VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Embassy in Moscow has held the 3^rd Indonesian Festival in Krasnaya Presnya Park in Moscow on August 2^nd until August 5^th. The theme of the festival is "Visit Wonderful Indonesia: Explore our Regions". This activity is the event of trade promotion, investment, tourism, cultural art, and as a part of economic diplomacy of Indonesia in Russia. The festival initiated by Indonesian Embassy in Moscow presents the exhibition of Indonesian excellent products from some regions, such as coffe, garment, accessories, palm oil, culinary, and craft which are spreading 85 booths. Festival Indonesia also presents various art and cultural performances from the regions such as songs, dances, and musical instrument show both on the main stage and other separated stages. Indonesian Ambassador to Russia and Belarus, M Wahid Supriyadi said that the Festival is more specially arranged, such as wider location than the previous festival, and there are special paviliuns of Indonesian regions. On this festival, the visitors can the miniature of Indonesia. The Festival which is from August 3rd until August 5th begins at 12 a.m until 9 p.m. It is art and cultural performance, but we also create such market there. It is different from the previous year which was divided into regions; we don’t make it into clusters. For instance, there are Batik, fashion, handycraft, culinary, and it lasts until 9 p.m, saidWahid Supriyadi. Indonesian Festival in Moscow begins with Business Forum of Indonesia-Rusia and business matching on August 2nd in the World Trade Center. Besides the Governor, Deputy Governor, Regent, and a number of officials of Indonesia, Head of National Development Planning Agency, Bambang P.S. Brodjonegoro attended the Business Forum. The Forum might be attended by about 500 entrepreneurs, both from Rusia and Indonesia.The supporting tourism infrastructure is the main focus in the Forum. Nevertheless, other sectors are also going to be discussed in the forum, such as energy, industry, inter-connectivity, and palm oil.

Monday (July 30, 2018) is a historic day for the people of Zimbabwe. For the first time, since the fall of former President Robert Mugabe late last year, Zimbabwe held the Presidential, National and Regional Parliaments elections. In the Presidential election, 23 people registered as candidates. But only two have claimed to have the support of the people's votes; namely incumbent president  Emmerson Mnangagwa of ZANU PF party and leader of the opposition Movement of Democratic Change  (MDC),  Nelson Chamisa. If no candidate gets a vote of more than 50%, then a second round of voting will be held on 8 September. President Mnangagwa claimed to win this election, so  did Chamisa. The MDC leader even accused the allegations of fraud, though was  denied by the ruling camp. The chaos in this election has taken at least 3 lives. The government blamed the opposition as the cause of the riots. The provisional announcement of Zimbabwe's legislative elections Wednesday (1 August 2018) says the current ruling party, ZANU-PF, has won 110 of the 210-seats in the  lower house. The opposition MDC won 41 seats, other parties 2 seats, while the remaining 57 seats are still being counted. With the achievement of more than half of the parliamentary seats, the ZANU-PF party may win this election. Like the presidential election, the opposition also refuses to accept this election result because it is considered full of fraud. Meanwhile, the father of Zimbabwe,  Robert Mugabe (94 years) also participated in this election. However, apparently he was still hurt  for being  forcibly taken down last year, making him speak out against his own party, ZANU-PF a few days before the election. He even encouraged people to vote for parties outside ZANU-PF. On election day, Mugabe chose not to issue any statement. Seeing this development and looking at the results of the General Elections, it is certainly not expected to increase the tension in Zimbabwe. Opposition parties should keep  sympathizers not to be anarchists, while the ruling party also provides an opportunity to recount if there is a demand. Anyone who becomes the President and any party that controls the parliament are expected to be a protector for all Zimbabweans.

