After the ASEAN envoy's visit to Myanmar, the resolution of the crisis in Myanmar has not yet shown a bright spot. Secretary General of ASEAN, Lim Joch Hoi and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Erywan Yusuf, Friday, June 4, 2021, visited Myanmar in order to realize the Consensus of Asean Leaders at the meeting in Jakarta. The mission, which specifically met junta leader Henderal Min Aung Hlaing, was criticized by a rival government calling itself the National Unity Government, NUG. The Myanmar military junta's official television reported that the meeting had discussed humanitarian assistance. In addition, the ASEAN envoy also discussed the election plan with General Min Aung Hlaing who promised to hold it when the situation was conducive.

The NUG rival government responded to the meeting and its outcome with skepticism. They were disappointed because, as at the high-level meeting in Jakarta, the shadow government was not invited. During the visit of two ASEAN envoys to Myanmar last Friday, they also did not get a chance to meet.

The NUG's doubts about the results of the ASEAN meeting are quite reasonable. After the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in April, the military junta continued to use violence against protesters. At least 800 protesters and civilians have been killed as a result of the military's actions in handling the protests since the military coup four months ago. The junta leaders seem to feel that the consensus, which is the outcome of the Jakarta high-level meeting, is not a binding decision that must be implemented. After returning from Jakarta on April 24, Myanmar's military authorities even arrested 3000 anti-government people and killed at least 200 others.

On the other hand, ASEAN member countries are also ambiguous in their attitude towards Myanmar's military authorities. Reportedly, Singapore and Thailand have started to cooperate with the military government by making investments. ASEAN's stance is not as firm as the European Union and the United States, which strongly condemn the junta's actions and carry out an embargo on the economic access of Myanmar military officials.

The exclusion of the NUG element by ASEAN in an effort to find a solution in Myanmar, in addition to causing apathy towards ASEAN, has also strengthened resistance to the junta. It is feared that this situation could be used as an excuse for the military authorities to take tough action against protesters and postpone the election because the situation is not considered conducive.

For ASEAN, the principle of non-intervention, as well as the ambiguous attitude of some of its members due to the interests of investment and economic cooperation, is the cause of the absence of a firm attitude and more concrete action. In this case, ASEAN really needs to get back together to state its commitment to seriously address the crisis in one of its member countries. This is none other than to prevent a civil war that could tear the country apart and make its people suffer more.

ASEAN's Action In The Myanmar Crisis

After the ASEAN envoy's visit to Myanmar, the resolution of the crisis in Myanmar has not yet shown a bright spot. Secretary General of ASEAN, Lim Joch Hoi and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Erywan Yusuf, Friday, June 4, 2021, visited Myanmar in order to realize the Consensus of Asean Leaders at the meeting in Jakarta. The mission, which specifically met junta leader Henderal Min Aung Hlaing, was criticized by a rival government calling itself the National Unity Government, NUG. The Myanmar military junta's official television reported that the meeting had discussed humanitarian assistance. In addition, the ASEAN envoy also discussed the election plan with General Min Aung Hlaing who promised to hold it when the situation was conducive.

The NUG rival government responded to the meeting and its outcome with skepticism. They were disappointed because, as at the high-level meeting in Jakarta, the shadow government was not invited. During the visit of two ASEAN envoys to Myanmar last Friday, they also did not get a chance to meet.

The NUG's doubts about the results of the ASEAN meeting are quite reasonable. After the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in April, the military junta continued to use violence against protesters. At least 800 protesters and civilians have been killed as a result of the military's actions in handling the protests since the military coup four months ago. The junta leaders seem to feel that the consensus, which is the outcome of the Jakarta high-level meeting, is not a binding decision that must be implemented. After returning from Jakarta on April 24, Myanmar's military authorities even arrested 3000 anti-government people and killed at least 200 others.

On the other hand, ASEAN member countries are also ambiguous in their attitude towards Myanmar's military authorities. Reportedly, Singapore and Thailand have started to cooperate with the military government by making investments. ASEAN's stance is not as firm as the European Union and the United States, which strongly condemn the junta's actions and carry out an embargo on the economic access of Myanmar military officials.

The exclusion of the NUG element by ASEAN in an effort to find a solution in Myanmar, in addition to causing apathy towards ASEAN, has also strengthened resistance to the junta. It is feared that this situation could be used as an excuse for the military authorities to take tough action against protesters and postpone the election because the situation is not considered conducive.

