VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Trade, Enggartiasto Lukita led Indonesian delegation in a working visit and trade mission to Washington DC, the United States of America on Sunday (22/7). The delegation was to meet the US government and businesspeople. They discussed the increase of trade relations and opportunity of trade cooperation which is more closely. Minister Enggartiasto explained that the USA is Indonesia’s  main trade partner to protect and to strengthen trade relations of the two countries which has advantage each other.  Minister Enggartiasto also met with US Trade Minister  and Ambassador of United States Trade Representative (USTR). The discussed issues were the review of the US government’s policy on Generalized System of Preference (GSP) for Indonesia, policy of the increase of entrance tax of steel and  aluminum  products to the USA as well as some issues of US access market in Indonesia. In addition to holding the meeting with the US government, Minister Enggartiasto along with the officials of the US government are scheduled to attend business forum and  one-on-one business matching among Indonesian and US entrepreneurs on Tuesday (24/7). Those entrepreneurs will explore various opportunities of cooperation in Washington DC.

The 18^th International Student Scientific of Indonesian Convention (ISIC 2018) was held at University of Coventry, England on Saturday (21/7). The convention was held at Albany Theatre, University of Coventry and opened by Indonesian Ambassador Dr. Rizal Sukma. The conference had a theme, “To integrate and to empower young generation through unity in diversity for development of Indonesian future”. Education and Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in London, Prof. E. Aminudin Aziz recognized that the event is important to enhance people’s awareness to open opportunities which will be established while studying abroad. 

Four Indonesia’s participants gained 4 silver medals in the 29th International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Iran International Convention Centre Tehran on Saturday evening (21/7). Indonesian Ambassador to Iran, Octavino Alimuddin on the sidelines of the closing of the event, sated expressed his pride on the achievement. Indonesia sent 4 participants and 5 officials. Each participant succeeded to gain silver medals in the 29th  IBO, starting from July 15-22, 2018 in Tehran and participated in by 265 participants from 78 countries. The closing of the event was attended by vice president of knowledge and technology of Iran, Dr. Sorena Sattari; Minister of Education of Iran, Seyyed Mohammad Bat’hei; Chairman of IBO, Poonpipope Kasemsap; high officials of Iran, academics, scientists, media and delegation of the participating countries, including Indonesia. The 29th IBO is a competition event for high school students under 20-year. Next year, the 30th IBO will be conducted in Szeged, Hungary.

President Joko Widodo demanded Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to accelerate the use of biodiesel. He said that the acceleration of biodiesel and renewable energy use should be carried out due to their extremely low implementation in Indonesia. During a limited working meeting about ‘The Acceleration of Biodiesel Use” at President Office in Jakara on Friday (22^nd of July 2018), President Joko Widodo explained that Indonesia should not depend on fossil energy because fossil energy has its restricted amount. President Joko Widodo viewed that the implementation of acceleration of biodiesel use has not completely met the expectation in reality. Therefore, he reinforced that the use of biodiesel could be maximized. The President set a target for government to save less than $21 million dollars every day by switching to the use of biodiesel. He wants strong commitment from the Working Cabinet to accelerate the use of biodiesel. President Joko Widodo also reminded about the importance of paying attention to the safety and obstacles in using biodiesel as an alternative fuel. It is aimed to elevate and expand the use of biodiesel. In addition, President Joko Widodo asked all citizens from various elements to strengthen the commitment of altering to the use of alternative, new, and renewable energy in order to generate more advantages for the country. By using alternative energy, Indonesia could reduce oil import as well as develop Indonesia’s trade balance. Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs, Darmin Nasution said that  the use of diesel fuels containing 20% Crude Palm Oil or B20 is claimed to save the country’s exchange up to $21 million dollars per day or equivalent to Rp302,4 billion. By using B20, the government could repress the import of the diesel fuels as well as increase the consumption of domestic crude palm oil. Minister Darmin also explained that Indonesia could save its foreign exchange reserves amounting to $5.5 million dollars or Rp79.2 trillion as the impact of using B20 for fuel. This profit is estimated in a yearly calculation. With the condition, the use of B20 has been implemented completely by public service obligation or non-PSO sector. Minister Darmin Nasution added that the use of mix crude oil has actually been regulated in Presidential Regulation No. 24/2016. Meanwhile, the 20% crude palm oil as the mix of diesel fuels is based on the Regulation of the Ministry of Energy and Renewable Resources No. 12/2015. Nevertheless, the regulation only concerns on the use of B20 in PSO. At present, the government is currently revising the regulation regarding with the use of B20 to be also implemented for the non-PSO. According to Minister Darmin Nasution, the government gives transitional period for industrial actors to apply B20 as their fuel.

