VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, attended the Foreign Minister's Level Meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Jeddah, May 29 2019. The OIC State Ministerial Meeting was primarily intended to prepare two document outcomes for the OIC Summit, namely draft Final Communique and resolution regarding Palestine and Al-Quds Ash-Sharif. The 14th OIC Summit itself will be held in Mecca on May 31, 2019.
 
Since the beginning of this series of OKI meetings at the level of Senior Officials, Indonesia has actively contributed to negotiations on the preparation of the final document of the Summit.
 
In the preparatory meeting of the summit, the Indonesian Foreign Minister specifically conveyed the importance of the OIC State to be solid in giving support to the Palestinians. "The OIC must unite and the OIC's steps must be solid and coordinated in supporting Palestine," Retno added.
 
In particular, the Indonesian Foreign Minister stressed that the peace plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must pay attention to three criteria, namely inclusiveness (involving the conflicting parties): comprehensive (not sacrificing Palestinian political rights); and respect the parameters that have been internationally accepted.
 
In addition, the Indonesian Foreign Minister also expressed Indonesia's readiness to become the host of the OIC Summit, when the Asian region's turn arrived.
 
Since the meeting is conducted not in Ramadan, the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs starts at 23.00 (after tarawih) and closes before the dawn. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia

On the sidelines of the OIC Foreign Minister's meeting in North Sumatra staying May 29, 2019, the Indonesian Foreign Minister has held a number of bilateral meetings, including: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia; Bahrain Foreign Minister; Pakistan; Bangladesh; Maldives and Thailand.

 
In addition to discussing increasing bilateral relations with each country, the talks focused a lot on the issue of the future of Palestine.
 
"The position of the OIC is quite solid in continuing to provide support to the Palestinians," said Retno. This can be seen, among others, from the final document prepared for the OIC Summit. There is a special document regarding Palestine (draft Resolution on Palestine).
 
In addition, the issue of Afghan peace efforts and concerns about the slow repatriation of Rakhine refugees from Cox Bazaar to Rakhine State were also discussed at bilateral meetings.
 
The Indonesian Foreign Minister conveyed the development of ASEAN's involvement to assist in the preparation of repatriation at Rakhine State. "The Secretary General of ASEAN and the AHA Center has just held a meeting with various parties in Myanmar to discuss the steps to implement the recommendations of the team's Preliminary Needs Assessment (PNA) report" said Retno.
 
One of ASEAN's important engagements that has been agreed upon by Myanmar and Bangladesh is the role of ASEAN in reducing communication deficits, especially in disseminating repatriation preparations to refugees at Cox Bazaar.
 
On the sidelines of the meeting, the Indonesian Foreign Minister also received a call from the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. One discussion is about the Afghan peace process. "The United States praises and appreciates Indonesia's contribution to the peace process in Afghanistan," Retno concluded. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is grateful that for the 3 (three) consecutive years since 2016 the central government has received a Fair Without Exception (WTP) opinion from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) including for this 2018 Central Government Financial Report (LKPP) audit report .

"This means that the government's responsibility for the implementation of the 2018 State Budget in financial statements has been materially presented by government accounting standards," said President Jokowi in the Submission of 2018 Audit Report on LKPP and 2018 Summary of Semester II Results of Audit, at Istana Negara, Jakarta On Wednesday (29/5).

From the results of LKPP's audit, the President analyzed that there was an increase in the number of audit entities that received WTP. "In 2016 (there are) 74, in 2017 (there are) 80, in 2018 (there are) 82, meaning this has reached 95% of the number of K / L that exist. And there is a decline in audit entities that get Fair With Exception (WDP) from 8 in 2016 to 6 in 2017 and 4 in 2018, "said the Head of State.

Four Ministries / Institutions that obtain WDP, according to the Head of State, General Election Commission (KPU), Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora), Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR), and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"Those who get the TMP (Not Giving Opinion), this means the disclaimer, sir. Decreasing from 6 in 2016 to 2 in 2017 and only 1 in 2018, namely the Maritime Security Agency. That was the body that was nervous, the Marine Security Agency, "he added.

