VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The weekend G20 summit was India's big moment on the world stage, giving the country an opportunity to work on global issues and providing Prime Minister Narendra Modi a chance to present his credentials as a global statesman.

Although some analysts said the meeting showed few concrete results, his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now cashing in on Modi's enhanced image ahead of a series of state elections and national elections due by May 2024.

In the run-up to the summit, Modi's face was plastered on G20 hoardings across the country. During the meeting last weekend, local television channels had wall-to-wall coverage of Modi with world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, and the praise that was showered on him for a successful meeting.

The BJP peppered its social media platforms with messages of praise from world leaders.

The summit declaration papered over key differences and had few breakthroughs in critical areas such as debt and climate change but for a popular leader with a long-dominant lead over his political rivals, these are diplomatic intricacies that matter little in domestic politics, analysts said.

India's successful mission last month to land a spacecraft on the moon is another factor that feeds into the country's feel-good image and gives Modi a fillip, they said.

The opposition Congress party has criticised Modi for turning G20 into an election campaign, charging him with promoting dialogue and peace on the international stage while his Hindu nationalist administration discriminates against religious minorities and quashes dissent, charges the government has denied.

But analysts say Modi's political position is so strong there is little risk of the strategy backfiring.

"The message which has gone out is that India has really emerged very strong in the world," said Sanjay Kumar, psephologist at New Delhi's Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

"And it's only because of Modi. The narrative is the national pride of an average Indian has gone up," he said.

Modi enjoys high approval ratings and surveys suggest he will easily win the general election and a third term next year despite concerns about rising inflation, unemployment and an uneven economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Worries about violence in the northeastern state of Manipur have also affected Modi's image.

The BJP plans to highlight the "success of the summit" during fortnight-long celebrations of Modi’s birthday starting on Sunday, a party official said.

Modi's contribution to India's rising global stature will be a key theme of a special five-day parliament session beginning next week, the official said.

NATIONAL PRIDE

"It’s really a fact that India's image has transformed under Prime Minister Modi," BJP vice president Baijayant Jay Panda told Reuters.

Modi, who turns 73 on Sunday, swept to power in 2014 promising stability and change from what he called the long-ruling Congress party's corruption and poor governance.

He consolidated his win with welfare economics, boosting infrastructure and unabashed Hindu nationalism, winning a second term in 2019 with a bigger majority.

Modi often underlines national pride in his speeches, which resonates with a large section of the people that has been aggrieved about India's portrayal in Western media as a poor country, analysts said.

"Every small thing counts when a narrative of national pride is being built," said Yashwant Deshmukh, a psephologist with the C-Voter agency.

According to C-Voter's biannual "Mood of the Nation" survey in India Today magazine last month, 47% said India's G20 presidency will enhance the country's global stature and 73% said it will be a poll plank in 2024.

The opposition Congress party was not so impressed, with its chief spokesperson Jairam Ramesh saying Modi's statements of tolerance on the global stage are "sheer hypocrisy".

"At home...he remains silent on hate speech, lynchings, targeted killings, and attacks on holy places. His party, and the larger ecosystem he belongs to, has unleashed systematic polarisation campaigns...and has torn apart the social fabric of the nation," Ramesh posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The government has denied these charges.

Former Congress prime minister Manmohan Singh, who Modi replaced, said: "While India's standing in the world should rightfully be an issue in domestic politics, it is equally important to exercise restraint in using diplomacy and foreign policy for party or personal politics." (Reuters)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled a fresh cabinet line-up on Wednesday that features five women, but falls short of female representation seen in most other G7 nations, although it matches a domestic tally twice before achieved.

Women now account for a quarter of the cabinet members, for a figure roughly on par with the female ratio in Italy's cabinet, for instance, but Japan lags far behind other members of the Group of Seven developed economies.

Four of Kishida's appointments are new to cabinet, with the only exception being Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a heavyweight in his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who has previously run for its top post, and by extension, the top job.

Japan needs to send more women to parliament to have more balanced gender representation at the top, said Koichi Nakano, a specialist in comparative politics at Sophia University in Tokyo.

"You have to simply have a wider pool of eligible and qualified women, and only having 10 percent of lawmakers from the female sex is not enough," he added, saying that a rigorous quota system was one solution.

"Many people in Japan think of a quota system as unfair and biased," Nakano said. "But it's the other way around. The existing system gives too much privilege to men, and particularly men from political dynasties."

Japan's underrepresentation of women in politics was on full display in June when it hosted a G7 ministerial meeting on gender equality and women's empowerment, at which Tokyo was the only member represented by a male minister.

The World Economic Forum rated Japan 125th among 143 countries for gender parity in a report this year, spurring Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno to pledge to push for more social participation by women, especially in politics.

