VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOI, Jakarta - Malaysia is scouting for foreign investors in high-value industries such as electric vehicles, semiconductors and carbon capture, its trade and investment minister said on Thursday.

Malaysia is long known to be a manufacturing hub, and is now hoping to move up the value chain on well-established industries such as energy and electricals.

"We need to look at the right kind of investment. Because some of the investment does not bring in the kind of spillover that we want," Tengku Zafrul Aziz told Reuters in an interview.

Malaysia is eyeing new areas such as carbon capture, usage and storage because it has a lot of oil wells, and supplying components for electric vehicles (EVs), Tengku Zafrul said.

EVs are a "natural progression" for Malaysia, which has an established electrical and electronics industry, especially in semiconductor chips, he said.

"That's why we are pushing very hard because we supply many of the components to the car," Tengku Zafrul said. Each electric vehicle is estimated to have over 1,400 chips.

Even in the semiconductor industry, Malaysia wants to develop beyond assembly and testing, he said. The country is a major player in the semiconductor industry, accounting for about 13% of global testing and packaging.

"We want to move to front end, which is integrated circuit design and wafer fabrication," he said.

Malaysia is also eyeing the aerospace, petrochemicals, digital economy and pharmaceutical industries for foreign investments.(Reuters)

VOI, Jakarta - Philippine authorities were trying to track the whereabouts of six Chinese nationals who were abducted in the capital region this week, police said on Thursday.

Police anti-kidnapping chief Cosme Abrenica said authorities were investigating the abduction of nine people on Monday in an upscale neighbourhood in southern Metro Manila. Six of the victims were Chinese, who remain missing, and three were Filipino who were released shortly after they were abducted.

"We have no information if it's kidnap-for-ransom, kidnapping or what the motive is. We haven't established it yet," Abrenica said.

Abrenica did not disclose the identities of the victims or give any details on their status in the Philippines.

Philip Aguilar, the police chief of Calauan town where the Filipino victims were recovered, said one of the survivors told them the kidnappers had barged into their home before dawn on Monday.

The Chinese embassy in Manila said it had noted a request from Reuters for comment.

While police said the motive for this week's kidnapping was not known, China has in the past complained to the Philippines about its citizens being lured to work in online gaming firms and then being cheated, extorted and exposed to “modern slavery”. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the 8th Plenary Meeting of the Indonesia-United Nations Consultative Forum (IUNCF) (31/10).

"Transparent and inclusive communication is needed so that UN agency programs are aligned with the priorities of the Indonesian Government," said Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi in a pre-recorded opening speech.

On the occasion, the Indonesian Foreign Minister also expressed her concern about the situation in Gaza and encouraged the UN Security Council to take immediate action.

The 8th IUNCF Plenary was chaired by the Director General for Multilateral Cooperation and the UN Resident Coordinator as Co-Chairs.

In his opening remarks, the Director General of Multilateral Cooperation appreciated Indonesia's achievement in meeting 63% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target and encouraged cooperation between the Government of Indonesia and the UN to increase this figure.

The Plenary activity consists of two sessions, namely the Working Group I on Information Sharing and Cooperation Development (WG I) and Working Group II on Administration (WG II) report sessions, and Thematic Discussion sessions.

In 2023, two WG I meetings were held to discuss GoI-UN cooperation within the framework of Indonesia's ASEAN Chairmanship (February 9, 2023) and cooperation in the context of cultural protection (October 5, 2023).

Meanwhile, WG II meetings have discussed a number of administrative issues such as Host Country Agreement (HCA), consular facilities, taxation and customs, as well as technical aspects of diplomatic vehicles.

In the second session, the forum discussed the theme "Multilateralism in Achieving Blue Agenda's Commitment," which is relevant to be discussed after the 1st High Level Meeting of the AIS Forum in Bali on October 11, 2023.

UN RC stated that as the largest archipelago in the world, Indonesia has the potential to lead the Blue Agenda discussion at the global level.

The session also emphasized that multilateralism is a key approach in advancing this issue, which also requires close cooperation between Indonesia and the UN.

In the discussion session, the Plenary participants consisting of representatives of Ministries/Agencies and UN Agencies further agreed on the importance of intensifying routine coordination between the Indonesian Government and the UN, as well as strengthening UN cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat.

This year marks a decade since IUNCF was first held in 2013.

In ten years, IUNCF has played an important role as a regular consultation forum that strengthens coordination between Indonesian Ministries/Agencies and UN Agencies. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

VOINews, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), Thursday, will participate in groundbreaking ceremonies to commence the development of a solar power plant and the Bank Indonesia (BI) office in the new capital city (IKN) Nusantara, East Kalimantan Province.

As cited from a statement received here on Thursday, the president began the third day of his working visit to East Kalimantan by visiting the development site of the Presidential Office building.

According to the statement, President Jokowi arrived at the site from the location where he spent the night at around 7:05 Central Indonesia Standard Time. He inspected the progress in development of the office thereafter.

Furthermore, he also conducted a review of the progress in the development of several projects in IKN from the top of the Presidential Office building.

After launching the development of BI's office and the power plant in IKN, the head of state is scheduled to attend the Kompas 100 CEO Forum event in the city.

Earlier, on Wednesday (November 1), President Jokowi joined groundbreaking activities of several projects in IKN, including a hospital and an airport.

Meanwhile, on September 23, the president had instructed parties to conduct groundbreaking events of various development projects in IKN on a monthly basis.

"I demand that a groundbreaking be held every month, and I will come here from month to month," he stated.

President Jokowi expressed hope that by holding groundbreaking events every month, the government and all related parties would expedite the development of IKN Nusantara.

Jokowi also spoke of having planned on routinely visiting the Nusantara development site on a monthly basis to inspect the progress in its development.

State Secretary Minister Pratikno, Ad Interim Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordinating Minister Erick Thohir, Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono, Head of the Nusantara Capital Authority (OIKN) Bambang Susantono, and OIKN Deputy Head Dhony Rahajoe accompany the president during Thursday's agendas. (Antaranews)