For ASEAN, the principle of non-intervention, as well as the ambiguous attitude of some of its members due to the interests of investment and economic cooperation, is the cause of the absence of a firm attitude and more concrete action. In this case, ASEAN really needs to get back together to state its commitment to seriously address the crisis in one of its member countries. This is none other than to prevent a civil war that could tear the country apart and make its people suffer more.

Indonesian Vice President, Ma'ruf Amin opened the online Indonesia Industrial Moslem Exhibition (ii Motion) from Jakarta, Thursday (3/6). In his remarks, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin is optimistic that Indonesia will become the largest halal producing country in the world with various potentials and government support.

He also explained that the government is preparing the 2019-2024 Indonesian Sharia Economic Master plan with four main strategies that have been set. First, it is to strengthen the halal value chain consisting of the halal food and beverage industry, halal tourism, Muslim fashion, halal media and recreation, halal pharmacy and cosmetics, and renewable energy. Three other strategies set by the government in the Master plan are strengthening the Islamic finance sector, strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises, and utilizing and strengthening the digital economy.

Based on data from the World Population Review, the number of Muslims in the world reaches 1.9 billion people. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population. According to the Vice President, this shows that Indonesia has a large market potential for Muslim products. He emphasized that Indonesia also wants to become the largest producer and exporter of halal products in the world. Therefore, he asked the relevant ministers to encourage Indonesia to become a global halal producer in the food, beverage, fashion, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and tourism sectors. This exhibition aims to encourage the promotion and publication of Indonesian Muslim products to be increasingly known to the world.

On the same occasion, Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said that his ministry is also encouraging the growth of the Small and Medium Industry of Muslim products in an effort to make Indonesia the largest producer of halal products in the world.

Meanwhile, Director General of Small, Medium and Multifarious Industries of the Ministry of Industry, Gati Wibawaningsih said, the public's need for products and services labeled as halal is increasing. According to Gati, the large potential market for the global halal product industry is not only competed by countries with a Muslim majority, such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Companies from China, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and Australia, but also produce halal goods. However, she believes that Indonesia is able to take part in the halal product market, at least as a major player in Asia.

Leang-Leang Prehistoric Park or also known as Leang-Leang Archaeological Park is one of the mainstay tourismm attractions in Maros Regency, South Sulawesi It offers historical cultural tours of ancient human civilization.Paintings of human palms and hog deer, which are plastered on cave walls and various artifacts, are evidence of the presence of prehistoric humans in this area.In this park, there are hundreds of prehistoric caves scattered in the hills of Maros - Pangkep. The paintings on the wall in Cave Pettae and Petta Kere katahun were first discovered in 1950 by two archaeologists from the Netherlands, Van Heekeren and Miss Heeren Palm.This cave is the beginning of research on prehistoric caves and the beginning of the discovery of paintings invented in Maros Regency.

To reach Pettae Cave, tourists must climb stairs that are not too high. PettaKere Cave is located about 300 meters from Pettae Cave. In Pettae Cave there are paintings in the form of five pictures of palms, one picture of a hog deer jumping with an arrow in the chest.Meanwhile, at the entrance of the cave which is 8 meters high and 12 meters wide, there are blade flakes and shells. Meanwhile, in PettaKere Cave, 2 images of hog deer were found, 27 images of palms, blade flakes and arrowheads were found.

To go to this park from Makassar downtown, visitors have to take motor vehicles for around one hour and half. When they arrive at this park, they have to pay a ticket for IDR 10,000. In this prehistoric park, there is also a parking lot for visitors who use private vehicles, as well as a gazebo for visitors who want to take a rest after being tired of looking around the caves in this park.

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 still about Sakit which means Sick. 

Here is the conversation entitled “Jangan Makan Makanan Pedas!”which means “Do not Eat Spicy Food!”. This dialog is between Kevin and a doctor. The doctor prohibits Kevin to eat spicy food.

Having read 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 an expression “Jangan makan makanan pedas!” (2X) which means “Do not eat spicy food!” The word jangan (2X) which means do not is used to express prohibition.

Other examples.

To state prohibition, we can also use the phrase tidak boleh (2X) which means cannot. Let’s listen to another example to express prohibition.

Untuk sementara, Bapak tidak boleh makan makanan asam, ya! (2X) which means for a while, you cannot eat sour food, ok!

Untuk sementara, Bapak tidak boleh minum es, ya!(2X) which means for a while, you cannot drink cold water, ok!

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.