The Indonesian Embassy in Beirut has acknowledged its continued support for trade cooperation improvement between Indonesia and Lebanon. Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon Hajriyanto Y Thohari gave the Primaduta Award to Lebanese businessman and importer, George R Fattouh. The award was given for his service in helping market Indonesian products in Paris from the Middle East. The award was given at a ceremony at the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut, Thursday (11/1) Fatough, is the owner of George R. Fattouh S.A.L, a business that has been importing Indonesian products since the 1980s. It has a range of products, including: palm oil and its derivatives, oil and fats (including cocoa butter substitute, fat spread, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, and lauric confectionery fats), cardboard, stationary, and school equipment. Some Indonesian products are now even available at famous retail networks, such as Spinney’s and Carrefour. In 2022, the value imported by George R. Fattough S.A.L of Indonesian products, was 981.3 million USD. This was a 149.5 million USD increase when compared to 2021. Fattouh said Indonesian products are known for their quality and are in high demand in Lebanese markets. However, he said, the challenge now is increasing freight costs due to security challenges in the region.
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Listeners, a number of delicious dishes were served to the guests of Dhaup Ageng Pura Pakualaman Yogyakarta, at the wedding reception of the youngest son of K.G.P.A.A. Paku Alam X, namely B.P.H. Kusumo Kuntonugroho with Laily Annisa Kusumastuti which was held on January 10, 2024.Head of the Customs and Accommodation Division, Dhaup Ageng Pura Pakualaman, KRT Radyo Wisroyo said that the menu served to guests was quite varied. These menus are typical menus prepared by Pakualaman Pura, Indonesian menus and western food menus were also available. All invited guests including VIP and VVIP guests got the same menu. The first menu served to welcome guests, namely two types of welcome drink, namely lime lemongrass and ginger drink with lime. The welcome drink was given when guests sat down and watched the Bedhaya Sidamukti and Bedhaya Kakung Indrawidagda dance performances. Next, they gotsnacks for appetizer such as croquettes and other light snacks. There is a snack that is considered quite special and rare called Garulina. Garulina was the opening snack at the Pahargyan Dhaup Ageng Pakualaman lunch on the first day. Garulina has been around since the era before Indonesian independence. Garulina is actually not a typical Central Javanese food. It looks like the Lapis Legit layered cake, but there is something different, because there is a special layer like vla which is made from fresh milk, eggs and sugar. To get this sweet snack, Pakulaman Temple has to place a special order from the third generation of makers who have been pioneering since the 1950s. In Jogja, Garulina is very difficult to find and is considered rare because it is not sold every day.
ViewIndonesia and Malaysia jointly develop tourism travel corridors
Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to cooperate in rebuilding tourism and creative economy in each country which is impacted by Covid-19 pandemic; one of these is by building a joint tourism corridor. Deputy of Marketing for the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) and the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency (Baparekraf), Nia Niscaya in her recent statement in Jakarta explained that Malaysia is one of the important partners for Indonesian tourism. Malaysia has been one of the biggest contributors to foreign tourists to Indonesia. It recorded 2.09 million tourists from Malaysia visiting Indonesia in 2019.
Nia became a guest speaker at the Travel Industry Network Talkshow with Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture, Dato 'Sri Nancy Shukri with the theme "Regional Tourism Collaborative Opportunities Post COVID-19", Friday (6/19). The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about fundamental changes for tourists to travel in the future. To travel between countries, tourists may prefer to travel in a short-haul trip. Malaysia is one of the potential partners to be able to re-grow international tourism trips. She also stated that the cooperation that can be done is how to obtain the world confidence that the two countries have controlled successfully the spread of the Covid-19 and agreed to create a travel corridor.
Nia further said that both countries must be able to surely overcome the Covid-19 in each country. It is important to enhance confidence for tourists from each country in its market.
Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture, Dato 'Sri Nancy Shukri also remarked that Indonesia and Malaysia must be able to foster tourism in the future.
