VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Belu and Malaka people, East Nusa Tenggara -NTT hold a tradition of Batu Pemali every year in July until November. The tradition is animal slaughtering ritual. Usually, the animals which become offering are buffalos and chickens.  Besides, in the ritual some betel leaves and areca nuts are offered. The tradition of Batu Pemali is a ritual which is conducted as form of gratitude to ancestors and the God. The offering is conducted at Pemali place, such as Ksadan Lulik (batu pemali) on the peak of Mt. Mandeu, Raimanuk district, Faturika village. The location can be reached for two hours from Atambua city. According to belief of Belu people, the soul of the ancestors and nature is closely related to them. They believe if the ancestors live on media in the universe. One of them is Batu Pemali which is located at the traditional forest and Pemali places. Batu Pemali or Ksadan Lulik has formed of stones structure which is arranged well in a round circle as high as one meter or more. It can be said that Batu Pemali looks like Punden terraces. The tradition starts by saying traditional oath or promise. After saying oath, the participants of the ritual must fulfill their oath or promise, because if not, they take the risk of their life. Thus, the oath utterance must be jointly agreed first from the heads of traditional procession. In the tradition of Batu Pemali, Head of Belu tribe along his residents must be present so that all people can witness rules which are agreed. After the procession of the oath ritual, the offering is put on stones’ structure. The place is the main place to put the offering. After putting the offering, the participants of the ritual cooperate to clean ancestors’ tombs.

UNESCO Global Geopark certificate for Ciletuh-Palabuhan Ratu has been issued. Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay directly signed the certificate for the legality of Taman Bumi Ciletuh in Palabuhan Ratu, Sukabumi regency, West Java as part of UNESCO Global Geopark  in the world. Chairman of Taman Bumi Ciletuh Management, Deny Juanda said in Bandung on Saturday that the issuance of the certificate was part of the struggle of UNESCO certification process. He also said that he thanked for the achievement of all parties that cared for and jointly struggled for every process. The certificate has been valid since April 17, 2018 until April 16, 2022. Earlier, UNESCO legalized 12 Global Geoparks from 11 countries as UNESCO Global Geopark. The legalization was delivered in the 2014 sessions of Executive Council of UNESCO, Program commission and external relations on last Thursday (12/4/18) in Paris, France. Governor of West Java, Ahmad Heryawan said that his side received the news from Head of Tourism and Culture Office, Sukabumi regency, Budiman as West Java representative in the session. Therefore, there are 4 UNESCO Global Geoparks in Indonesia, namely Taman Bumi Batur, Taman Bumi Gunung Sewu, Taman Bumi Ciletuh, and Taman Bumi Rinjani. After the legalization, the government of West Java continues to increase infrastructure development in Ciletuh-Palabuhan Ratu.

The government of South Konawe regency, Southeast Sulawesi province, opened investment opportunity for investors in fishery sector. Deputy Regent of South Konawe, Arsalim said that South Konawe has fishery potential which is very abundant to be developed in a bid to become fishery industry. But the fishery potential cannot be managed yet maximally because of limited capital which is owned by local fishermen. Arsalim also said on Sunday that fishery commodities which become the mainstay of South Konawe, are like mangrove crab, shrimp, grouper fish, and seaweed. According to Arsalim, the opening of direct export fishery commodities from Haluoleo airport to abroad becomes good news for fishermen or businesspeople who want to invest in the sector.  Arsalim further said that the government of South Konawe will continue to manage and accompany local fishermen group to increase their products.

The government of North Sumatera province and People's Republic of China agreed to increase cooperation in  various fields, which was agreed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and President of China,  Xi Jinping. Deputy Governor of North Sumatera, Nurhajizah said in Medan on Saturday that until now, there are 13 Chinese companies, such as  China Harbor Engineering Co which invests in toll project of Medan-Kualanamu Airport in North Sumatera. In the future, China will also establish cooperation in another sector.   The vice governor affirmed that the cooperation is hoped increasing as the relationship improves. In addition, Deputy Governor, Nurhajizah also disclosed that cooperation between China and North Sumatra is expected to improve as the relationship of Indonesia and China is also getting better.