Japan's gender parity in political empowerment was among the world's lowest, ranking 138, behind China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

In June, Kishida's ruling LDP said it aimed to nearly triple the number of its women lawmakers to 30% in the next decade, through steps such as offering babysitting arrangements and a fund to support female candidates.

On Wednesday, besides re-appointing Takaichi to the economic security role, Kishida named former justice minister Yoko Kamikawa as foreign minister, and three others to ministerial posts for the first time.

They are Ayuko Kato, minister overseeing children-related policies; Hanako Jimi, a minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs; and Reconstruction Minister Shinako Tsuchiya.

Before Kishida, cabinets formed in 2001 by then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and in 2014, by Shinzo Abe, had five female ministers each. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Chief of the Presidential Staff (KSP) Moeldoko invited South Korea to invest in Indonesia's agricultural technology sector, so that the two countries could anticipate the threat of the global food crisis.

"Indonesia has the land, supportive natural conditions, a wealth of (food crop) varieties, the availability of human resources, and a large market. South Korea has advanced agricultural technology," he noted in a statement received here on Wednesday.

According to Moeldoko, if agricultural cooperation between Indonesia and South Korea can be maximized, both countries can maintain food security and even grow amid the threat of the global food crisis.

Moeldoko was interviewed by the Maekyung Media Group (MBN), the largest media network in the country on Wednesday.

In the interview, he remarked that cooperation in the agricultural technology sector can be a golden opportunity for both countries to grow together amid the crisis.

He explained that as Indonesia's population is reaching 270 million, and it has abundant natural resources and a stable economy, it would be immensely profitable for South Korea to keep investing in Indonesia.

He remarked that the agribusiness sector is facing the problem of aging farmers.

"The answer to this problem has been applied in Indonesia, where young people are involved in the agriculture industry with a technological approach," he stated.

Moeldoko also spoke about the youth movement to bolster the nation's agriculture that is called the Maju Tani Indonesia Movement.

The movement produces flagship agricultural products using a technological approach, he remarked.

Activists in the movement use superior seeds that are able to survive pests and hard weather conditions.

"They also use artificial intelligence in production, so there is efficiency," Moeldoko, who is the coach of the movement, noted.

Moeldoko visited Seoul to be the speaker at the World Knowledge Forum (WKF). The forum gathered 200 entrepreneurs and experts from around the world to predict the future and discuss solutions to global problems. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Agriculture Minister Sayhrul Yasin Limpo is targeting domestic rice production to reach 55.42 million tons in 2024, an increase as compared to the target of 54.5 million tons set for 2023.

“Based on the four (work) programs (of the Agriculture Ministry), the production targets for several main commodities in 2024 are 55.42 million tons for rice and 23.34 million tons for corn,” he stated here on Wednesday.

He made the statement at a working meeting with Commission IV of the House of Representatives (DPR).

The targets for other commodities are three million tons for chili, 1.74 million tons for shallots, 340 thousand tons for soybeans, and 45.91 thousand tons for garlic.

The other production targets are 818 thousand tons for coffee, 2.9 million tons for coconut, 694 thousand tons for cocoa, 39.45 million tons for sugarcane, 405.44 thousand tons for beef, and four million tons for chicken meat.

Limpo explained that his ministry received an increase of Rp76.8 billion (around US$4.99 million) in the budget ceiling due to an eight-percent rise in the state civil apparatus’ (ASNs') salaries. Thus, the ministry’s budget ceiling for 2024 is set at Rp14.73 trillion (US$958.42 million).

He further noted that from that budget, the budgets for four programs are allocated.

The four programs are the quality food availability, access, and consumption program, with a budget ceiling of Rp8.19 trillion (US$532.82 million); industrial added value and competitiveness program, Rp1.42 trillion (US$92.38 million); vocational training and education program, Rp641 billion (US$41.68 million); and management support, Rp4.47 trillion (US$290.8 million).

The minister stated that for the implementation of Presidential Instruction Number 1 of 2021 on the acceleration of economic development in three state border areas, the Agriculture Ministry had allotted Rp32.9 billion (US$2.08 million) for carrying out numerous efforts.

For Aruk, Sambas District, West Kalimantan, Rp12.12 billion (US$788.15 thousand) is allocated that is used to develop crop-livestock business integration, pepper and coconut production center areas, and horticultural areas, among others.

Meanwhile, for Motaain, Belu District, East Nusa Tenggara, Rp10.48 billion (US$681.4 thousand) is allocated to develop crop-livestock business integration, horticultural areas, and coconut areas.

As for Skouw, Jayapura City, Papua, Rp10.3 billion (US$669.7 thousand) is allocated that will be used for the development of crop-livestock business integration, rice and sago downstreaming, and the development of horticultural areas. (Antaranews)