Indonesian Ambassador to Canada, Teuku Faizasyah and Vice Chairman of the Creative Economy Agency, Ricky Joseph Pesik encouraged Canadian creative economy actors to invest in Indonesia through the establishment of the 2018 Investment Forum in Montreal on Tuesday (31^st of July 2018). During his opening speech, Ambassador Faizasyah stated that the Indonesian creative economy is currently one of the supporting motors for the national economic growth. Member of the Montreal Executive Committee of Economy and Trade, Robert Beaudry appreciated the consistency of the Indonesian Embassy which routinely holds investment forum every year as a platform to strengthen the economic relationship between Indonesia and Canada. Robert Beaudry viewed the theme “Opportunities in the Creative Economy in Indonesia” as the right choice, considering the creative economy becomes one of the economic development sectors that is constantly empowered by the government of Canada. Before 24 Canadian businesspeople, both those who are involved in the creative economy industry and those who wish to invest in Indonesia, Ricky Joseph Pesik explained that the government of Indonesia has developed 16 sub-sectors of economy with three main sub- sectors namely culinary, high fashion, and handicrafts. The three main sub-sectors contribute 77.6% to the national creative economy. On the occasion, Ricky called for Canadian creative economy actors to attend the World Conference on Creative Economy to be held by the Government of Indonesia in Bali on 6th-8th November.

Qatar is going to invest $ 500 million dollars for the development of tourism sector in Indonesia, particularly for the 5 prioritized tourism destinations. Antara News Agency reported that the commitment is reflected in the signing of cooperation agreement signed by CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani and Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in Jakarta on Wednesday (August the 1^st 2018). Minister Luhut Pandjaitan explained that the Qatar Investment Authority wants to invest in the establishment of hotels and the development of airports. The Qatar Investment Industry also wants to take part in the investment of the 10 new tourism destinations. However, the government of Indonesia suggested the Qatar Investment Authority to firstly start investing in the 5 destinations. The five tourism destinations are Lake Toba, Banyuwangi, Labuan Bajo, Borobudur, and Mandalika. Minister Luhut also pointed out that besides the commitment of investment in the tourism sector, Qatar also wants to invest in the agriculture and fishery sectors in Central Kalimantan. In addition, Qatar wishes to commence direct flight service from Banda Aceh and establish aquaculture in Sabang.

Ending her work trip in Iran, Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Yohana held a meeting with several senior officials of Iran, including Minister of Justice, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Adviser of Vice President for Citizens’ Rights on Wednesday (August the 1st 2018). Three institutions of Iran: Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Social Affairs and Special Advisory Board of Iran’s President appreciated and supported the  implementation of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) about child protection, women’s empowerment, and family integration. The range of meeting agenda ended as Minister Yohana met Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of Iran, Ali Rabiei. Minister Yohana appreciated the government of Iran regarding with the establishment of genetics hotline and counseling. The primary focuses of the two parties are to establish women empowerment as the head of family or the main worker of family as well as protection for children and women from any violence, including violence in digital media.

The U-16 National Team defeated Vietnam 4-2 in the third Group A AFF Cup held at Gelora Sidoarjo Stadium, East Java on Thursday night (2/8) local time. Thanks to this victory, Garuda Young team is solid at the top of Group A with nine points, and the team is ready to compete at the semifinals. Indonesia still faces two more matches against East Timor on Saturday (4/8) and Cambodia on Monday (6/8). Then, Myanmar is in second place and Vietnam in the third place. The visitors went ahead through Dinh Thanh Trung in the sixth minute, before equalizing through Mohammed Suapardi's 27th minute goal. Entering the second half, the Indonesian squad added to its goalscoring through David Maulan, Bagus Kahfi and Andre Oktaviansyah before Vietnam narrowed the position to 2-4 through Thanh Trung. At the beginning of the second half, coach Fakhri Husaini included Bagus Kahfi and Fajar Faturahman. Then, Bagus successfully made Garuda Young 2-1 through a penalty. Game tension began to heat up into the middle of the second half. The reason was that the match had stopped in the 66th minute after a riot occurred. The referee then gave red card to Vietnamese player, Vo Nguyen Hoang and Indonesian defender Bagas Kaffa. Although appearing with ten players, it did not make Indonesian players relax. Fakhri Huasini's squad was able to play quietly. Unfortunately, in the 72nd minute, Vietnam managed to get a penalty. Thanh Trung as the executioner, succeeded in minimizing 2-3 positions for Vietnam. Indonesia then turned off the Vietnam resistance through Andre Oktaviansyah's goal in injury time. Score 4-2 for the U-16 national team lasted until the game was over. Regarding this match, Coach Fakhri Husaini was grateful for this victory. Meanwhile, for Vietnam coach Vu Hong Viet, this victory did not make him too disappointed. He was not satisfied with the performance of the referee. Above all, he was quite satisfied with the player's appearance. Congratulations to Indonesia, this is a good match for both teams.