The Indonesian government will boost cooperation of development with Guyana and other Caribbean countries. This was stated in press release of Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jakarta on Saturday (19/5). The commitment has been delivered by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno LP Marsudi in her first official visit to Guyana and Secretariat of CARICOM (Caribbean Community) since diplomatic relations of the two countries were opened. To President Guyana, David Arthur Granger, Minister Retno said that trade value between Indonesia and Guyana has kept increasing over the last three years. But, the value is still small and is not reflecting the potential of both countries bilateral cooperation. In this regard, Minister Retno suggested that there are three priority areas of development cooperation of the two countries. Firstly, it is about economic cooperation and investment focusing in the sector of energy. Secondly, it’s about environmental cooperation and the third one is technical cooperation and capacity development. In the sector of environmental cooperation, Minister Retno pointed out that as country which also has wide forest, Indonesia can share experience to Guyana in sustainable forest management. In this regard, Minister Retno explained Indonesia’s experience in fighting against illegal logging and development of wood certification so that it can open market access widely in Europe.

The government of India is interested to invest in several sectors in Indonesia. This was stated by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan related to his visit to India over the weekend. In official press release on Sunday, Minister Luhut stated that at least, India is interested to invest in airplane industry, drones, palm oil, generic drug production, training to develop maritime human resources, plastic waste processing into energy, cleaning river and biodiesel technology. Especially in tourism sector, cooperation is targeted to open direct flight  route from Delhi or Mumbai to Jakarta, Bali, Medan, or other cities in Indonesia. The opportunity is considered to have high potential, remembering the number of Indian tourists visiting Indonesia reached 485,000 people last year. Thus, to follow  up the visit, Minister Luhut will dispatch technical team to India this week. Cooperation opportunity, which has been concrete, will be discussed in in the level of head of state if Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will visit Indonesia on May 30, 2018.

Indonesian batik industry has dominated the world market, and has become  a driver for the national economy. This can be seen from the achievement of batik exports and batik products in 2017 which amounted to 58.46 million US dollars with the main destinations include Japan, the United States and Europe. Director General of Small and Medium Industries (IKM) Gati Wibawaningsih in Jakarta, Thursday (17/5) said, National batik industry has a comparative  competitiveness in the international market. Indonesia also  controls the world batik market. Gati explained, world apparel trade products currently reach 442 billion US dollars. This could be a great opportunity for the national batik industry to increase its market share, considering batik as a raw material for apparel products.According to Gati, Indonesian batik industry is dominated by Small and Medium Industries,  spread across 101 centers throughout Indonesia. Of these, the total absorption of workforce reaches 15 thousand people. This potential continues to grow, as government efforts encourage export-oriented labor intensive industries. The Ministry of Industry has implemented several strategic programs such as improving human resource competence and product quality development. In addition, standardization has been applied in  facilitation of machinery and production equipment, as well as promotions and exhibitions both at home and abroad. According to Gati, one of the activities she undertook is a cooperation with Yayasan Batik Indonesia (Indonesian Batik Foundation)  to organize the Twelfth Batik Cultural Exhibition in Jakarta. This exhibition aims to promote superior works of batik craftsmen in the country, as well as to expand their market which is dominated by Small and Medium Industries. This year's Batik Exhibition,  themed “Cheerful Enchantment of  Madura Batik”, held for four days, from 15 to 18 May 2018, was followed by 48 batik crafters of  Yayasan Batik Indonesia. Gati asserted, the current batik industry is required to become  environmentally friendly by using natural dyes on its products. This is a solution in reducing the impact of pollution and  can even make batik as  an eco-product of high economic value. Development of natural dyes also reduces the importation of synthetic dyes. According to Gati, in the midst of increasingly competitive and dynamic global competition, consumer preferences for environmentally friendly products. The Ministry of Industry continues to develop national batik industry.