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Editorial (897)

27
November

Geert Wilders. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Wouter Engler)

The victory of the far-right party - Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) or the Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders in the Dutch election on November 22, 2023 left people flabbergasted. PVV was ensured to have 37 of 150 chairs of the Dutch House of Representatives. The party was led by the controversial senior politician Geert Wilders who was known for his racist and anti-Islam statements.

24
November

Earlier this month, Israel's Minister of Heritage, Amihai Eliyahu, issued a statement that the Israeli government was considering the possibility of dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip to combat the Palestinian Hamas group.

22
November

US President Joe Biden was very enthusiastic after a four-hour meeting with the President of China Xi Jinping in California, the US on Wednesday (15/11). The meeting was held amid the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation - APEC Summit 2023. In his posting on X, President Joe Biden said that a real development in a constructive and productive talk was achieved. The US and China had achieved agreements to continue military communication and cooperation in fighting the drug trade.

22
November

Indonesian commemorates the Youth Pledge every October 28. One of the legacies of the Youth Pledge is Indonesian as the language that unifies the nation. Language is a characteristic of a country and through language, we can get to know a nation. Indonesian people should be proud as they live in a country that has a unifying language, namely Indonesian.


This pride increased further with the naming of Indonesian language as an official language at the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO on Monday (20/11) at UNESCO Headquarters Paris, France. This determination makes Indonesian the 10th official language recognized
by the UNESCO General Conference, alongside English, Arabic, Mandarin, French, Spanish, Russian, Hindi, Italian and Portuguese.


The establishment of Indonesian as one of the official languages of the UNESCO General Conference certainly strengthens Indonesian on the international stage.


Reporting from detikEdu citing the page of the Language Service Center in Florida, Lingua Edu, in terms of the number of speakers, Indonesian is ranked 10th. Indonesian is also used by more than 275 million speakers. Apart from that, Indonesian has also gone global with the inclusion of the Indonesian language curriculum in 52 countries and there are at least 150,000 foreign speakers who actively speak Indonesian.
 
Apart from being proud, Indonesian is also a challenge for the Indonesian people. Can the Indonesian people glorify and use Indonesian properly and correctly in the midst of globalization and the onslaught of foreign language terms or lingua franca that are widely used in everyday conversations? Of course, Indonesian, like other
languages in the world, is not completely pure and closed from foreign influences.


Hopefully the establishment of Indonesian as the Language of the UNESCO General Conference can have a positive impact on the Indonesian nation and state.

09
November

 

The armed conflict situation occurring in the Gaza Strip is increasingly worrying, and it has caused an extraordinary number of victims. Rocket attacks, accompanied by a hail of gunfire in the Gaza Strip, according to Head of Hamas Media Office Salama Marouf as quoted from AA.com, Sunday (5/11), killed 9,500 people, including 3,900 children and 2,509 women.

The Israeli attack also caused 55 mosques, three universities, three churches and five buildings belonging to the Ministry of Endowments and Religion in Gaza to be completely destroyed. Around 16 hospitals, 32 primary care centers and 27 ambulances were damaged.

This condition is certainly very worrying for the world, including Indonesia. It is unimaginable how the Palestinian people are suffering, especially women and children who are victims of the war.

The Indonesian government and society moved quickly to condemn the Israeli attacks on Palestine. Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, in a special session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Thursday (26/10), strongly condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The support of the Indonesian people was also shown by the solidarity actions of thousands of people, including national figures who gathered together at the National Monument area in Central Jakarta, Sunday (5/11).

Apart from strongly condemning Israel's attacks on Palestinians, the Indonesian people and government also sent humanitarian aids to Palestine on Saturday (4/11), which was released directly by President Joko Widodo at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta.

The government will immediately coordinate and prepare the next delivery of aids, considering the high enthusiasm of the Indonesian people to help the Palestinian people. The government through the Public Service Agency of the Ministry of Finance, namely the International Development Cooperation Fund (LDKPI) or also known as Indonesian AID, is preparing the second phase of humanitarian assistance for Palestine. It is hoped that this assistance can be sent next week, following the first stage of assistance which was carried out on Saturday (04/11).

Support from the international community, including from Indonesia, is really needed by Palestinian citizens due to increasingly heated Israeli-Palestinian tensions. This second phase of humanitarian assistance is part of Indonesia's commitment to help Palestine, as stated by President Joko Widodo when releasing the first batch of aid at Halim Perdana Kusuma Air Base in Jakarta.

Indonesia's support represents all elements of the nation. The government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Indonesian Military and Police, and also the community collaborated to collect various types of aid materials.

Humanitarian assistance is also an expression of the solidarity of the Indonesian people and government towards the Palestinian people who live in difficult situations. While humanitarian assistance is important, what is more important is finding a long-term solution to the conflict so that the Palestinian people can live in peace and stability.

