open to cooperation." said Ambassador Faisal Abdullah to the media crew.

World Arabic Language Day is celebrated every December 18. On that date in 1973, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Arabic as the sixth official language of the UN organization. As reported by the UN website, Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, used every day by more than 400 million people. The Saudi Arabian Government's support for the development of Arabic in Indonesia was proven among others through the development of the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Religious Sciences (LIPIA) in 1980. The institution, which is a branch of Imam Muhammad bin Saud University, now has 4 campuses in Jakarta, Aceh, Medan, and Surabaya, and has produced 21,000 alumni since its founding.

An aerial view shows flooding caused by heavy rains and water gushing through the Barron River, in Cairns, Queensland, Australia on Dec 18, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (Screengrab: Brent Paterson via Reuters) - 

SYDNEY: Residents in Australia's northeast on Tuesday (Dec 19) took stock of flood damages from former Tropical Cyclone Jasper and authorities accelerated efforts to rescue people stranded in remote towns as rivers stayed above dangerous levels.

Jasper made landfall last week as a category 2 storm, three rungs below the most dangerous wind speed level, in the far north of Queensland state, home to several resorts along the world-famous Great Barrier Reef.

It was soon downgraded to a tropical low but the system moved slowly, dumping months worth of rain over four days, cutting off entire towns, and inundating homes, roads and farms.

Conditions have since eased with military personnel joining the state's emergency crews on evacuations and relief efforts. Search continued for an 85-year-old man missing in flood waters.

Flights from Cairns Airport, the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, will resume on Tuesday, officials said.

"Today, we will really see the beginning of the recovery effort across much of Far North Queensland. So, there'll be a big focus on recovery work," Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"We're going to see a very large amount of property damage ... So, I think we're up for a pretty expensive repair bill," Watt said.

The Insurance Council of Australia said the flooding could be escalated to an insurance catastrophe if there was a spike in claims, though it was too early to determine the full impact.

Television footage showed residents walking through homes strewn with debris and sludge after water levels receded in some towns during a pause in rains.

Authorities said most of the 300 residents from the flooded remote Indigenous town of Wujal Wujal will be evacuated soon. Some residents there had to wade through crocodile-infested waters to get to higher ground, according to media reports.

A 2.8m-long crocodile was captured on Monday in a storm drain in Ingham, a town of about 5,000. Crocodile sightings in north Queensland are more common in rivers, lagoons and swamps in rural areas//CNA-VOI