VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Governor of Bangka Belitung Islands, Erzaldi Rosman said that strategy to promote white pepper which has been applied by the regional government in the last several months has resulted. This is proven with the arrival of the potential buyers from abroad. Erzaldi said in Pangkalpinang on Saturday (24/3) that the strategy to increase trade of 'Muntok White Pepper' starts showing a good result. After participating in international spicy conference in Jaifur, India recently, foreign buyers began to come to Bangka Belitung. Currently, there are spice buyers from India and Singapore who want to see quality of the local white pepper. The arrival of the international buyers was welcomed by Head of Trade and Industry Office of Bangka Belitung province. The meeting was continued with visiting the Puding village because the buyers wanted to see directly the quality of Bangka Belitung white pepper. The international spice traders were amazed when they knew the government through cooperatives also pick up peppers from the farmers' houses.

Management of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali changes plastic bags which were brought by passengers with cloth bags. The step is to commemorate energy and environment saving campaign or Earth Hour. Head of airport service group of PT Angkasa Pura I, Ramdan Pradarma at terminal of international departure of Ngurah Rai airport, said in Kuta, Badung regency, on Saturday (24/3), his office barters plastic bags brought by passengers in order to raise their awareness of saving environment. The Airports office spread teams at the two terminals to change plastic bags with non-plastic black bags inscribed Earth Hour. After changing plastic, the passengers who will leave Bali, were invited to sign supporting petition to save the environment and global energy.

Provincial government of West Java continues to encourage the expansion of Forest Park, Ir H Djuanda as one of solutions to minimize ecological disasters in Bandung region. According to West Java governor, Ahmad Heryawan, the provincial government of West Java began in 2010 until 2017, succeeded to release nearly 16 hectare enclave land at a grand forest park. The acquisition of more than 10 hectare land is not done yet. The governor asserted that his office will keep to conduct the acquisition of land enclave in border area which is controlled by people so that development of forest park, will increase water ivolvedt area to avoid ecological disaster in Bandung.

World Wildlife Fund of Nature -WWF, an international non-governmental organization that deals with issues of conservation, research and environmental restoration reports that the earth is in crisis. The damage to the earth has gone so fast. Based on the report of the WWF-UK -Living Planet Report, 80 percent of the water species are destroyed, while more than 50 percent of the land animal population has went extinct. 40 per cent of forests have been transformed into agricultural land and 15 million trees as raw materials get lost each year. In addition, climate change makes one of the six species in the world under threat of extinction. To save the earth, WWF does an activity called ‘Earth Hour’. Actually, what is Earth Hour and what is the purpose of the activity? Earth Hour, which means in Indonesian language ‘Jam Bumi’, is a global event organized by the WWF at last Saturday of March each year. This activity is in the form of blackouts in homes and offices for one hour to raise awareness of the need for serious action against climate change. The WWF initiative was first held in 2007. At that time, 2.2 million Sydney residents participated in by extinguishing all unnecessary lights. After Sydney, several cities around the world participated in the Earth Hour 2008. This year, Earth Hour is held in 180 countries, including in Indonesia. As in previous years, several cities in Indonesia participated in the Earth Hour activities. On Saturday night (24/3/2018) from 20:30 to 21:30 local time, the commemoration of the Earth Hour Indonesia 2018 is held simultaneously in Indonesia. This year, there are 60 cities to participate in the Earth Hour Indonesia 2018, including Jakarta, Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Yogyakarta and Pontianak in West Kalimantan. Quoted from the official website of the WWF, turning off the lights for 60 minutes becomes a symbol that shows solidarity for the earth planet. Although it is only done for 1 hour and once every year, the Earth Hour activity is proven to have a very huge impact, especially in saving energy. For the area of ​​Jakarta, blackouts are conducted at Bung Karno Main Stadium, Town Hall Building, National Monument -Monas, Welcoming Monument, and Simpang Susun Semanggi. As a result, Jakarta provincial government is estimated to save 170 megawatts of electricity. In addition to saving in terms of cost and power, power outages by the city government also have a major impact on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. What about in the world? In addition to saving energy, for about 10 years of action, the Earth Hour has helped create 3.4 million hectares of Argentina's marine protected area, 2,700-hectare forest in Uganda and new laws for marine and forest protection in Russia. Seeing the great benefits of the Earth Hour, in the future, not only government offices and buildings, but also other places belonging to individuals or private companies will participate in this Earth Hour activity. Energy savings should be done not only once a year for an hour, but also every single day for an hour continuously. The Earth Hour is just one of the few efforts that can be done to save the earth. Let's do something, so the Earth becomes a comfortable place to live on.

