VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Today, August 10, 2021, Muslims celebrate the Islamic New Year 1443 Hijri. For Indonesia whose majority of the population is Muslim, the Islamic New Year is a significant momentum. This year's Islamic New Year is even more extraordinary, because it falls one week prior to the 76th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia and is still struggling to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Joko Widodo in his remarks on the Commemoration of the Islamic New Year of 1 Muharram 1443 Hijri expressed his hope that the momentum of this 1 Muharram could be used to multiply efforts to fight against Covid-19. In his remarks broadcast through the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account, Monday (9/8), the Head of State also conveyed that the Proclamation of August 17, 76 years ago, was a manifestation of the migration of the Indonesian people to escape from colonialism to become an independent and sovereign nation. President Joko Widodo also emphasized that this momentum must be used to multiply the outward and inward efforts to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Joko Widodo's hope, of course, must be supported by all Indonesian people. Indeed, the Covid-19 pandemic has further strengthened the spirit of Mutual Cooperation (Gotong Royong) for the Indonesian people. Anyhow, this is not enough. Awareness, compliance and discipline of everyone in Indonesia to implement health protocols are the foremost factor. Their strong effort is to precisely make the Indonesian nation shake off from the Covid-19 pandemic. Discipline and compliance in implementing the set health protocols can be the basis for discipline and obediently applying any rules, policies, and appeals in all sectors. The effort looks simple, but it contributes greatly to Indonesia becoming more resilient and continuing to grow.

The core essence of the year and age turn is a change. Of course, it must be in a better direction and conditions. That essence has been stated in the theme of the 76th Independence Day Commemoration, namely "Indonesia is Tough, Indonesia is Growing". This is the duty and obligation of all Indonesian people to make it come true. This effort can be proven by supporting the acceleration of vaccination program. All related stakeholders have to be creative and innovative to rise from the economic downturn affected by the Covid-19. With the real effort by strong belief and prayer of all Indonesian people without exception, God willingness, Indonesia will be more resilient to shake off from the Covid-19 pandemic and grow in all sectors.

Saluopa Waterfall is located in Tonusu village, Pamona Puselemba, Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi. It is about 54 kilometers southeast of Poso Regency. Saluopa Waterfall is also known as Saluopa Water Slide. Because the Saluopa waterfall has a spring from the mountains, which is very clear and slides down from the top of the mountain. The height of the Saluopa waterfall is approximately 25 meters. This waterfall passes through 12 levels of mountain rock that flows down to the lowest level which ends in a small river in the village of Leboni.

Saluopa waterfall is very clear and clean so that the rocks that are passed by the flow of the waterfall will be seen very clearly. The stairs are made of stone, but even though they have been exposed to rain and are mossy, they are not slippery so that visitors can still use them as access to other levels of the waterfall. Stairs made of stone can also be used to take pictures. Sometimes, visitors can witness a very beautiful rainbow between the waterfalls. At the Saluopa waterfall tourism attraction, they can find not only a variety of fauna, but also a very beautiful natural panorama of tropical forests with fresh air.

If visitors are from Tentena City and want to visit Saluopa waterfall, they can use public or personal transportation which takes half an hour to get to the waterfall location. Afterwards, they can continue the journey to the location by walking about 500 meters. Indeed, the journey is little exhausting, but arriving at the location and seeing the beautiful  Saluopa waterfall, visitors will feel relaxed and admired to witness the location. If someone plans to visit the Saluopa Waterfall tourism attraction and wants to stay overnight, it is recommended to stay in Tentena City, because there are no lodging facilities around the Saluopa Waterfall tourism attraction.

Indonesia and Malaysia strengthen cooperation at the border. The cooperation is expected to increase security in both regions. This was revealed by Danrem 121/Abw Brigadier General Ronny when receiving a working visit from Malaysia Military Liaison Officer (MMLO), Major Arif who is a new officer in Sintang, West Kalimantan. The visit was made to establish friendship and cooperation between the Indonesian Military (TNI) in the West Kalimantan region and the Royal Malaysian Army. The existence of MMLO in Sintang is a liaison between Indonesian Armed Forces -TNI and the Royal Malaysian Army so that the cooperation that has been built so far can be even better.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto emphasized the need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with the Sub-Regional Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) to overcome the economic and health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Airlangga's statement was delivered while leading the Indonesian Delegation at the 27th IMT-GT Ministerial Meeting which was held virtually on Friday (6/8). The meeting was attended by Minister of the Prime Minister (Economics) of Malaysia, YB Dato' Sri Mustapa Bin Mohamed, Minister of Finance of Thailand, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, Vice President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Ahmed M. Saeed, and Secretary General of the ASEAN Secretariat, Dato' Lim Jock Hoi. Minister Airlangga added that his side and the Ministers of Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to ensure that all targets in the IMT-GT cooperation can be achieved and provide benefits to the community.

There was good news for the Indonesian people last week. The Central Statistics Agency [BPS] announced on Thursday (5/8) that Indonesia's economic growth in the second quarter of 2021 or the April-June period reached 7.07 percent on an annual basis and 3.31 percent on a quarterly basis. This positive growth has pushed Indonesia out of a recession due to negative growth that occurred  in the second quarter of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Head of the Central Statistics Agency, Margo Yuwono, Indonesia's economic growth in the second quarter was better than the first quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, in the same period last year, it was minus 5.32 percent. He also explained that apart from the onset of economic recovery, another factor for the second quarter's economic growth was the low base effect of last year's growth. In addition, economic growth was also driven by an increase in exports. Indonesia's total exports were recorded at US$53.97 billion, up 10.36 percent compared to the previous quarter. According to Margo Yuwono, the global economy in the second quarter also experienced an increase. This could be seen from the movement of the Purchasing Manufacturing Index in March and June 2021, which continues to increase.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto said that the government's next homework is to further increase efforts to control the Covid-19 virus. Even though the number of positive cases of Covid-19 has started showing a decline, it has not been fully resolved. The engine of growth, according to Minister Airlangga Hartarto, has moved and is growing positively, while the global potential has also moved.

Meanwhile, according to Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, one of Indonesia's successful economic recovery strategies came from social assistance. It is able to maintain the level of poverty and household consumption of the lower class. She hopes that the recovery in consumption will also spread to the upper middle class.

Hopefully, with the right fiscal and monetary policies, accelerated vaccination, provision of social assistance, and discipline from all parties in strictly implementing health protocols, the momentum of economic growth will continue until the third quarter, which is predicted to be around 3.7-4.5%.