VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

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 Transportasi which means Transportation.

Here is the conversation entitled “Macet Sekali” which means “Very Congested”. This dialog happens when Kevin is in a taxi. He and the taxi driver are talking about traffic condition. 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 hear Kevin say Di jalur biasa macet sekali (2X) which means It is very congested on the normal route. In the sentence, there is an adverb sekali (2X) which means very. It is placed after an adjective to show the quality of the adjective. In the dialog context betweenKevin and the taxi driver, Kevin describes the traffic condition which is not only congested, but very congested. Therefore, he says Di jalur biasa macet sekali (2X) which means It is very congested on the normal route.

Other examples:

Let’s read to the other examples to describe a condition by using an adverb to show quality.

- Apakah pelabuhan jauh dari sini? (2X) which means Is the port far from here?

- Iya. Pelabuhan jauh sekali dari sini (2X) which means Yes. The port is very far from here.

- Hari ini panas sekali (2X) which means Today is very hot

- Ya, benar (2X) which means Yes, that’s right

 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 one of the largest archipelagic countries in the world and does need a strong military capability to maintain the sovereignty of the nation and state. In addition to requiring the main weaponry system as a defense requirement to maintain sovereignty, Indonesia also conducts joint military exercises with other countries to improve military capabilities both in terms of tactics, use of weapons and personnel capabilities. To achieve this, the Indonesian National Army –TNI AD is conducting joint military exercises with the United States in South Sumatra. This joint exercise, entitled 'Garuda Shield 15/2021', is the largest exercise ever carried out by the two countries and involves 2,161 Indonesian Army soldiers and 1,547 US Army personnel. This exercise takes place from August 1-14, 2021.

Quoted from Kompas (4/8), Army Chief of Staff General Andika Perkasa accompanied by Commanding General of The United States Army Pacific, General Charles A Flynn when opening a joint exercise with the Indonesian Army and the United States Army in The Indonesian Army Combat Training Center, Martapura-Baturaja, Ogan Komering Ulu Timur, South Sumatra, Wednesday (4/8) said that the 15th Garuda Shield in 2021 is the largest exercise in the history of military cooperation between Indonesia and the US.

Meanwhile, based on information from the United States Embassy, this military exercise aims to strengthen the US-Indonesia Main Defense Partnership and encourage cooperation in supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific region. In addition, the United States also believes that Garuda Shield 2021 can provide excellent opportunities for professional and cultural exchanges that strengthen the partnership between the two countries through joint learning and training.

In fact, the first joint Garuda Shield exercise held in Bandung, West Java in 2009 is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and can also be said to be a real form of defense diplomacy to strengthen military relations of both countries. In addition to the United States, Indonesia also builds joint military exercises with various neighboring countries, such as MALINDO and Malaysia which sometimes includes other countries such as Singapore, Australia and several other ASEAN countries. The purpose of this military exercise is to build strategic cooperation and partnerships with various countries. In addition, the increasing tension in the South China Sea could be a joint military exercise with major countries that will enhance alertness and improve the capability of Indonesian military personnel in dealing with all possibilities that may occur in terms of security and the effects of threats from outside Indonesia's territory. In addition to conducting joint military exercises in Baturaja, South Sumatra, the Indonesian Army and the United States Army also conduct exercises in two other locations: Amborawang, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan and Makalisung, Minahasa, North Sulawesi.

Indonesian Agriculture Ministry's Secretary General Kasdi Subagyono said the government focuses on increasing agricultural export, especially for commodities with great opportunity such as elephant foot yam and swallow's nest. Kasdi on Monday (02/08) said the government's focus is raising agricultural productivity to be exported in a greater sum. One of the strategies is opening investment opportunities in the agriculture sector for domestic and foreign business people.

According to Kasdi, the Agriculture Ministry facilitated the export by creating ease of doing business for the employers. The ministry also opened the opportunity and knowledge to manage the elephant foot yam and swallow's nest. He said the export market for swallow's nest is China. While the elephant foot yam is mostly exported to China and Japan.

Based on Agriculture Quarantine Center, Indonesian export of elephant foot yam was 14.8 thousand ton in the first half of 2021. This surpassed the year on year export value of the 2019's first semester with 2.7 thousand ton. So it increased by 160 percent. Meanwhile, the swallow's nest export has kept growing since 2015 until 200, namely starting from 800 ton in 2015 up to 1,300 ton in 2020.

Kasdi further remarked that the agriculture export in 2020 rose by 15.5 percent with 451 trillion rupiahs in value. It is greater than the previous year's  390 trillion rupiahs. According to Kasdi, the agricultural export increase was still dominated by plantation sub sectors such as palm oil.

If you travel to Yogyakarta, you have to visit the Watu Goyang tourism attraction. The attraction of this tourism spot has beautiful sunset panorama. It is named Watu Goyang, because in the past, there was once a rock at the top which was able to sway if it was touched or pushed. The rock has existed for about hundreds of years. The location of the tourism attraction is in Giriloyo Hamlet, Mangunan Village, Dlingo sub-district, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta. The distance is approximately 21 kilometers from Yogyakarta City. It takes about one hour to reach the area by motor vehicles.

You can see the natural scenery which is still green and the natural scenery of Mount Merapi if you travel to Watu Goyang.  Being at the peak of the area, you will feel the cool air temperature, particularly in the morning. If you come to Watu Goyang in the morning, you can see the fog like the land above the clouds, but unfortunately visitors cannot see the beautiful sunrise perfectly. Then if you go to Watu Goyang in the afternoon, you will see a beautiful view above the western peak of the sky where the sun sets perfectly because Watu Goyang Peak is located directly  to the west. Moreover, from the top of the peak, you can clearly see the expanse of lowlands, starting from the downtown of Yogyakarta on the northwest side to the south to Bantul Regency from Watu Goyang.

Traveling to Watu Goyang, you can also visit the beautiful flower gardens in this natural tourism. At this place, the expanse of sunflower gardens and other flowers also looks fresh. You can take selfie photos with this flower garden as background. In Watu Goyang, there are a lot of very good selfie spots to take photos. These instagrammable photo spots include sentry view post shaped like a helicopter, flower photo spots, and others. After the sun sets, the beauty at Watu Goyang is still going on. The sparkling lights of Bantul Regency and Yogyakarta City look so beautiful. The scenery is appropriate for the lovers of night photography.