We will present Indonesia regional song from Bali.Balinese songs are sung in Balinese, an Austronesian language from Sundik branch and more specifically, it’s called Bali-Sasak language. This language is commonly used in Bali, the western island of Lombok and slightly on the eastern tip of Java. As the title suggests, this song tells about memory or recollection in Beratan Lake, one of the tourist objects in Bali. It’s a sweet memory when someone first acquainted with someone else. The content of this song is rhythmical and performed well by Widi Widiana. He is one of the male singers from Bali who mostly sings Balinese songs. Lake Beratan is so beautiful. Thus, it becomes one of the best and most beautiful lakes in the world. The fact was included in the World's 20 Most Beautiful Lakes, which is published on page www.huffingtonpost.com. Not surprisingly, many people come to visit and carve a beautiful memory there. This song tells about a young man who admires and loves the beauty of a Balinese girl named ‘Sukreni’. Unlike Widi Widiana's previous song, the nuance of traditional Balinese music is much felt in this song. The combination of pop genre and musical nuance of the song makes this song more comfortable to listen to. Widi Widiana is a popular singer among Balinese people. His debut as a Balinese pop singer began in 1994. It was marked by the release of his first album entitled "Tunangan Tiang", which is a compilation album with other Balinese pop singers. But in 1991, Widi and Diana Band have pioneered the journey as musical artists. The music group, which consists of Widi's family, usually performs from hotel to hotel. They bring different types of songs ranging from dangdut and pop to reggae. In singing, they use the Bali language, Indonesia, and English. Widi Widiana's first solo album appeared in 1996, entitled “Sesapi Putih”. The second solo album was released  in 1997 with the Sampek Ing Tay label. Until now, Widi has released nine compilation albums and 11 solo albums. His average cassettes were sold over 25,000 copies, even his album entitled ‘Tepen Unduk’ (Ketiban Sial) was sold over 50,000 copies. Throughout his career in the singing world , Widi had won the title of best singer, a version of Bali Music Award I.

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman made a trip to the United States for three weeks. Last Tuesday (March 20, 2018), Prince Mohammed met with US President, Donald Trump. Of course, Washington opened a wider door for the Prince's arrival. President Trump gladly welcomed Prince Mohammed and showed proudly on a large board the potential value of the Prince's visit to the United States. President Trump made a joke by saying that the purchase value that reached more than $12 billion dollars was only to buy peanuts. President Trump warmly welcomed Prince Mohammed's arrival by saying Saudi Arabia is a very rich country and it shares its wealth to the United States by buying US military equipment. In this regard, Saudi Arabia extravagantly purchases a lot of weapons. By possessing the military equipment, Saudi Arabia was to bravely launch intervention to Yemen. In addition to talking about the purchase of the military weapons, Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump also discussed some important issues, such as the Qatar blockade, the war in Yemen, the Middle East security and the Iranian nuclear pact. Before arriving in the US, the Prince had time to convey the bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the USA, which have lasted for 80 years. Indeed, during Barrack Obama was in power, Saudi’s relations with the USA were relatively unfavorable. In regard to this, President Trump blamed Barack Obama, which he called making the trade value between both countries decline, and bring about less employment in the USA. The visit to restore good relations between the two countries is positive. That matter is that if the results of the trip bring home weapons which can be used to worsen the situation in the Middle East. If the military approach is prioritized, the problem in the region will be getting worse and worse instead of getting better. This is totally unwanted. It is hoped that Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has sounded the 2030 vision of Saudi Arabia, is to carry out significant reform to become the future leader of the Saudi Arabia. It is a pity if the Prince diminishes the brilliance of his vision with weapons purchased from the USA.