VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

People of West Lombok held a ritual night namely “Mandik Pusake “ to celebrate Islamic New Year “1 Muharram“ 1 Suro “. The ritual was held at Gedeng Gerung Perigi Gerung, Lombok Barat, West Nusa Tenggara on 6 August 2022. The ritual Mandik Pusake is the annual ritual which is usually carried out at the first month of Hijriyah calendar. Some owners gather to bathe their heirlooms. According to local public figures , the ritual is to preserve the soul in the context of Islamic religion, namely Silaturahim. Besides, the process of Mandik Pusake is also aimed at approaching friendship and preserving adiluhung.

Other meanings of the ritual are to manifest culture originated by ancestors and stipulate that social-cultural values that still exist in the people’s minds. From the ritual, keris (traditional weapon) from Lombok can be inventoried and easily track the existence in the future. When the ritual is carried out, the used keris is noted one by one, its name and origin.

At the ritual of Mandik Pusake, all the owners of keris across Lombok come to the place chosen to gather and bring their keris. They will wait in turn when one by one the keris is bathed by the selected tribe public figure. The ritual is also accompanied by reciting lontar or paos, namely the written reading on palm leaves inscribed with Sanskrit letters that contain high moral values. In this ritual, the keris is usually bathed in water which has been mixed with seven types of Setaman flowers. There must be at least three types of flowers, namely cempake, sandat and roses.

Seventy economists and international experts are urging the US government and other countries to get out the assets of Afghanistan's central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank. The insistence was stated in a letter sent to United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday (10/8).

As quoted from Republika.com (11/08), the international economists said that the Afghan assets worth US$9 billion need to be returned to stimulate the country's economy. They argue that Afghanistan has experienced a humanitarian crisis that has made the people suffer severely. To mitigate that and set the Afghan economy on a path to recovery, economists urged the United States to allow Afghanistan's central bank to recover its international reserves.

Since August 2021, when the Taliban took over and foreign troops withdrew from the country, the United States has frozen nearly US$9.5 billion in assets belonging to Afghanistan's central bank; most of which is in Federal Reserve accounts,  New York and US-based financial institutions. The freezing of Afghanistan's foreign exchange reserves abroad has caused  a shortage of funds and cash in the country.

This has become one of the triggers for worsening the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. In May 2022, as quoted from IDN Times (04/5/2022), there were 24 million Afghans in dire need of humanitarian assistance. This figure increased by 5.6 million people when compared to the previous year. About 70 percent of households in Afghanistan are reported to be unable to meet their basic daily needs.

Seeing the increasingly worrisome condition of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, efforts to overcome the problems in this country are urgently needed at this time. One way is to return funds or assets of the Da Afghanistan Bank held in the accounts of the New York Federal Reserve and US-based financial institutions, as economists call. However, it seems that the international community, including the United States, is still reluctant to grant this.

It is the hard-line policies of the Taliban government that are likely to make the United States and the international community still reluctant to disburse funds from Afghanistan's central bank assets that are very much needed by the country.

If that's the case, the Taliban government should live up to its commitment to respecting human rights and women's rights when they took over Afghanistan last year. They do not have to rule their country as they did during the reign in the 1996-2001 period which was full of restrictions. (VOI)

The Central Statistics Agency reported that the Indonesian economy in the second quarter of 2022 grew by 5.44 percent on an annual basis (year on year). This realization continued positive growth in the first quarter of 2022 which was 5.01 percent. Meanwhile on a quarterly basis, the Indonesian economy grew 3.72 percent. Thus, cumulatively from January to June 2022, Indonesia's economic growth was 5.23 percent compared to the same period in 2021. Head of the Central Statistics Agency, Margo Yuwono pointed out in Jakarta last Friday (5/8) that Indonesia's economic growth is influenced by a number of indicators both domestically and globally. One of them is the economic growth of major trading partners in the second quarter of 2022.

Chairman of the Budget Agency of the House of Representatives, Said Abdullah stated that the economic growth in the second quarter of 2022 is a very good capital for Indonesia to face external pressures that seem to be facing high commodity prices. He really appreciates the achievement of economic growth. He also remarked that the business sector, which contributes to economic growth, is moving again due to the success of controlling COVID-19. So, people's mobility may recover as before the pandemic. External pressures due to the war in Ukraine and Russia that broke out at the end of February 2022 are still well managed and mitigated by the Indonesian government. In the future, Said hopes that there are several things that need to continue to be the focus of attention by trying to control inflation and the pandemic even though the price is not cheap. Because the 2022 State Budget funds are very large to maintain household purchasing power, especially in the food and transportation sectors.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in Jakarta last Friday (5/8) that the realization of the national economy in the second quarter of 2022 which grew 5.44 percent had put Indonesia in a good position in which many countries were under pressure. She also emphasized that Indonesia is in a good position. This means that demand and supply are maintained and inflation is restrained due to the provision of subsidies by the government. Minister Sri Mulyani added that the 5.44 percent economic growth is a positive achievement, considering that inflation in other countries is very high.

Indonesia calls for the international community to make concrete efforts and to create a world free of nuclear weapons. The statement was affirmed by Indonesian Ambassador to Japan and the Federated States of Micronesia, Heri Akhmadi in Tokyo, Sunday (7/8), regarding the 77th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima City on August 6, 1945. He also stated that the international community should refrain from acting, which is not conducive, namely the launch of nuclear weapons.

Ambassador Heri Akhmadi further explained that as one of the countries that signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty of nuclear weapons (NPT), Indonesia calls for the United Nations to be more intense in warning about the humanitarian and environmental consequences if world countries do not comply with the NPT.

The NPT is an agreement among countries that have nuclear weapons not to help other countries produce these weapons. This treaty strengthens the nuclear weapons states (NWS) and non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS), designated by the treaty to prevent further proliferation, promote cooperation in the fields of peace, use of nuclear technology, and work towards disarmament.

The 77th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb was held at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on Saturday (6/8). The commemoration was attended by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, Governor Yuzaki Hidehiko, and Mayor of Hiroshima Kazumi Matsui, as well as representatives of more than 100 foreign representatives in Japan. About 1,000 people thronged the Peace Memorial complex for the commemoration, which was held under strict health protocols.