VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Uniited States of America Foreign Affairs Minister, Michael Richard Pompeo visited Indonesia for 2 days on August 4^th — 5^th 2018. It was the first time for Pompeo to visit Indonesia after he was inaugurated as US Foreign Affairs Minister by President Donald Trump on April 27^th 2018. Pompeo replaced Rex Tillerson who was fired by the President by twitter.During in Indonesia, Pompeo with 5 delegation members held bilateral meeting with Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi in Pancasila Building, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, on Saturday,(4/8). On the meeting, Pompeo and Retno Marsudi did not only talk about some problems related to bilateral relationships of the 2 countries, but also talked some regional and global issue. One of them is the issue of Palestine. Indonesia offered two states solution as the only solution to realize the peace in Palestine. The two states solution proclaimed that “the two states for the 2 citizens”. By the solution, Palestine would live be side by side with Israel, in west of Jordan River. The solution had been actually set through the resolution of United Nations General Assembly 194 which was adopted on December 11^th 1948.Related to the effort of realizing peace in Palestine, US President Donald Trump was reported had formed a special team to arrange peace proposal for Palestine and Israel. According to President Trump, the peace plan would be an important history which was called by “The Agreement of This Century”.The discussion of conflict resolution of Israel-Palestine in the bilateral meeting proves that Indonesia is serious in supporting peace in Palestine. Indonesian people and have since long time ago had attention and support towards the realization of the peace in Palestine. Minister Pompeo’s green light on the two states solution is also a good sign that USA also supports the efforts to build peace in Palestine.

President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla attended the Remembrance and Prayer for the Nation, which is part of a series of events welcoming the Republic of Indonesia 73rd Anniversary in 2018, on the front yard of Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Wednesday (1/8) night. Starting his speech, the President invited the people to be grateful for the grace that God gave in the 73 years of independence. The President also reminded that Indonesia is a large and diverse nation with many differences such as ethnicity, regional language, customs, traditions and religion. These are the gift from God to the people of Indonesia who should be grateful of. Awareness as a great nation, according to the President, is the main thing because when compared with other countries such as Singapore and Afghanistan which have fewer tribes, Indonesia is endowed with diversity and pluralism. These differences will become a strength, a potential if the Indonesian people unite, because the nation's greatest asset is unity, harmony and brotherhood. The President also reminded that Indonesia was also blessed by God with abundant natural resources.The Head of State reiterated the importance of maintaining Islamic brotherhood and ukhuwah wathoniyah as the key values ​​of unity, harmony and brotherhood that must be maintained. The holding of regional head elections, including the regent, governor, and also the presidential election, according to the Head of State, should not make a fractured relationship among neighbors and villages. The President reminded that the grace of God given to the Indonesian people is the independence, achieved by a very long struggle. Because, added the President, many freedom fighters, heroes, Islamic clerics, and students were killed on the battlefield during the war of independence. Mutual respect and understanding, according to the President, became a manifestation of the sense of brotherhood among compatriots and countrymen. He also added that the democratic process or elections that took place recently should not cause disparagement and ridicule among fellow countrymen. The President hopes that such remembrance and prayer events can be held on August 1 every year.Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council-MUI Ma'ruf Amin who was also present at the event expressed the hope for Allah SWT help to the Indonesian people, through the holding of Dhikr and the National Prayer in welcoming the 73rd Anniversary of Indonesian Independence. Also present at the event were several cabinet ministers and other dignitaries.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla ensures, Indonesia is ready to hold the 2018 Asian Games which will begin on August 18, 2018. Various aspects ranging from infrastructure, venue and organizer, are ready. This was conveyed by VP Jusuf Kalla after a meeting on the preparation of the 2018 Asian Games at Gelora Bung Karno, Senayan, South Jakarta, Friday (08/03/2018). He said, Indonesia is ready to organize the Asian Games both in terms of the venue or infrastructure, as well as the INASGOC as the organizer and also the athletes' preparation. Jusuf Kala-JK also had a chance to review Athletes' Houses, Item Times, and two Asian Games venues in the GBK complex. He then highlighted the Sentiong River or Kali Item which is right near Kemayoran Athlete's House. The river which is now covered by waring cloth, and according to him, no longer smells. JK hopes that Indonesian contingent athletes will be able to present the best results. He will also re-check the preparation of the Asian Games nearing the opening date in the middle of the month. Meanwhile, Deputy for Sports Achievement Improvement, Mulyana Mulyana during the Media Staff Technical Coordination Meeting in , Jakarta, Thursday (08/02/2018), said Indonesia as the host is aiming for the top 10 at the 2018 Asian Games. Four new sports which are Indonesia's mainstay are expected to become a medal source, besides contributions from branches that have been the traditional strength of Indonesia’s Red and White Team. Mulyana is optimistic that the target of finishing in the top 10 can be achieved. This was based on Indonesia's achievements at the previous Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea in 2014.Then, there were 36 sport branches competed with 439 events. The Red and White Contingent finished 17th with four gold medals, five silver and 11 bronze medals. At this Asian Games, the number of sports branches increased by four to 40 with 465 event numbers. Four additional sports are pencak silat, jetski, paragliding and bridge, and are hoped to bring gold to Indonesia. . However, if the four sports failed, Mulyana said, there are still some other leading sports that had the chance to donate gold medals to Indonesia. The traditional branches in question are taekwondo, wushu, bowling, badminton, rock climbing, and many others.

Energy availability, affordable energy access, or food security are among the problems faced by the world community, including Indonesia. For example fuel oil, gas and electricity availability.The depletion of petroleum sources as energy materials encourages various parties to seek alternative energy. As is known, the need for electricity in Indonesia is increasing every year. It is estimated that petroleum reserves without new exploitation can only last for the next 21 years. Therefore, alternative energy innovations are needed to overcome the problem of limited oil.Students of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya, innovate processing sugarcane drops into electrical energy. Three students from the ITS Chemical Engineering Department, namely Martiana Nugraeny, Tri Wahyuning Eka Purnama Sari, and Chandra Adiwijaya, made renewable energy from molasses waste and heavy metal waste. Molasses are a by-product of the sugar cane industry which still contains sugar and organic acids. In Indonesia known as sugar cane drops. Tri Wahyuning Eka Purnama Sari explained, the utilization of molasses waste in Indonesia is still very lacking. Each hectare of sugar cane land can produce 10-15 tons of molasses. Waste from processed sugar cane has high cellulose content which is a source of renewable biomass. The Directorate General of Agriculture estimates the area of ​​sugar cane in Indonesia in 2016 to reach 482,239 hectares (ha). If utilized this can be one of the renewable energy sources.Tri Wahyuning also explained about the dangers of toxic and hazardous waste (B3) such as chrome. Heavy metal chrome is often found in the environment due to the use of chemicals in industry. Chrom is a B3 waste with high toxicity that can endanger human health. Departing from these two problems, Tri and his colleagues offered an innovative idea of ​​MFCs as a continuous recirculation system as a solution. MFCs are biology-based fuel cells that convert chemical energy into electrical energy with the help of catalytic reactions of microorganisms. The technology used is using waste molasses and heavy metal waste as alternative energy sources. These MFCs consist of two chamber tubes, namely anode and cathode. In the anode chamber, it is filled with waste molasses and bacteria, while in the chamber the cathode is filled with heavy metal waste Cr6 (hexavalent chromium). He explained, the metabolism that occurs in the anode chamber will produce electricity. In addition to generating electricity, these MFCs can also reduce Cr (VI) metal waste and reduce the value of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) on molasses waste.