VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the countries achieving the most improvements in a bid to make business easier. This is the result of the Business Ease index report released by the World Bank on Friday (10/25). Indonesia scored 69.6 out of 100 and ranked 73rd out of 190 countries. The rating did not change when compared to  the achievement  in 2019, although the value increased 1.64 points. In its report, the World Bank said that Indonesia had made improvements in five of the ten sectors that became the assessment indicators. This number is the second largest globally, equivalent to Myanmar, and only behind the People's Republic of China which makes improvements in eight sectors.

One indicator that is considered better in Indonesia is the ease of starting a business. Indonesia made improvements by introducing an Online Single Submission (OSS) which facilitates the acquisition of business licenses. Meanwhile, on the electrification side, Indonesia has increased its electricity supply capacity well. Improvements to the electricity network maintenance system are also carried out in order to increase the productivity of the business world.

On cross-border trade indicators, the World Bank considers Indonesia to further simplify this process by improving the online goods declaration system for exports. Another sector that gets a positive value is law enforcement of agreements or enforcing contracts. This can be seen from the emergence of an online case management system for judges. The World Bank also appreciates the development of the taxation system or aspects of paying taxes that apply in Jakarta and Surabaya. Indonesia makes tax payments easier by implementing an online filing and payment system for major taxes. This reform applies to Jakarta and Surabaya. In the aspect of trading across borders or similar cross-border trade, similar progress is also an added value for Indonesia. The World Bank views  that the cross-border trade in Jakarta and Surabaya is easier as the export customs declaration process uses an online system.

Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia, Datuk Zainal Abidin Bakar explained in Banda Aceh on Wednesday (23/10) that he will continue to strengthen Malaysia's cooperation with the REGIONAL Government of Aceh province because Aceh has a lot of potentials, especially in tourism sector. He mentioned that there are several sectors discussed at the meeting. They are tourism, education, economy and investment sectors. He also said that Aceh and Malaysia have historical, brotherhood and similarity ties so that it becomes one of the considerations to strengthen cooperation in various fields.

Government of Sweden hopes that with the new Indonesian government under  President Joko Widodo, bilateral relations with Indonesia will improve.  Swedish Ambassador to Indonesia, Marina Berg told Antara in Jakarta on Wednesday (23/10) that over five decades, the bilateral relations between the two countries have improved in many sectors.

Indang Badinding and Rampai Saman dances performed by students of Indonesian School of Davao successfully attracted  thousands of visitors of the 2019 Pakaradyan Festival in Tagum City, Davao del Norte province, the Philippines. Headmaster of the Davao-Philippines Indonesian School, Agus, as conveyed in a written statement from the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia Davao on Wednesday (23/10) explained that the promotion of Indonesian culture had become one of the missions of the Davao Indonesian School. Agus' statement has been proven by various activities participated by the Davao Indonesian School to introduce Indonesian culture throughout the Southern Philippines. The Pakaradyan Festival was held on October 22-24 with the theme “Celebrating our Origin, Honoring our Past.”

Indonesian students regained their achievements at the Taiwan Innotech Expo 2019 event. The students from Sepuluh November Institute of Technology –ITS are Reza Aulia, Riantama, and Afif Purwandi. They have created an innovative machinist fatigue detector called ‘Machinist Fatigue Detector’ (MAFTEC). This innovation won two awards at the same time at the event last September. Taiwan Innotech Expo 2019 is an annual huge event in Taiwan which is participated by companies, associations, and students from all over the world. The event which lasted for three days at TWTC Exhibition Hall 1, Taiwan, carried the theme ‘Sustainability Innovative Invention Future Technology’.

The machinist fatigue detector -MAFTEC, which won a silver medal at the Korea International Youth Olympiad Idea, Innovation, Invention, and Intellectual Property (KIYO 4I) last year, has been upgraded. From previously detecting driver drowsiness through eye movements, now MAFTEC uses a new method, which can detect sleepiness through heart rates. This innovation is also accompanied with real-time control over the level of fatigue of a machinist. The MAFTEC team leader, Reza explained, the workings of this tool are to detect the fatigue and drowsiness of the machinists and to give vibrations. This tool can find someone who is tired or sleepy through processing by a computer on the basis of a combination of eye blinks and heart rates. Reza added that if the machinist indicates to be sleepy, this tool will vibrate to wake up its users. In addition, this tool can also detect fatigue and sleepiness in real-time through online via the website. So hopefully, the control center can find out the machinist's condition directly.

With this new detection method innovation, MAFTEC won an honorable mention at the event. Although this tool can be considered common, the method we use is new; there are detection of heart rate and eye blink. Another award obtained is the Special Award from the Korean Invention Promotion Association (KIPA), because according to the KIPA association, this discovery has great potential to be implemented in a larger market. This can be applied not only in train, but also in other transportation sectors. In the future, Reza hopes that this MAFTEC can be implemented in the world of railroad and can be useful for the community. At present, Reza and his team are still trying to obtain a patent process for this tool.

October 16th, 2019, coincides with  World Bread Day, CNN.com released the list of the 50 best breads in the world.  The best breads are curated by pastry chef who is also a travel and culinary writer, Jen Rose Smith. These 50 best breads were chosen because of their unique ingredients, iconic status, and simplicity in eating bread. One of chosen breads included in the list is Roti Gambang or Gambang bread. Roti Gambang is a typical snack of Betawi which is also known in Semarang, Central Java. People of Semarang  know it  as roti ganjel rel (rail block bread), because of its hard texture.  Roti Gambang has existed from the Dutch colonial era and was popular until the 1990s. At that time, Roti Gambang was liked by all people, children and the elderly.

Roti Gambang has hard and compact texture mixed with chocolate aroma and cinnamon. The color is brownish with a sprinkling of sesame on it. The bread is made of spices from Indonesia, such as cardamom, cinnamon, mixed with flour, palm sugar, and eggs. Due to its hard texture, just eating 2 pieces of bread, it can make us full. At the tradition before Ramadhan or Dugderan celebration, this bread also being scramble for people in Semarang. The local people believe that by eating Roti Gambang can give more energy to do fasting.

Besides for daily consumption, Betawinese people in Jakarta usually bring Roti Gambang when visiting sick people. It is usually sold in the morning and evening, because it is an appropriate  time to eat Roti Gambang. The bread is usually enjoyed  with a cup of coffee or warm tea. Now, it's quite difficult to find the legendary bread, because some of factories that produced Roti Gambang have gone out of business. But there are still a few vendors who sell Roti Gambang. The price of Roti Gambang is relatively cheap about Rp. 4,000 to Rp. 5000 per piece.