Action of Indonesian military’s soldiers, who are joining in the contingent of Garuda XXIII-N/United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), became a world spotlight. Because the Indonesian military’s soldiers who are on duty to keep peace in the borders between Israel and Lebanon, succeeded in counteracting war among the countries. The event began when the Indonesian military’s soldiers were conducting surveillance at Blue Line, Adisa’s border, the South of Lebanon, on Tuesday (2/6/2020). The Indonesian military’s soldiers with a strength of 1 company and APC Anoa found Merkava tankbelonging to Israeli military penetrating the borders. When passing the borders, the Merkava tank was ready to hold confrontation with Lebanese soldiers who were ready to fight by using RPG. Commander of Peacekeeping Mission Centerof the Indonesian military, General Victor Hasudungan Simatupang said that the confrontation of the two countries succeeded to be anticipated after the Indonesian military’s soldiers received information of the existence of military movements from intelligence.
Indonesian embassy in Warszawa cooperated with Indonesian embassies in Berlin, The Hague, and Frankfurt to facilitate the repatriation of Indonesian citizens to Indonesia. From Warszawa, 11 Indonesian citizens continued their trip via Frankfurt on Friday (19/6), and then they flew to Indonesia on Saturday via Schiphol Amsterdam. This was reported in a press release of the Indonesian embassy in Warszawa, which was received by ANTARA. The press release also stated that the 11 people consisted of two students and 9 Indonesian Migrant Workers. Six of the Indonesian Migrant Workers were under an independent scheme, and they stayed at the temporary shelter of the Indonesian Embassy since mid-April 2020. Indonesian Ambassador to Poland, Siti Nugraha Mauludiah also confirmed that most Indonesian Migrant Workers in Poland were sent to Indonesia under the independent scheme.
Herbal Medicine from Indonesia Preferred by Various Groups in Europe
The Hibiscus Foundation in collaboration with Indonesian Embassy in The Hague held a webinar on the story of herbal medicine as a healing art due to lots of herbal fans in Europe. Counselor of Social cultural information of the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, Fery Iswandy told Antara London on Wednesday (06/17) that the seminar was supported by the Indonesian Alzheimer's Foundation in the Netherlands. The participants came from many countries with multidisciplinary backgrounds of science.
Chairman of the Hibiscus Foundation, Ine WawoRuntu explained that the story and history of herbal medicine are important aspects in connecting Indonesian people and the world. Of course, the people who love the culture and heritage of Indonesia know and have tasted herbal medicine as a famous national heritage whose efficacy is very excellent.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief of Indonesian Representative in The Hague, Fikry Cassidy stated, the seminar was done in the right time because the Covid-19 pandemic is still ongoing. Right now, throughout the world many people are exposed to and infected with the Covid-19.
He further explained that in handling the Covid-19, every challenge has certainly a variety of opportunities. Take for example; the herbal medicine is a traditional health drink and is believed to have excellent treatment efficacy. Fikry Cassidy added that of course, people who love the culture and heritage of Indonesia know and have tasted the herbal medicine which is famous for its merit.
The webinar is expected that the participants can support to not only consume herbal medicine but also to contribute by promoting herbal medicine through various media so that herbal medicine is also known abroad. Thereby, the wealth of the archipelago can be preserved continuously.
Many problems faced by Indonesian fishermen pushed three students of the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS) to create a latest technology. Through this technology called Massive, they present a fish finder with the ability to show conditions in waters in real time. Three of them are Muhammad Azimt, Dista Rizky Dwi Yanti, and Alfi Rahmawati. Through this innovation, they are trying to help optimize the catch of fish at sea while still prioritizing the safety of every fisherman when fishing.
Muhammad Azimt as the team leader revealed, the making of Massive was motivated by the problem of fishermen who never finished fishing in the Indonesian waters. According to the fishermen, the catch of the fish is uncertain, difficult to predict. This fishing tool is not like other expensive fish detection devices. The tool can be used by small fishermen because the price is affordable. So, the consumption of the local fish market can increase. He said, most of the current fish finders are still used limited to large ships and they are foreign-made. However, this tool is present as an alternative group of fishing communities. Although being alternative, the function of this fishing tool can be equally used to search for fish in deep sea.
This tool has two parts namely one placed on the ship and one placed at sea. Later, this tool detects the location of fish based on the speed of water and wind currents. So, the sensor data sent to fishermen will be relevant to the underwater situation. This tool is also equipped with several components such as anemometer to detect wind speed, sonar to detect the presence of fish, and radio frequency module (xbee) as a media for transferring data from sensors to monitors. Muhammad Azimt also stated that currently, the tool is being tried and studied again because it still needs improvement and evaluation in terms of packaging.
