VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Christmas and New Year's holidays are still less than two months away. However, the Indonesian government has begun to urge people, especially those living in the cities, not to travel to their hometowns as customary at the end of this year. This is to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases after the 2021 Christmas and 2022 New Year holidays. The government also controls community mobility and tightens health protocols.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy stated last week that the collective leave which is usually applied on days close to official holidays, such as Christmas, New Year or Eid al-Fitr this time will be abolished, including the day before Christmas, which is Friday, December 24, 2021. The abolition of collective leave is to limit the mobility of people, which usually increases towards the year-end holidays. The goal is to reduce the potential for the spread of Covid-19. Moreover, a number of epidemiologists have warned about the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19 attacks.

To prevent an increase in positive cases of Covid-19, the Ministry of Transportation through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, issued the latest rules regarding the requirements for boarding a plane. For flights on Java-Bali, passengers are required to show a vaccine card (minimum first dose) and negative Covid-19 information via RT-PCR (maximum sample 3x24 hours), before departure. Meanwhile, outside Java, the requirements are also the same.

Some regional governments even enforce an odd-even system policy for private-vehicle numbers to limit people's movement.

The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has indeed lowered the level of Covid-19 for Indonesia. After being judged to have succeeded in carrying out good Covid-19 control, Indonesia was given a Level 1 or "low for Covid-19 transmission". However, this does not mean that Indonesia is completely free from the pandemic. Neither the government nor the public should be careless about the transmission of the virus. Experience shows that Indonesia always experienced an increase in the number of Covid-19 spreads at the end of the long holiday period. The August 2020 holiday season, for example, resulted in an increase in cases of up to 119% and the weekly death rate to 57%. Meanwhile, in May-June 2021, Indonesia endured the Covid-19 wave due to a combination of delta variant factors and neglected health protocols during the long Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Currently, a number of countries, including the UK and Singapore, are experiencing an increase in daily cases.

So, it is very natural for the Indonesian government to issue various policies to prevent any potential return of the Covid-19 storm, especially ahead of the long Christmas 2021 and 2022 New Year holidays.

If you visit an area, it will be perfect if you try to enjoy the special cuisine of the area visited. Take for example, if one day you have a chance to come back to Indonesia, please visit Malang City, East Java. Malang is well known not only for its culinary, such as bakso (meatball), bakwan, perkedel tempe or mendol, but also for its typical culinary dish called Nasi Buk or Buk rice. This is a popular dish in Malang, East Java. Even though it's popular in Malang, Nasi Buk turns out to become Madura’s special food. In the past, Nasi Buk was brought by Madura people to Malang. The name of 'Buk' came from customer's greeting, that called the seller as 'Buk' or Ma'am. In East Java, using "Buk" is a special call for Madura’s adult woment or mothers. After all, this dish has been growing up and better known in Malang than in Madura itself.

Nasi Buk consists of rice mixed with cow innard and also special seasoning of jackfruit and Rebung or bamboo shoots. The main dish is cow innard which is processed to be savory and tender. Consumer does not need to worry if he or she does not eat innards, the seller also serves fried chicken. One portion of Nasi Buk is usually served with Lodeh vegetable with bamboo shoots mixed with spit meat, yeast jerky, fried empal and lung crackers. The last thing is sprinkled with Serundeng. Nasi Buk is delicious to enjoy while it's warm.

Before being sold at the stall like nowadays, Nasi Buk was peddled around. Rice and the side dish were put in a basket and carried to be peddled. The seller went around the Pecinan and Kota Lama area until it got famous in Malang. In Malang, there are a lot of restaurants selling Nasi Buk. But if you want to try the authentic one, you can visit 'Warung Nasi Bu Matirah' in Trunojoyo. It is said that the Nasi buk Matirah stall is a pioneer in serving this Madura cuisine. Nasi Buk is relatively cheap; it's around Rp 20,000. This dish is usually sold in the morning as breakfast.

Military tensions between China and Taiwan are at their worst since 40 years ago. This condition comes after China sent a record number of military jets to Taiwan's air defense zone for four consecutive days.

AFP in its report on Thursday, October 28, 2021, said that relations between Beijing and Taipei continued to heat up, especially after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen took office.

Regarding the escalation of tension in Taiwan-China relations and the attention of foreign countries towards Taiwan, it can actually be seen from the geographical position of the country.

The island of Taiwan, which is not far from mainland China, has become a strategic point in terms of Indo-Pacific geopolitics. For China, reunification is an ideal choice because by unifying Taiwan, Beijing will have a strategic point in the Pacific for its defense.

As for the United States, as well as Japan, the existence and independence of Taiwan is important. At least to reduce China's power related to the security and geopolitical strategy of the Pacific region.

The threat of armed conflict between China and Taiwan will always exist. This is in line with the increasing tension in relations related to the sovereignty of the two countries. However, although the situation seems often alarming, military experts say, China is not yet ready to launch a military campaign to occupy Taiwan.

One consideration is the response of the United States, which has been known to support Taiwan from the start. Although military planners in Beijing feel that Chinese troops have many advantages, it is not yet known how the United States will react if there really is an open armed conflict, especially regarding military assistance to Taiwan. In addition, any Chinese military intervention to force Taiwan's unification with the mainland could potentially pose its own risks related to China's broader economy and foreign policy.

Student of Civil Engineering Department of Faculty Engineering University Indonesia (FTUI), Juan Fidel Ferdani has designed a waste management system based on Smart Medical Waste Management (SMW) and Eco-Refill store. The SMW is an internet of thing-based medical waste management system that is integrated with devices to optimize medical waste management in health care facilities. Fidel explained that the SMW can detect conditions when medical waste begins to exceed the capacity limit of the trash can and allows garbage collectors to immediately take away and process it.

The SMW includes a portable medical trash can and an Android-based monitoring application. The trash can is equipped with devices, such as an ultrasonic sensor that is able to detect the location and the height of the waste volume. The location and volume data of the waste will be sent to the monitoring application on garbage collectors’ devices. With this system, the garbage collectors may see notifications on their devices to find out whether medical waste has to be taken away or not. Therefore, health service facilities do not need to provide their own health facilities which are quite expensive.

Meanwhile, the Eco-Refill Store concept, a refill store that sells consumer products without packaging, is aimed at minimizing single-use plastic waste.Consumers who shop at selling refillable products must bring their own bags. The refill shop operation is supported by the Eco-Refill Application to make it easier for consumers to refill products. The use of the application allows consumers to access the location of the nearest refill shop, find out the available stock and product prices, and make transactions using electronic payment methods. According to Juan, the refill shop system can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of handling single-use plastic waste and replace the linear economy system with a circular economy system.