VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Sipoholon hot spring in North Tapanuli is surrounded by white limestone hills. When you travel to Sipoholon hot spring, besides being able to feel the cool mountain air, you can also enjoy the beautiful scenery while bathing in hot water. The hot spring is located in Situmeang Habinsaran, Sipoholon District, North Tapanuli, North Sumatra. The location is very strategic and easy to access.

When you enter the Sipoholon hot spring area, you will see mountains of sand that emit a white color similar to cotton. It has a temperature of around 40 to 70 degrees Celsius; it’s appropriate for you to get relaxed. The sulfur content in this bath is said to be able to cure skin diseases and smooth the skin.  Besides being visited for health, this bath is also visited by tourists who like photography. They deliberately come to get the best photos in the most beautiful place in North Tapanuli. After bathing and soaking in warm water, usually the visitors feel hungry. They can go directly to the stalls or restaurants that are available not far from the hot spring.

To visit this place, you only take about 7 minutes by motor vehicles from Tarutung City. Meanwhile, to get to Tarutung, you take about 4 to 5 hours from Medan City, the capital of North Sumatra. To enter this tourism spot, you only need to pay a ticket worth Rp 5,000 per person. Sipoholon hot spring is a natural bath that was formed due to the eruption of Mount Marimbang which contains sulfur.

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 about Kerja dari Rumah which means Work from Home.

Here is the conversation entitled “Jangan Lupa" which means "Don't Forget".Kevin and Mela are working at home. Mela reminds Kevin that the online meeting will be held tonight. Let’s read to the conversation.

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

In the dialog, you listen to a sentence Jangan lupa nanti malam kita rapat (2X) which means Don’t forget we have a meeting tonight! In the sentence, there is an expression jangan lupa (2X) which means don’t forget. It is used to remind someone.

Other examples:

Let’s read to the other examples of sentences to remind someone.

- Jangan lupa besok kita harus ke kantor (2X) which means Don’t forget we have to go to the office tomorrow

- Oke. Terima kasih sudah diingatkan (2X) which means Okay. Thank you for reminding me.

- Jangan lupa untuk menelpon Bu Ayu nanti sore (2X) which means Don’t forget to call Ms. Ayu this afternoon

- Oke. Terima kasih (2X) which means Okay. Thank you.

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 has again participated in the Festival Des Seniors which started taking place in Paris, France on July 19. Friday 27 August was the peak and closing day of the festival. The appearance of Indonesian culture and a number of culinary products from Indonesia also colored the closing ceremony of the festival which were enjoyed by the local residents.

The Indonesian tourism promotion office, VITO France, said on Saturday (28/8) that Indonesia's participation in the closing of the festival was supported by the Sekar Jagat Association and VITO France, as well as collaboration with the government of Paris City. Indonesia offered workshops on traditional dances and served a variety of snacks, such as lapis legit cake, onde-onde, herbs and chocolate. The dances that were also shown and taught to the French public in attendance were Balinese and Poco-Poco dances.

All visitors were very happy to get to know Indonesian culture and taste the Indonesian snacks and products provided during the event. Promotional activities like this are said to be very important to do to maintain the world community's view of Indonesia as a beautiful country and worth visiting.

Although currently Indonesia's tourism is still closed, Indonesia's promotion must continue. Unless, the world will forget about Indonesia and Indonesia will continue to lag behind. This was stated by VITO France. Therefore, the French VITO tourism promotion office strives to continue to carry out Indonesia's promotions to support the promotional activities of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in all situations. Because according to the French VITO, if the promotion of Indonesia stops, it will be difficult for the Indonesian tourism sector to return to echo Indonesia's name in the international arena.

The Indonesian Government through the Ministry of Communication and Informatics has launched the PeduliLindungapplication since March 2020 which  has been downloaded more than 4.5 million times. The application is now a requirement for everybody to travel in all modes of transportation starting  Saturday 28 August 2021.

Minister of Communications and Informatics, Johnny G Plate in a press release said that the PeduliLindung application aims to implement tracing, tracking, and fencing by integrating digital technology to fight against Covid-19 nationally. It contains information on vaccine registration, digital passports, travel history, to screening for public areas, such as airports and monitoring arrivals from abroad and cross-border posts. In addition, this application is even integrated into doctor consultation services or telemedicine. Users can do virtual health consultations through this application.

The Ministry of Transportation also supports the PeduliLindung application in all modes of transportation as a travel requirement. All Directors General of the Ministry of Transportation have been asked to draw up rules to prepare both in terms of systems and procedures. Thereby,  it can be implemented immediately by the organizers of transportation facilities and infrastructure, whether managed by the Ministry of Transportation, State-Owned Enterprises, or the private sector.

Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that by using this application, it can be ensured that only healthy passengers can get on the plane. All data on passengers who have vaccinated and got PCR/antigen checks are stored safely in the Ministry of Health  big data named New All Record or NAR. This checking mechanism with NAR big data will also be carried out at the time of booking tickets on airlines, both offline and online. This rule will also be extended to land and sea transportation modes in the near future.

The government's efforts in implementing the PeduliLindung application certainly need to be supported so that it can run well. Transportation is one of the important sectors for community mobility amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Transportation hubs, such as terminals, stations, ports and airports are part of the Government's filter to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

It is hoped that the results of this tracing can make it easier for the government to identify who needs further treatment to stop the spread of Covid-19. The more public participate in using this application, The more people participate in using this application, this will further assist the government in tracing and tracking.

Confidentiality  of Personal data in the PeduliLindung application is stored securely in an encrypted format and will not be shared with others. Data will only be accessed if it is known that the user is at risk of contracting Covid-19 and needs to be immediately contacted by health workers.