09
November

 

Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized that human development is the key to realizing a Golden Indonesia vision of 2045. Although the challenges ahead are not easy, the President believes that human resource development of aspects such as nationality and religion will encourage the vision's realization. President Joko Widodo conveyed this in his speech when opening the 2023 National Working Summit of the Indonesian Institute of Islamic Propagation (LDII) and the inauguration of the Minhaajurrosyidiin Multipurpose Building in Jakarta on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
 
Challenges to bring the dream of a Golden Indonesia 2045 into reality are not getting any easier. However, the Indonesian head of state is optimistic that the country can face these challenges with a strong spirit of unity. He emphasized that 2024, 2029, and 2034 are crucial moments for Indonesia, whether it can move forward or not. For this reason, the country needs strong national leadership, unity, and cohesion.
 
Humans are an important factor in national economic development. Therefore, it is very important to invest in human resources, to create superior, reliable, and competitive people.
 
The development of human resources is the main focus of President Joko Widodo's government. In 2019, improving the quality of Indonesians even became the theme of Indonesia's Independence Day, namely "Superior Human Resources, (Key to) Advanced Indonesia".
 
Last June, President Joko Widodo launched the National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN) 2025-2045 to realize the vision of Golden Indonesia 2045. At that time the President emphasized that to achieve the vision, Indonesia needs leadership that is intelligent, strong, brave, and good at finding solutions.
 
Meanwhile, the superior human resources that Indonesia aspires to are those who master today's skills and knowledge, have strong character, are virtuous, tolerant, honest, dedicated, and of course have the Pancasila or the five principles of Indonesia's ideology values in mind.
 
The main task of creating superior human resources lies in the government. However, the entire Indonesians should take a role in it, starting from their family, school, and surrounding community. In 2045, Indonesia will mark its centennial, known as "The Golden Indonesia". By that year, Indonesia is targeted to have become a developed, modern country, on par with the world's superpowers. Thus, investment to create superior human resources should be carried out by all parties, starting from individuals, families, communities, and stakeholders, as well as economic and business actors in the country. In this way, the prepared humans are of better quality and ready to compete with those of other countries.
 
The belief that superior Indonesians have high competitiveness should continue to be strengthened. Quoting the speech of the Indonesian first president, Soekarno, on National Heroes' Day on November 10, 1961, "give me 10 young people, I will definitely shake the world." President Soekarno's spirit must be ingrained more firmly in the minds of the entire Indonesian nation.
04
November

 

The United States and South Korea again conducted large-scale air exercises starting last Monday (30/10), using 130 fighter aircraft from both countries to simulate wartime operations for 24 hours.

This annual exercise, called Vigilant Defense, ran until Friday (03/11/2023), featuring variants of the F-35 stealth fighter from the United States and South Korea, among other aircraft.

This exercise aimed to improveoperational capabilities between the militaries of the two countries by carrying out major air missions,such as air-to-surface live fire exercises, defensive counter-air operations, and other emergency training.

According to the South Korean military, it would maintain the best combat readiness to immediately respond and harshly punish any provocation by the enemy through intensive training by simulating actual situations.

The joint military drills between South Korea and the United States took place as North Korea increased military cooperation with Russia. This has been criticized by the United States and its Asian allies as an attempt by Pyongyang toenhanceits military capabilities in return for arms support to Moscow.

Previously, North Korean Foreign Minister,Choe Son Hui expressed Pyongyang's "strong desire" to expand ties with Russiaat the weekend. According to Minister Choe,relations between North Korea and Russia willbecome a "strong strategic" element if security in the regionisthreatened.

North Korea has long condemned joint drills between the United States and South Korea as a rehearsal for invasion and evidence of hostile policies by Washington and Seoul.

In 2023, North Korea carried out a number of weapons tests which made relations with South Korea and the United States (US) increasingly tense.

Additionally, North Korea's legislature has incorporated the country's nuclear weapons status into law. This means that Pyongyang's nuclear power development policy is madeasthe permanent basic law of the State. A policy that the United States,of course,opposes.

The United States and its traditional ally,South Korea have an annual joint military exercise agenda that has been going on for years. However, this time the exercise took place when tensions between the two sides were increasing, both due to issues on the Korean Peninsulaandtheir opposing positions on the conflict in Ukraine and Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Hopefully,both parties can restrain themselves so that armed conflict does not occur.

02
November

 

The latest regulation in China which tightens the use of internet for underage children, will be applied on January 1, 2024. This is expected to bring many benefits in the short term, and the habits of users can change over time. The regulation is Beijing's effort to tackle internet addiction among underage children, including tight regulation on video games.


According to the Chinese Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the number of internet users under 18 years old in 2021 was more than 191 million. The analysts predicted the new regulation's impact on local big tech companies will be limited to the short term, but can reduce the number of users along with time.

