VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

People's markets have an important role in Indonesia, namely developing and growing people’s economic growth and creating jobs. People's markets are also a place for social and cultural interaction. 

Currently, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), some 16,235 people's markets are not able to compete with modern markets. Even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the people's market became even more sluggish.

Data from Indonesian Market Traders Association, as quoted from kompas.com (20/07/2021) showed some 5 million of 12 million or 43 percent of people's market traders in various regions were forced to close because of lacking customers during the pandemic.

In such a condition, people's market development and revitalization programs receive serious attention from the government. The government kept trying to revitalize the people's market. One of the aims is to enable the people's market competitiveness against modern retail so that people's economy can grow.

Trade Ministry's Domestic Trade Director General Oke Nirwan as quoted from Antara (18/01) said that the main problem in revitalizing people's economy is limited literacy or understanding about digital market implementation for traders and people's market management.

Educating the traders and people's market management from market digitalization implementation is not easy. Therefore, it needs synergy cooperation by both the government institutions and the private sector as done by the Trade Minister and Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry.

On Tuesday (18/1), the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry signed a cooperation agreement on People's Market Strengthening and Empowerment through Independent Campus Program as witnessed virtually by Minister of the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim, and Minister of Trade, Minister M. Lutfi.

Through this cooperation program, students are invited to improve the management and manpower capacity of the business-people in the people's markets by optimizing digitalization to support the national economy.

It is expected that the cooperation will give an important experience for students about working at people's markets and improve the competitiveness of traders and people's market management.

For those of you who love beach tourism, visiting Indonesia, especially Yogyakarta province is the right choice, because in Yogyakarta, precisely in Bantul, Gunung Kidul and Kulonprogo areas, there is a number of beaches as tourism destinations for domestic and foreign tourists. One of them is Glagah Beach, which is located in Temon District, Kulon Progo, approximately 10 km from the city of Wates and approximately 2 km from the Jogja - Jakarta highway.

Glagah Beach is a beautiful beach with a wide expanse of black sand. On this beach, there is a sand dune area with grinting grass and a lagoon. There are many tourist activities that you can enjoy here. You can enjoy the beauty of sunset or playing in the water in the lagoon. You can take a water tour by taking a wooden boat, duck boat or canoe to go around the Glagah Beach Lagoon. For visitors who like fishing, in the lagoon there are also spots for fishing. For those of you who want to pump up your adrenaline, you can ride a motocross or ATV to take the steep terrain at Glagah Beach, which is known for its iron sandy beaches. At the pier, you can also fish, enjoy the sunset or just enjoy the breeze and the waves broken by tetrapods.

In the Glagah Beach area, there is also an agro-tourism fruit plantation called Kusuma Wanadri which has an area of 3.5 hectares. The fruits planted are dragon fruit, watermelon and melon. Here, you can buy, pick, and even taste fruit for free. For those who are interested, you can visit this beach when the situation allows. To visit Glagah Beach, you will be charged an entrance fee of IDR 5,000 per person. This beach is equipped with complete facilities, such as a prayer room, toilets and a food court with seafood as its recommended menu.

To travel to Central Sulawesi, you have to visit Taipa Beach. The location of this beach is quite strategic. Located 65 kilometers from Kendari, the capital of Central Sulawesi, this beach is visited by many tourists. Moreover, this beach has a beautiful view with a stretch of white sand. Visitors can also witness the endemic bird of Sulawesi, Maleo, which flies here and there. To enter this beach, you are only charged an entrance ticket worth Rp 10,000 / person.

In the local language, Taipa means "Manga", and because there are indeed many manga trees around the beach. Here, you can relax while looking at the beautiful view of Mt. Gawalise from a distance. In addition, you can also choose various tourism activities, such as snorkeling or diving. Beautiful coral reefs and various types of fish can be seen only 50 meters from the beach. Taipa beach is also equipped with various facilities, such as a prayer room, bathrooms, and restaurants. There are also several gazebos to relax. If visitors want to spend at night, there are inns with rental rates per night ranging from Rp 100,000 to Rp 200,000

Taipa Beach also offers hills for those of you who are adventurous. From the height of the hill, you can see the beautiful panorama of the sea of Taipa beach. In addition, Taipa beach has also a cave, namely Golo Oti cave which means "dry current". In this cave, there is an ancient tomb of a character, named Lasalama. Supposedly, this cave is considered sacred. Therefore, many local residents enter the cave to ask for blessings.

According to research conducted by International Living magazine, Bali in Indonesia is included in the list of the 25 best places across countries for retirees to live in. The research is entitled ‘the Annual Global Retirement Index 2022’ which was released on January 1, 2022. International Living compiled a list of places in the world, which have the highest scores and are considered the most suitable for retirees to live in. This means that living in these places tends to be able to make a retiree live a healthier and happier life by spending less, and getting more benefits or positive things.

Each year, assessors use a worldwide network of editors, correspondents, and contributors to gather a variety of information. Therefore, rankings and scores are determined based on 10 categories, namely the first aspect: ‘Housing.’ This category looks at the value of housing and the ease of buying or renting a house in a country or place. Second, there are ‘Benefits and Discounts.’ In some countries, a retiree can get discounts for many things, from air tickets, food, electricity to public transportation. Third, there are ‘Visas & Residence’. This includes the ease of obtaining permanent residence, taxes imposed on income, and the availability of special housing options for retirees. Fourth, it’s ‘Entertainment’. This category looks at the ease and comfort for retirees to live in a country and the ease of adapting there. In addition, there are amusement activities, such as museums, exhibitions, and many others.

Furthermore, the fifth category is ‘Development’. As a retiree, he or she, of course, looks at the most important thing, the progress of access or facilities in the surrounding environment. Sixth category is the ‘Climate’. In this category, rainfall, temperature, and humidity are assessed moderately. Seventh point is ‘Healthcare’. In this assessment, the factors that are seen are the quality and price of health services. Eighth point is ‘Governance’. Several things are assessed, such as the existence of a stable and safe environment, the right to personal freedom, the level of bureaucracy, the banking system, and so on. Ninth category is ‘Opportunity’. This factor is the level of ease of local authorities in supporting small businesses or other employment sectors. The last one is ‘Cost of Living’. This category assesses the estimated monthly cost budget.

In the list of the best places across 25 countries for retirees, Bali in Indonesia is ranked 16th, just below Malaysia and above Sri Lanka and Vietnam. This assessment resulted in Bali's average score of 69, only three points different from Malaysia in 15th place. The first place was occupied by Panama.