On that occasion, the President reminded K / L of obtaining a WDP or TMP to be careful and to be considered properly so that next year no one else would obtain the assessment. "I asked for immediate coordination and a breakthrough to resolve some of the findings from the BPK as stated by the Chairperson of prepaid spending, goods expenditure, capital expenditure, fixed assets, construction in progress and intangible assets," the President said, adding that Next year's report is better and gets WTP.

The Head of State is not tired of reminding everyone to really fix, maintain and maximize public financial management. "This is our constitutional responsibility to the state and our moral responsibility to the people that whose name is state money, public money must be used entirely for the benefit of the people," he added.

At the end of the speech, the President expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the hard work of all the ranks of the BPK so that the report on the results of the LKPP audit in 2018 and the Summary of audit of the Second Semester of 2018 could be well received. "Some of the recommendations submitted by the BPK to the government for the improvement, management and accountability of the State Budget next year will be immediately followed by the government," concluded the President.

Also attending the event included Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution, Coordinating Minister for PMK Puan Maharani, Secretary of State Pramono Anung, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, Minister of BUMN Rini Soemarno, Minister of Social Affairs Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Minister of National Development Planning / Head of National Development Planning Agency Bambang Brodjonegoro, Menristekdikti M Nasir, and heads of other government agencies. (kemensetkab)

Women do play a key role in maintaining peace through their economic, social, and cultural roles. In this regard, Indonesia emphasized three things to ensure women's involvement in maintaining peace and security: first, affirming the urgency of women's role as agents of peace and tolerance; second, doubling the effort to prioritize the role of women in regional peacekeeping agenda; and third, establishing and developing regional networks for female negotiators and mediators.

At the open debate on “Women in Peacekeeping Missions" at the UNSC in April 2019, Secretary General Antonio Guterres highlighted that the increasing number of women's participation in peacekeeping missions was not merely a matter of statistics, but also about increasing the capacity of peacekeepers and other parties to accomplish their missions.

Before the open debate, Guterres handed a letter that summarized gender equity strategies for peacekeeping personnels, in response to the Resolution 2242 dated 13 October 2015 that demanded the Secretary General “to start working with the Country Members and utilizing the existing resources to improve the number of women's participation in military contingent and police as part of UN Peacekeeping Mission for the next five years."

At various international forums, Indonesia highlighted the importance of women's role in peacekeeping missions. One of the milestones of the effort was marked by the first meeting of female foreign ministers in Montreal, Canada on 21 September 2018 that was attended by Foreign Minister Retno L. P. Marsudi. At the meeting, promoting peace and security and eliminating gender-based violences became one of the most important topic.

To improve women's involvement in peacekeeping missions, we require a strong political commitment to investing in the sectors that will potentially provide women with the opportunities to make national decisions within the peacekeeping process. This can be accomplished by producing and implementing policies that acknowledge women's right (equity and non-discrimiation), cultural reformation, and sufficient resources.

Global Gender Advisory network that consists of experts in gender mainstreaming, for example, will ensure that the perspective of gender mainstreaming is built across divisions and operation lines. The existence of these expert advisors should be prioritized by leaders so they can speak out the urgency of women's involvement in UN Peacekeeping Missions. This strategy has been adapted by New Zealand Defence Forces that established the first Pacific Military Women's Advisory Network seminar in Suva, Fiji.

Providing more training, including special training for women, as a gender focus, or for units that need special preparation, such as the Intelligence Task Force, Ops Staff, CIMIC, negotiators, and mediators—the tasks that are exclusively considered as “feminine tasks" (medical, logistic, administration) in order to improve the performance of mission as mandated.

In that regard, Indonesia has held a regional training program on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) in Jakarta. This training was attended by 60 female diplomats from ASEAN, Timor Leste, and Papua New Guinea. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno L. P. Marsudi reaffirmed the importance of ASEAN leaders' initiative to implement the WPS agenda in Southeast Asia and the urgency of involving more women on UN Peacekeeping Missions.

Regardless of women's important contribution in peace and security, their representation and roles are still limited in the various phases of peacekeeping processes. Consequently,  a crucial demand arises to actively support their participation and commitment in sustainable peace process before, during, and after the conflicts.

Indonesia expected that women's role in peace and security is no longer seen as extraordinary, but as the norm, because “investing in women equals investing in peace".