Today, July 23^rd is the special day for Indonesian children. Because, the day is commemorated as the National Children Day. The commemoration of the National Children Day is based on Presidential Decree No. 44/1984. Since, Indonesian people annually ccommemorate the National Children Day  in many kinds of events. The theme of the National Children Day 2018 is “Indonesian Children, The GENIUS Children”. The GENIUS in the theme is the abbreviation of Gesit (nimble), Empati (empathic), Berani (brave), Unggul (excellent), and Sehat (healthy). Certainly, we hope that the Indonesian children are actually the smart ones or those who are amazingly capable and talented in thinking and creating. The nimble, empathetic, brave, excellent, and healthy children certainly become the hope of all the Indonesian family. Nowadays, there are some things that parents and educators are afraid of in Indonesia. With the technology advancement, many Indonesian children  pay more attention to their gadgets. Possessing the gadget certainly has good side, as long as it is used to the good things. But there are some of the children who are too busy with their gadgets, and these make them interact less with surroundings, even with their family. The efforts of creating the nimble, empathetic, brave, excellent, and healthy children must be done by all stakeholders. Moreover at this time, 84 million children will be the agents of Indonesia development in the future. They are the assets for Indonesian advancement. Another anxiety of what some parties are afraid of is early age. The National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) specially invites the children to pledge “stop the early marriage”. We hope that the awareness will make both Indonesian people and the government be committed to protecting the children’s rights in a bid to prepare good family planning. Preparing strong physics and mentality for Indonesian children must be done continuously. Because, they will be part of the Indonesia’s demographic bonus in 2030. The productive employees in great quantities at that time become a golden opportunity for Indonesia to push the economic wheels. The Indonesia’s success in achieving the goal of Sustainable Development is also determined by the quality of the children. Thus, to assure the children to be able to grow freely of poorness, to be  healthy, educated, happy, and safe, is the basic of creating the mature humans who can contribute to economy and society with high social cohesion. To achieve the goal of the Sustainable Development, Indonesian children must become the most important investment. The investment will make them to be the agents of change for the Sustainable Development. May the Indonesian children will actually become the genius children who are nimble, empathic, brave, excellent, and healthy. Happy National Children Day 2018!

We will present the songs of the people of Central Kalimantan.Although there are several languages ​​used by Dayak people, in general the most widely spoken languages in Central Kalimantan are Banjar and Bahasa Indonesia. Some linguists think the language of Banjar belongs to the Malay group. A song entitled Bagasing Balogo is also composed by Anang Ardiansjah. He is known to be one of the songwriters and maestro from Kalimantan. Bagasing Balogo is a combination of two traditional games in Kalimantan. Bagasing means gasing. These words are then combined into the title of the song as a symbol of the traditional game. This song tells about the bustling atmosphere of Bagasing Balogo game. This game is usually done by men both adults and children while killing their time. Therefore, this song is created with a carefree rhythm and appropriate music arrangements. The Banjar songs sung by Solichati are summarized in one album entitled ‘Banjar Popular Song in the Ethnic String’. The poem in this song invites people to dance Japin. In addition to entertaining, such songs are usually used to accompany Japin dance. Japin or Zapin dance is Malay dance influenced with Arab cultural dance that can be found in North Sumatera, Riau Islands, and some areas in Kalimantan.