VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Listeners, Sombori Island in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi has a natural and cultural charm that is so beautiful. To introduce more of the charm of Sombori island tourism, the local government will hold a Sombori Festival themed ‘Sombori Tourism Festival 2021’ that will be held on Sombori Island, Mbokita Village, Menui Islands District from 26 to 28 November 2021. In the festival, various charms of Sombori will be raised, including the peculiarities of the local tribe, namely the Bajo Tribe.

Head of Development and Marketing of the Central Sulawesi Tourism Office, Nurhalis said that in addition to introducing the wonder of the sea on Sombori Island, at this festival, tourists will be introduced to the arts and culture of the people on Sombori Island, including the typical culinary delights of the area. This festival will involve more local people. It is hoped that the local community and businesspeople will be ready to welcome local and foreign tourists. According to Nurhalis, this is an effort to improve the economy of the local communities and small and medium enterprises -SMEs in tourism areas. In addition, this festival also involves several relevant agencies and the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) in charge of the activities. 

The Sombori Festival has traditional dance parades, traditional music attractions, folk song parades, rowing competitions, fishing competitions, ornamental boat competitions, craft competitions, beach volleyball competitions, traditional culinary competitions, youth camp social services and the restoration of Tina Tama Morowali. There is also a performance band and fire dance that will entertain visitors. The Sombori Island Festival is open to the general public and is free of charge. Visitors are expected to be able to prepare personal costs to go to the festival location and lodging while in Morowali Regency.

MSMEs Digitalization Needs Faster Acceleration

Digital economy is one of many saviors of the Indonesian economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Data from the Indonesian Trade Ministry showed that the national digital economy contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020 was 4 percent. The government then projects that the digital economy contribution to GDP will soar up to 18 percent by 2030.

To reach that goal, the government has done some efforts, such as accelerating the digitalization of the Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The Cooperatives and SME Ministry's data showed, as quoted from ekon.go.id, there are 64.2 million MSMEs in Indonesia. According to Indonesian E-Commerce Association's data, per September 2021, some 16.4 million or 25.6 percent of the 64.2 million MSME have joined digital platforms. This number has grown more than 100 percent since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Therefore, the Indonesian government targets some 30 million MSMEs to join digital platforms or market their product digitally by 2030. Gradually, the targets are 19 million MSMEs in 2022 and 24.5 million in 2023.

There are some benefits from the involvement of MSMEs in the digital economy. One of which is a greater financial profit through online sales increase. A study by Universitas Indonesia's Economy and People Study Body with an online platform - Tokopedia showed that the use of digitalization by MSMEs had increased the sales volume.

MSMEs digitalization is very promising, in increasing the profit. However, it requires perseverance in preparing and ensuring the MSMEs can be involved in the digitalization process.

The lack of understanding about digitalization and technology potential as a business development platform is one of the reasons why many MSMEs stay with the conventional style. Therefore, Minister of Cooperatives and MSMEs, Teten Masduki, as quoted from Antara (16/11) said that MSMEs’ understanding about digitalization must be comprehensive so they can grow and level up.

The MSMEs need guidance to have that comprehensive understanding. This is not only the government's responsibility, but also all related stakeholders. All the related stakeholders need to be actively involved in providing guidance for MSMEs to join the digital platform. A similar guidance is also necessary to make MSMEs keep innovating and staying in the digital ecosystem.

Voice of Indonesia presents Let’s Speak Indonesian, a program that introduces the Indonesian vocabulary and guides you to speak in the language. Mari Berbahasa Indonesia or Let’s Speak Indonesian is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.  Today’s topic is Menanyakan waktu luang which means Asking for Free Time.

Read to this conversation about Bagaimana kalau besok siang?which means What if tomorrow afternoon?

This conversation happens between Kevin and Mela. Kevin asks about Mela's free time on the phone. Let’s read to the conversation.

Pre-recorded:

After reading to the conversation, now I am going to introduce some vocabulary and expressions related to the topic of the day.

In the conversation, there is an expression Bagaimana kalau besok siang? (2x) which means What if tomorrow afternoon? You can use the expression to ask for free time. After that, you mention adverbs of time such as malam ini (2x) which means tonight, besok (2x) which means tomorrow or nanti siang(2x) which means this afternoon.

Let’s read to the other examples of expressions to ask for free time.

Kevin         : Apakah kamu mau ikut ke pantai nanti siang?(2x) which means Do you want to go to the beach this afternoon?

Mela: Siang ini aku ada kegiatan di rumah. Bagaimana kalau besok? (2x) which means I have something to do at home. What if tomorrow afternoon? 

Kevin         : Apakah kamu mau ikut ke mal nanti siang?(2x) which means Will you come with us to the mall this afternoon?

Mela: Maaf, aku masih kerja. Bagaimana kalau nanti malam? (2x) which meansSorry, I will be still working. What if tonight?

That was “Let’s Speak Indonesian” for today. Hopefully, this edition can be useful for those of you who want to know more about Indonesian language. 

Indonesia is ready to lead and host the ASEAN Meeting on transportation for ministers, high officials, and ASEAN Working Group in 2022. That was stated by Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi during a virtual ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting -ATM and Associated Meetings 2021 on Friday (12/11).

Minister Budi Karya in a written statement said that the meeting is important for transportation development in ASEAN, through partnership in the transportation sector between ASEAN and other countries, such as Japan, South Korea, China, and U.S.A as well as other ASEAN dialog partners.

According to Minister Budi Karya, this year's ministers' joint statement became an important document. This document will be a reference framework for cooperation in ASEAN's land, sea, and air transportation.

MInister Budi Karya Sumadi hoped the Covid-19 pandemic will get better so that the ASEAN meetings on transportation in 2022 can be held face to face.

ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting agreed on a joint initiative resulting from this year's meeting, related to the continuation of partnership or cooperation in the transportation sector.

The meeting also agreed on the initiative for Covid-19 recovery, digital transformation increase in ASEAN, ASEAN single flight market strengthening, ASEAn land transport network increase, and cross-border goods transportation facility. They also agreed on the sustainable transportation integration, sea transport connectivity and integration increase, and transportation cooperation with some ASEAN dialog partners.