Internet limitation for children under 18 aims to open a conducive cyber space for physical and mental health while protecting their rights and interests. According to the government, this is the responsibility of smart device makers and cellular service providers in China, as well as the regional government, education institution, and parents.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the study conducted by the Child Growth Deputy at Women Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry in 2016 revealed that 70 percent of children were found to bring smartphones to school. From the number, some 61 percent among them were using gadgets for chatting and online games, 29% for browsing class-related info, and 10 percent for communication with parents or friends. Gadget addiction on children can cause some issues starting from physical to social. Alternative activities are needed so children can be distracted from gadget addiction for it is affecting childrens' mentality and emotion. To protect the children from gadget addiction, it needs parents' role, like limiting the time of use.

Hopefully, parents and stakeholders can protect the next generation from the bad influence of the internet.

02
November
Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially opened the 2023 World Hydropower Congress (WHC) at Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC), Badung Regency, Bali, on Tuesday, October 31, 2023. In his speech, President Joko Widodo hoped that the forum could produce policy recommendations for a more sustainable Earth.
 
Previously, at the opening of the WHC plenary session on Tuesday (31/10), the Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Arifin Tasrif said that hydropower plants have contributed to Indonesia's electricity system for more than 100 years. As quoted from the official website of the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, he said that the role of hydropower is currently becoming increasingly important, in efforts to accelerate Indonesia's energy transition to achieve Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2060.
 
Minister Arifin said that the congress, which was attended by more than 43 countries and over 300 companies, was expected to be able to overcome various challenges in the development of hydroelectric power plants and to increase constructive collaboration globally.
 
Minister Arifin further explained that Indonesia has a hydropower potential of 95 Gigawatt (GW), and the installed plants' capacity has currently reached 6.7 GW. In 2030, the hydropower plant development is targeted to reach more than 10 Gigawatts, and in the future, this will be increased to reach 72 Gigawatts by 2060. Meanwhile, the pumped storage will reach 4.2 Gigawatts.
 
According to Minister Arifin, hydropower is a type of renewable energy that can be used as a base electricity load and also as a solution for the intermittency of renewable energy variables, such as solar and wind power in the electricity network.
 
The Indonesian government is currently prioritizing the development of super grid transmission to improve inter-island connectivity. It is even more important to encourage the use of hydroenergy sources and other renewable energy in the country. Arifin added that construction on several hydroelectric power plant projects in Indonesia is also currently underway, such as Jatigede power plant in West Java with a capacity of 110 Megawatts (MW) and Asahan power plant in North Sumatra (174 MW), which are targeted for starting operation in 2024. Meanwhile, Peusangan 1 and 2 power plants in Aceh (88 MW) and Merangin power plant (350 MW) will be operated in 2025, and the Batang Toru power plant in North Sumatra (520 MW) will be operated in 2026.
 
Through the 2023 World Hydropower Congress, Minister Arifin hopes that all parties can strengthen cooperation to increase the use of technological innovation and access to competitive financing.
 
The 2023 WHC will take place on October 31 - November 2, 2023 with the theme 'Powering Sustainable Growth'.
02
November

 

President Joko Widodo held a political meeting with 3 presidential candidates who will run in the 2024 elections Monday afternoon (30/10). This meeting seems to be seen as an answer to the issue of the president's partiality towards one of the candidate pairs. Previously, one of the party officials supporting one of the candidates said that the President should hold a meeting with the presidential candidates to reduce the issues circulating in society ahead of the election.

The meeting which was held at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta took place smoothly and friendlily with a lunch together enjoying traditional cuisine. The presidential candidates, Ganjar Pranowo, Prabowo Subianto and Anies Baswedan came without their respective vice-presidential candidates and had lunch with President Joko Widodo. The invitation to this lunch meeting had previously been expressed by one of the party leaders supporting one of the presidential candidates.

It is hoped that this meeting will be a breath of fresh air with the widespread issues of president's partiality towards one of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. This is related to the existence of a family from the president who is a vice presidential candidate. The public are divided between the pros and cons regarding this matter. Not to mention it was preceded by a Constitutional Court verdict which the public considered very controversial.

Previously, President Joko Widodo had also expressed his support for the three presidential candidates for the good of the nation. He asked the community to remain harmonious and peaceful even though they have different choices and did not want divisions because of differences in the elections.

Before meeting with the 3 presidential candidates, President Joko Widodo also met with temporary regional heads throughout Indonesia. In his direction, he asked them not to take side with any candidate, be neutral, be supportive to the General Election Commission and the General Election Supervisory Agency in the implementation of the Election and maintain harmony during the political year.

It seems that the meeting and the lunch of President Joko Widodo and the future presidential candidates contain the same things as the meeting with temporary regional officials; one of them is maintaining mutual harmony and peace. Thereby, the word neutrality is the main point. Because the neutrality of stakeholder officials in government will support the creation of a conducive and peaceful atmosphere. Likewise, the wish expressed by the 3 presidential candidates to the president at the luncheon was the neutrality of the current leaders, including the president in facing the 2024 elections.

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