Indonesian embassy in Hanoi has introduced Indonesian typical food to Vietnamese students at the Cultural Promotional Center of Umah Indo recently (10/6). The traditional food, which was introduced, was Klepon made from sticky rice and filled with melted palm sugar and also sprinkled with grated coconut. At the information of Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s website on Friday (12/6), the event was participated in by Vietnamese students and also foreign students from some universities in Hanoi.
Indonesian Ambassador in Dili, Sahat Sitorus suggested that the provincial government of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) can operate marine transportation service namely fast ship from Kupang to Dili, Timor Leste. He stated in the webinar ASITA entitled "New Normal and Readiness of East Nusa Tenggara province to Welcome Tourists" recently(10/6). According to Sahat, the procurement of the fast ship can help to attract tourists from Timor Leste or other countries, who visit Timor Leste and then to East Nusa Tenggara. In addition, he also suggested the marine transportation service of Dili-Alor regency line to be opened as soon as possible. He added that his side has suggested the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rightsto open Immigration Checkpoint in Alor in order to be able to support the service.
Indonesian embassy in Bangkok cooperated with Garuda Indonesia to re-facilitate self-repatriation of Indonesian citizens in Thailand due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, as delivered in a press release which was received in Jakarta, recently. The fourth wave of Indonesian repatriation flight from Thailand was conducted on Thursday (11/6) and joined by 110 passengers consisting of 107 Indonesian citizens of internship students, tourists and some persons who have completed the study period or finished the work contract and also 3 foreign citizens. Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand, Ahmad Rusdi stated that as a form of state presence, the Indonesian embassy in Bangkok keeps trying to facilitate Indonesian citizens, especially in pandemic situations, including via independent repatriation flight.
Gadjah Mada University –UGM managed to penetrate the world’s 254th ranking according to the ranking of the global universities in 2021 by Quacquarelli Symonds. This achievement is the highest compared to other universities in Indonesia. Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranks based on six main criteria. There are academic reputation, employee reputation, citations per faculty, faculty-students ratio, international faculty, and international students.
QS has been ranking universities in the world since 2010. UGM continues to consistently increase its ranking. In 2015, UGM was ranked 551-600 in the world. Improvements continue to be made so that there has been a significant increase in the last five years. The success was ranked 254th from the world's tertiary institutions while positioning UGM to be the first ranked tertiary institution in Indonesia. The second best ranking from Indonesia, according to the QS ranking, was occupied by Indonesia University (UI) with a record of 305th in the world. Afterwards, there was the Bandung Institute of Technology which ranked 313th.
Head of UGM Quality Assurance Office, Indra Wijaya said that the achievement was the result of hard work from all parties. Higher education performance in various fields will continue to be improved. That success actually whipped up the spirit to achieve better achievements.
Indonesia is a tropical country and has many mountains with thousands of unexplored plant species, including chemical contents and biological activities. One of the genuses of plants that live in this tropical mountain area is the Rubus genus or Rosaceae. The type of plant (Rosaceae) is included in plants that have berry type fruits, which are small, soft, commonly eaten as fruit, colorful, and having important nutritional content. Some Rubus is reported to have strong anti-oxidant, anti-elastase, anti-tyrosine, anti-collagenase, anti-UV, and anti-aging activities and to have major phyto-chemical contents, namely compounds ofterpenoid, polyphenols, and flavonoids. The Rubus has a lot of benefits which make one of the doctors at UI research this.
Yesi Desmiaty in her dissertation examined this plant whose extract has anti-aging benefits. In this study, the stems, fruit, and leaves of the plant were extracted by using the Soxhlet tool to conduct research and to test whether it is true that the content in this fruit has anti-aging benefits for humans. In the research process, a separation and isolation process was carried out on the extract compound. The stratified extraction results showed that the methanol extract of R. fraxinifolius leaves has anti-elastase and antioxidant activity.
The results said that several species of the Rubus genus were reported to have anti-aging activity. Groups of compounds that are known to have anti-aging activity in Rubus fruit are triterpenoids, polyphenols, and flavonoids. Besides being spread abroad, it turns out that Rubus are also scattered in the forests and mountains of Indonesia. Based on reports both in publications and in the herbarium, there are 25 Rubus types spread throughout Indonesia.
