VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Almost no one knows that  US President Donald Trump visited an air base in  west of Baghdad, Iraq for about 3 hours on Wednesday (December 26, 2018). This visit was made  to meet US soldiers who were on duty in Iraq. His arrival was kept secret even though there was notice to the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office just hours before the plane landed. Evidence that the landing was in secrecy can be seen from   the presidential aircraft lights, Air Force One,which  was turned off and the window cover was lowered.

Donald Trump, despite coming to Iraq, did not meet up with the Iraqi leader. Talks with Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi were only carried out by phone. Both of them did not meet face to face because there was a matter of meeting arrangements. However, the Iraqi Prime  Minister Office said the President of the United States was invited  to Baghdad. The group in the Iraqi Parliament condemned Trump's arrival. Both the Islah group and its rival Bina consider Trump's visit a violation of sovereignty.

In front of the US  soldiers, Donald Trump conveyed the plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq. Trump doesn't want to delay anymore and states the US has been fighting for a long time for other countries. The US also does not want to play the role of world police. Yet, the statement was not in line with what was conveyed by White House Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She said there had been no plans to withdraw US forces in Iraq.

Trump continues the tradition of US President visiting  troops in the conflict zone. But his mission is to withdraw US forces who have retained their position in Iraq by order of former  President Obama. In some policies, Trump seemed to deliberately cut some of the things Obama had done.

The question is, whether  Trump is serious about withdrawing US troops from Iraq. If that happens and the ISIS forces are not in Iraq anymore, the country can begin to build its ruins from the war. Hopefully a peaceful Iraq in the coming year can be realized soon. 

Indonesia was hit by another disaster. Not long after the earthquake in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara and in Palu & Donggala, Central Sulawesi, tsunami in Sunda Strait hit Banten and South Lampung Provinces on Saturday (23/12).

Until Sunday (23/12), there were 222 people died, 843 wounded, and 30 missing in the disaster. The tsunami damaged many buildings and infrastructure.

Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency BMKG had confirmed that the tsunami was caused by vulcanic activity and eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau that had been seen since Saturday evening. This condition had been warned and the volcano was given alert status since June 2018.

The activity of Mount Anak Krakatau keeps increasing since June 18 2018. In the previous months, from July until November, eruptions keep happening. The latest one was on December 22, which was suspected to cause the dreadful tsunami in Banten and Lampung.

The tsunami which killed hundreds had become global concern. Some foreign media reported the disaster. Condolences and sympathy kept coming from some world leaders.

Series of disasters actually never makes Indonesian weak and desperate. Disaster must be faced, overcome, and seen – simply as a divine trial, so that Indonesians can be stronger in facing greater challenges. We could see the Japanese, who turned into an advanced country despite of frequent earthquakes.

Disasters which often hit Indonesia must be a lesson for her to avoid and anticipate them. Indonesians must stay alerted and ready to face the possibility of other disasters. Among others is by having simulations, so that the people will know what to do during disasters. Besides that, proper early warning system must be ready, so that both the people and local government can be alerted and save themselves before the disaster happens. This is expected to lower down casualties in disasters.

Although the two parties in dispute in Yemen, namely the Government troops and the Houthi rebels agreed to a ceasefire, there were still several shootingshappened. As a result, there is a possibility that an armed conflict will occur again between the two parties. Based on an agreement mediated by the United Nations, a ceasefire should  begin on Tuesday (December 18). But the UN apparently has not socialized the plan, as seen at a videoconference on Wednesday regarding troop withdrawals from Hodeidah.

The Saudi Arabian coalition supporting the Yemeni government, recorded that on Tuesday,  which should have been included in the ceasefire agreement, there were still 20 times of armed contact. If it turns out that it comes from both sides, then it is just a matter of timebefore  the Stockholm agreement becomes  a historical record on paper only.

In the war in Yemen, the issue of humanity also deserves the attention of the world. During the 4 years of war, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted, at least 10 thousands people died. However, various human rights activists said the  number is 5 times the WHO record. The war left nearly half of Yemen's 30 million people in starvation. It is also not wrong if the United Nations calls the case of Yemen the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

Unfortunately the UN record is still exacerbated by the deaths of 6 thousands children. Why did  they become  victims? Apparently they were recruited to be involved in warfare. Houthi rebels are claimed to recruit up to 18 thousand children. Why were the children recruited? One reason is the unbalanced number of power. The coalition forces are supported by 140 thousand personnel while the Houthi rebels have only 60 thousandsin number.

But apart from that reason, it is not appropriate to involve children in armed conflict. This  should be solved  together by  the warring groups, to immediately end the battle. They should  think more about the fate of the war-torn country. When will the two parties begin to  think more about the interests of the Yemeni people instead of  the interests of their respective groups?

December 20 is commemorated as the Social Solidarity Day. The date was chosen since in 1948, all Indonesian people were united to protect the nation’s sovereignty by expelling the colonizers from Yogyakarta, the capital of Indonesia at that time. Ten years afterwards, the Social Solidarity day was initiated and later commemorated annually.

Social solidarity is an original value of Indonesia. The soul and spirit of social solidarity in the nation and people’s lives have principally existed long before Indonesia stands as an independent nation. Therefore, the social solidarity becomes an identity and is practiced until now. In the struggle for independence, it became a tool to fight the colonization.

Nowadays, Indonesia does not face colonizer anymore, but social issues such as poverty, social gap, natural disasters, diversity, and many others.

The struggle against those issues is not easy. Soekarno, the 1^st President of Indonesia once said, “My struggle is easier, since it’s against colonizer. But, your struggle will be heavier, since you are facing your own brothers.” That quote reminds the current generation that the next struggle is social issues.

However, the Indonesian government cannot work alone. The people need to cooperate in solving it together. In solving the issues, the people must prioritize the social solidarity values such as mutual cooperation and helping each other.

Indonesian people’s work is how to maintain the social solidarity to stay in the mind set and real work of Indonesians in politics, economy, social, and culture. And that is not an easy task.