VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Senior diplomats and defence officials of South Korea and the United States agreed on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is a serious violation of U.N. sanctions and that the allies would ensure there is a price to pay.

The officials, meeting in Seoul to discuss "extended deterrence" against growing threats from North Korea, called on Moscow to show responsibility as a permanent member of the Security Council.

"We agreed to work together to ensure there is a price to pay for the grave violation of Security Council resolutions," South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin told a news conference.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is visiting Russia this week and met President Vladimir Putin to discuss military cooperation, the war in Ukraine and Russian help for North Korea's satellite program.

U.S. Under Secretary of Defence Sasha Baker said the allies will identify, expose and counter Russian attempts to acquire military equipment for the war in Ukraine.

U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed concern that the summit between the increasingly isolated Moscow and Pyongyang was aimed at allowing Russia to acquire ammunition from the North to supplement its dwindling stocks.

Chang and U.S. Under Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins also said any use of nuclear arms by the North against the South would be met with a swift and overwhelming response. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko, as keynote speaker at the World Knowledge Forum (WKF) in Seoul, South Korea, shared Indonesia's preparation strategy in facing global uncertainty.

At the forum attended by experts, entrepreneurs, and government representatives from various countries around the world, Moeldoko stated that Indonesia had built resilience and also driven growth in addition to being able to capitalize on the momentum of the pandemic crisis to make improvements.

"Indonesia is ready to face global uncertainty even if there is a change of leadership. (It is) because the foundation of the system has been built," Moeldoko emphasized, as a keynote speaker at the forum, according to a press release received in Jakarta, Friday.

In terms of resilience during the pandemic, Moeldoko explained that Indonesia had implemented three main strategies: mobilizing the health sector, social assistance program for lower class communities, and incentives for the business sector in order to keep moving.

Meanwhile, he explained that in terms of building and using opportunities after the pandemic, Indonesia had implemented five strategies, with the first being conducting human resource development by making the most of the demographic bonus.

The second strategy targets infrastructure development that strengthens connectivity to achieve cost efficiency.

The third strategy involves conducting regulatory reform by creating an Omnibus Law, or Job Creation Law, to encourage investment that is efficient, easy, and certain as well as builds a good ecosystem for growth.

Moeldoko highlighted the fourth strategy that entails bureaucratic reform that supports effective government administration.

The fifth strategy pertains to economic transformation from an economy dependent on natural resources to a modern economy with high added value.

Moeldoko believes that with those strategies, Indonesia can move from its current position as an upper-middle income nation to becoming the fourth-largest economic power in 2045, namely towards realizing a Golden Indonesia.

At the forum, the former Indonesia National Army commander also noted that Indonesia is taking the opportunity to play a role in addressing global problems through maintaining regional peace and building a regional resilience system through the ASEAN leadership.

Moreover, Indonesia is encouraging the development of global health infrastructure and equal economic cooperation through leadership at the G20 Summit.

"This is a strategy that is said to hijack the crisis," Moeldoko remarked.

The World Knowledge Forum (WKF) has been running since 2000. The forum gathers experts, entrepreneurs, and government representatives from various countries in the world to share thoughts and learning about solutions to global problems and predicting the future. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is collaborating with Statistics Indonesia (BPS) to carry out the 2023 Cooperatives and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Complete Data Collection.

The data collection is an effort to encourage the creation of a single database of cooperatives and MSMEs in Indonesia.

"We invite heads of offices in cooperatives and SMEs fields and BPS (regional office) heads in all provinces to collaborate and update the collected data," Cooperatives and SMEs Minister Teten Masduki noted in his official statement here on Friday.

In last year's data collection, the ministry accrued data of nine million MSMEs. In 2023, the data collection will target 215 districts and cities in 32 provinces.

According to Masduki, single data is essential for 64 million MSMEs in Indonesia that are still facing challenges, including related to access to financing, markets, and adequate information technology.

"To support MSME players in tackling those problems, the government needs (to ensure) the availability of data and information that can give an overview of the needs of MSME players in the country as well as for planning and evaluation purposes," he remarked.

According to Acting Head of BPS Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, the availability of single data of cooperatives and MSMEs that is updated and managed continuously as a "single source of truth" is vital for the government and other data users.

"The availability of a single database of cooperatives and MSMEs is useful in supporting the accuracy and effectiveness of government policies as well as in setting targets for community empowerment programs," she remarked.

To this end, she invited all MSME players to participate in data collection by providing factual data to the officers.

Several pressing reasons behind creating a single database for the development of MSMEs in the country, include to become a means of development planning and a basis for determining beneficiaries, as well as for measuring MSME performance using certain indicators.

The 2023 Cooperatives and MSMEs Complete Data Collection is being conducted from September 15 to October 14, 2023.

The information collected includes information on the business unit that comprises the name and address of the business, information on business players, and information on business characteristics. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Jakarta provincial government plans to increase the number of junior high schools and high schools or vocational schools in densely populated areas to improve the quality of education for its residents.

"We plan to add more junior high schools and high schools or vocational schools. We need to do that," Jakarta Acting Governor Heru Budi Hartono stated when met in South Jakarta, Friday.

He explained that areas with spacious land will have a new school building in accordance with the requirement.

"Meanwhile, other areas, with limited land, will have two schools under one building. For example, elementary school combined with junior high school," Hartono stated.

In addition, a legislator of the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD), Nurhasan, also supports the regional government's plan to open more schools in densely populated areas in order to improve the quality of residents' education.

"It is saddening to know there are many densely populated areas in the city lacking junior high schools to vocational schools," he pointed out at the DPRD Plenary Meeting in Jakarta on September 13.

Nurhasan drew attention to a dearth of junior high schools and high schools in areas, such as Pancoran in South Jakarta, Cakung in East Jakarta, Penjaringan in North Jakarta, Palmerah in West Jakarta, and Seribu Islands District.

He noted that fulfilling the obligation to provide a budget for the education sector should be clearly reflected in the changes to the 2023 regional budget fiscal year as an effort to solve the real problems in the community.

Moreover, the issue of equal distribution of educational services is always a challenge for Jakarta's residents, Nurhasan stated.

Based on data from the Jakarta Education Service, the number of students in Jakarta is dominated by those of state schools, reaching 986,699, or 51.98 percent of the total. Meanwhile, the number of private students reaches 911,381, or 48.02 percent.

Elementary and Islamic Elementary School (MI) students constitute the largest chunk of pupils in Jakarta, reaching 893,816, thereby indicating a wide gap as compared to 421,376 students of junior high schools and Islamic Junior High Schools (MTS) in Jakarta. (Antaranews)