The lack of awareness among Indonesians of mental health amid the Covid-19 pandemic situation can certainly cause special problems. Therefore, three students of the Ten November Institute of Technology (ITS) created Curhatin, an application for online psychology consulting services. By forming a team, they created an online psychology consultation service application.
The team leader, Bagas Juwono Priambodo said that the Indonesian people are still considered being less concerned about their mental health. Many people think that mental health consultation is not important. Even amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic situation, the psychological problems of the Indonesian people are increasing. Excessive worry is one reason for the emergence of mental health problems today. That is the basis of the team creating the application named “Curhatin”. It is a mobile android based application. This application is equipped with various psychological services that can help the community. The services provided are anti-stress tips, consultations with psychologists, stress healing methods, stress monitoring, and personal journal records.
The consultation services with psychologists will be carried out by sending messages, calls and video calls. People can freely choose according to their individual needs. The team also plans to coordinate with the Indonesian Mental Medicine Specialist Association. In the future, the anti-stress tips service features, stress monitoring, and several other tips will be presented in the form of videos and articles. Thanks to their great attention to the mental health of the Indonesian people through the application idea of Curhatin, Bano and team were successful in the INA IDEAthon Covid-19 competition held by the Ministry of Research and Technology / National Research and Innovation Agency (Kemenristek / BRIN). They have also been named as the 17 Best Ideas to defeat 5,590 ideas throughout Indonesia.
The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) team developed a device for disinfection of reusable Personal Protective Equipment -PPE and disposable PPE. This is motivated by a variety of cases of medical personnel infected with COVID-19 while on duty, even though they have been equipped with appropriate PPE and good usage procedures. The team analyzed that the possibility of exposure occurred because of PPE management, both when interacting with patients and when changing PPE.
The team created a device that uses ozone gas as a disinfectant. Chief researcher Sri Harjati Suhardi, PhD said, there are two types of tools that are used according to their uses. The first one is a disinfectant device that uses ozone mist to sterilize reusable PPE after use, such as hazard clothes, face shields, and safety glasses. Whereas, the second tool uses ozone gas for disposable PPE, for example masks and gloves, before disposal. Both become effective tools because they can kill the virus within seven or ten seconds according to studies in disinfection of microorganisms.
In its use, PPE is only stored in tightly closed containers and there is very little contact with medical personnel when doing the sterilization process. The consideration for the selection of ozone because it is safe for humans does not leave residues, and will be transformed back into oxygen. Now the tool is already in the prototype stage and ready to be launched for mass production. It is hoped that this PPE cleaning and sterilization container device will become an alternative solution to solve the problem of protecting medical personnel and hospital management.
The Ten November Institute of Technology (ITS) collaborates with Airlangga University Hospital (RSUA) to continue to produce innovative technology for handling the Corona virus outbreak. This time, the invented innovation is in the form of Ultra Violet ITS - Airlangga (VIOLETA) robot which is useful to facilitate the process of room sterilization for the care of Covid-19 patients. ITS Deputy Rector IV, Bambang,Pramujati PhD explained that the idea of creating the VIOLETA robot began when several ITS lecturers succeeded in researching the use of UV light to eliminate or inhibit the growth of microorganisms. This robot can also avoid physical contact with UV exposure because it is very dangerous when it comes to humans directly.
VIOLETA uses a UV light that is controlled remotely by using wireless control. This robot is effectively used at a distance of 1 to 2 meters to the object and takes 10 to 15 minutes to fully sterilize. One of the VIOLETA's research teams, Endarko added that in general, these UV lights have wavelengths of 200 to 300 nanometers. In practice and theory, the wavelength range can kill microorganisms well. This 30 watt UV light is healthier and safer than using disinfectants. This is because there are no residues left after the sterilization process.
As for the application in the Covid-19 case, the VIOLETA robot has the benefit of being able to sterilize the isolation space that has been used or the area that has been used in handling Covid-19 and without involving humans directly. One of the VIOLETA robot team programmers, Achmad Zidan Akbar said, the robot which weighs 30 kilograms uses the basic platform of the ITS soccer robot named IRIS. The VIOLETA also uses an inverter to convert the direct current from the battery into an alternating current which will turn on the UV light.