Indonesian Jiu Jitsu National Team made achievement at the UAE Grand Slam Jiu Jitsu Championship 2018 in Tokyo, Japan on last Sunday (29/7). Indonesia won five gold medals, two silver and two bonze. The five gold were grabbed by Ilma Yenni Megawati (white adult 62kg), Imam Mastur (white master 1 62 kg), Cornelia Tobing (blue adult 49 kg), M Ariq Noor (white adult 110 kg), and Ananda Mauludy Iksan (blue adult 56 kg). The two silver medals were achieved by Simone Julia (blue adult 62 kg) and Wahyu Handoko (blue juvenile 55 kg). Two bronze medals were achieved by Herman Saputra (white adult 94 kg) and Fikri Ramadhan (blue adult 62 kg). The achievement closed the training camp of Jiu-Jitsu national team in Japan which has been going on since 18 July. Quoted from BolaSport.com, the UAE Grand Slam Jiu Jitsu Championship 2018 was a try-out for Indonesian Jiu Jitsu athletes before facing Asian Games 2018. Jiu Jitsu at the Asian Games 2018 will be competed at the Jakarta Convention Center Assembly Hall on 24-26 August. There are 29 countries that send athletes to Jiu Jitsu branches. Indonesia will be represented by 16 athletes consisting of 12 men and 4 women. The Indonesian Jiu Jitsu team targets to get 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze at the Asian Games 2018.

Indonesia adds six representatives to third round of the Badminton World Championship 2018 held at Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, Nanjing, China on July 30-August 5. They are Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Fajar Alfian / Muhammad Rian Ardianto, and Berry Angriawan / Hardianto from the men's doubles number. In addition, tehere are also Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu, Della Destiara Haris / Rizki Amelia Pradipta, and Anggia Shitta Awanda / Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istarani from the women's doubles. The addition fulfills the number of Red and White squad representatives in the third round to eight representatives. On Tuesday (31/7), two mixed doubles pair, namely Hafiz Faizal / Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja and Praveen Jordan / Jasmine Daeva Oktavianti, had already won. Despite having eight representatives, Indonesia can only place its players in three match numbers, namely men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Meanwhile, the representatives in the single sector, both male and female, finished in the second round. Two of the men's singles representatives, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Tommy Sugiarto, both left after being subdued by their respective opponents in straight game. Different things were experienced by female singles. The two remaining representatives, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and Fitriani, both encountered heavy opponents in the second half. Gregoria met fifth mainstay and deputy host Chen Yufei, while Fitriani was challenged by finalists last year, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (India). The result is Gregoria lost 17-21, 20-22, while Fitriani surrendered with a score of 14-21, 9-21.

Indonesian athlete, Hurairah achieved brilliant achievement when competing at international level. Surprisingly, he brought two gold medals in Hapkido world championship held in Seoul, South Korea, on 26-29 July 2018. Hurairah who is 21 years old won a gold medal in two prestigious categories, namely Bop High Jump and Bop Long Jump. He competed with 300 other Hapkido athletes from 20 countries. The man born in Sibreh, Suka Makmur Sub-district, Aceh Besar District, Aceh on April 1, 1997, went to Korea with 15 other national athletes. He was taken by the official team and supported by a number of local parties. Unexpectedly, Hurairah won the gold medal in two categories at once. Hurairah told RRI in Banda Aceh on Wednesday (1/8) about his experience and he became the world champion of Hapkido after four days at Jung Gu Community Center, Seoul, South Korea. He felt very proud to beat athletes from a number of countries, even athletes from South Korea where the sport was invented. Even though the Hapkido has not been considered, Hurairah deserves being supported by the government. The reason is that he has to struggle hard, even having to pay his own expenses for transportation while competing. So far, the most prestigious achievement he achieved was wining the national gold medal in Yogyakarta. Then, the first winner and the best athlete at the Asian Hapkido championship held in Singapore in March 2018. Recently, he has won the world title in the Hapkido championship in South Korea. With the achievement by Hurairah, Indonesia has now completed the total medal acquisition, namely 13 gold and three silver medals. Hurairah hoped the Hapkido will soon become a sport that can compete with other sports. According to him, Hapkido is not registered at the National Sports Committee of Indonesia -KONI. Although Hapkido is not yet well known, Hurairah has elevated the dignity of the nation in the eyes of the world. So, he deserves receiving an extraordinary award from the government.