VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A drone picture of a person working at the Horta de Manguinhos (Manguinhos vegetable garden), the biggest urban garden in Latin America, part of the project "Hortas Cariocas" developed by Rio de Janeiro's Environment Secretary in the Manguinhos favela. (Photo: Reuters/Pilar Olivares) - 

The Manguinhos neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, a slum where addicts once smoked crack and residents dumped trash, has been transformed into a community vegetable garden that now feeds some 800 families struggling with rampant food inflation.

The urban garden covers the area of four football fields, according to Rio de Janeiro's "Hortas Cariocas" program coordinators, making it one of the largest of its kind in Latin America.

"This particular area was used as a 'cracolândia'," said Julio Cesar Barros, an agronomist employed by the city.

"If you arrived here on a Wednesday at 10 in the morning, you could find two or three thousand people smoking crack in this area."

Barros said he helped create the "Hortas Cariocas" project in 2006 to plant vegetables in various parts of the city and supply organic products to lower-income residents. He said urban gardens also helped prevent irregular occupation of dangerous areas prone to flooding or landslides.

"While I am planting (seeds) I am thinking that in a few days I will be harvesting this and taking it home to eat it," said Diane Silva, an urban farm worker. "I know I am planting to harvest tomorrow ... it gives a lot of pleasure to work in a garden, it is a job that we enjoy, I love this."

The project has now expanded to 49 vegetable gardens across Rio, according to Barros.

Ezequiel Dias, a Manguinhos resident who helps to coordinate the project, said the initiative has transformed his community.

"It changed the face of Manguinhos… our communities need exactly this: peace, happiness and a better life."//CNA

Chief of National Police General Listyo Sigit Prabowo gives his remarks at the signing event of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the New Zealand Police at the National Police Headquarters in Jakarta on Monday (December 6, 2021). (ANTARA/Laily Rahmawaty/KT) - 

Indonesia and New Zealand have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to prevent and eradicate transnational crimes as well as to bolster the capacity of police personnel in both nations.

The inking of the pact was done in the online and offline (hybrid) format at the National Police Headquarters, South Jakarta, on Monday.

"Today, we are meeting for this signing to prevent and eliminate transnational crimes and enhance (the police) capacity," National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo remarked in his welcome.

Prabowo explained that the bilateral cooperation was forged in response to fluctuating developments in the strategic environment that had shaken stability and security.

He pointed to the trend of some modes of crimes that kept surfacing and developing along with technological developments.

He deemed the cooperation between both nations as crucial since crimes had breached the borders between countries.

Prabowo believes this cooperation would focus on counterterrorism, illegal drugs trade, smuggling, economic crimes, money laundering, cybercrimes, and other transnational crimes.

Prabowo also believed that optimal actions to counter crimes can help to boost the economy.

"We are optimistic that the National Police and New Zealand Police would be able to work closer," he added.

Effective collaboration increases security and stability between both nations, thereby supporting economic growth and social welfare, he stated.

Cooperation between the police of both nations was forged since 2011. It includes eight bilateral working groups in the form of comparative studies, master's degree scholarship, and short courses. Moreover, there are 19 related activities on crime information exchange, five forms of law enforcement in the regional military operation, deportation, and investigation.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster lauded the National Police for the endeavors to overcome these transnational crimes.

Coster expressed delight over the MoU being inked in order to set the focus on countering recent common crimes//ANT

Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director General of Asia-Pacific and African Affairs Abdul Kadir Jailani answering reporters' questions in Jakarta on Monday (December 6, 2021). (ANTARA/Yashinta Difa/KT) - 

The Indonesian government has cogitated over reactivating its embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in pursuit of constructive engagement with the country currently ruled by the Taliban group.

Earlier, Indonesia temporarily relocated its diplomatic mission in Kabul to Islamabad, Pakistan, following the Taliban's takeover of the Afghanistan government last August.

"The objective (of reactivating the Indonesian Embassy in Kabul) is to conduct constructive engagement, especially in terms of humanity, aid for women, and awarding scholarship, among others," Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director General of Asia-Pacific and African Affairs Abdul Kadir Jailani noted at a media gathering here on Monday.

However, Jailani stressed that the plan to reactivate the Indonesian Embassy in Kabul in no way hints that Indonesia recognizes the Taliban government.

Jailani emphasized that Indonesia will continue to monitor the extent to which the Taliban fulfills its commitment to a government that is more inclusive, especially with respect to women's and children's rights as well as counterterrorism endeavors.

"We hope that the Taliban government would uphold its full commitment to not let its country become a land for homegrown terrorism (or a place to train terrorists)," he affirmed.

Furthermore, Jailani remarked that Indonesia will continue to offer assistance to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which is currently worsening due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the winter season that makes food supply a challenge for the residents itself.

Apart from the humanitarian aid, Indonesia also pushes for a meeting of foreign affairs ministers to discuss the Afghanistan issue.

In the near future, the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold an extraordinary meeting, hosted by Pakistan to discuss the Afghanistan issue.

"Our interest is Afghanistan that is inclusive, open, and prosperous because we are aware that it will encourage for a more stable Afghanistan, so forms of interference, such as terrorism, to our country can decrease," Jailani emphasized//ANT

Screenshot of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during his statement at the Congress for Alumni Association of the Indonesian National Student Movement at the State Palace on Monday, December 6, 2021. (ANTARA/Indra Arief/rst) - 

Indonesia ranked among five countries worldwide to have successfully handled the COVID-19 pandemic at level 1 through hard work and mutual cooperation among all parties, according to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"We became one of the five countries in the world to have succeeded in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic at level 1. This proved our nation's ability to face challenges," he remarked at the Congress for Alumni Association of the Indonesian National Student Movement at the State Palace on Monday.

President Jokowi affirmed that Indonesia's success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated its ability to turn difficult challenges into opportunities in order to forge ahead.

Indonesia has also been exceedingly thorough and careful in its approach while issuing policies to control the COVID-19 pandemic and simultaneously restore the community's economy, he noted.

"When the world is under lockdown, we are carefully controlling the pandemic while still moving the economy carefully," Jokowi remarked.

The president later noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had posed challenges and disruptions that had compelled Indonesia and the world to implement new development methods and acclimatize to the new normal.

"We must make the most of this disruption as an opportunity. When the world stops for a moment, we must keep moving forward," he remarked.

According to the latest data from the COVID-19 Task Force, the trend for additional cases of COVID-19 has been apparent from the hundreds of cases in recent weeks, or a significant decline as compared to the addition of tens of thousands of cases at the peak of the second wave in July 2021.

As of December 5, some 196 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported throughout Indonesia, thereby bringing the total count of confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March 2020 to date to 4,257,685.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's data as of December 5 showed that over 142 million Indonesians had received the first dose of vaccination, or 68.42 percent, and 99 million people had been fully vaccinated, or 47.55 percent//ANT