VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Geographical conditions that spread as an archipelagic country, as well as having air and sea crossings, require Indonesia to have a capable defense to maintain its sovereignty. To achieve this, the Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto has visited 7 countries in Asia and Europe to enhance the defense and security capabilities of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. To show determination to change and to improve the Main Weaponry System -Alutsista, Ministry of Defense held an arms exhibition at the Ministry of Defense Office in Jakarta on Thursday (1/23/2020) and was continued by a TNI Leadership coordination meeting attended by President Joko Widodo.

However, the question arises which is more important to build or buy defense equipment from overseas (?)

President Joko Widodo, in a limited meeting at the Surabaya Submarine Hangar, after seeing the submarines made in Indonesia in collaboration with South Korea, has not yet decided to purchase weapons from foreign parties. However, he has instructed to reform the entire defense industry system. He also wants the defense equipment development program to strengthen Indonesia's defense industry. Indonesia needs to reduce its dependence on imported weapons.

Meanwhile, Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto, previously before the parliament members, said Indonesia is a country rich in natural resources and has always been the target of many other nations. Thereby, strengthening and modernizing defense equipment is a must. With the existing budget, the Ministry of Defense will implement four principles: being appropriate, efficient, economical, and geopolitical and geocentric aspects.

At present, the strengthening of Indonesia's strategic defense industry continues to be developed and increased in line with the allocation of funds worth Rp 126 trillion for the defense and security budget. Undoubtedly, increasing defense capability both in terms of weaponry and human resources is one of the important aspects of maintaining the sovereignty of the nation and state. Especially with the recent incident in Natuna Island, where there was a unilateral claim from China over the boundaries of Indonesia's economic exclusive zone. Surely, Indonesia must have sophisticated weapons to maintain its regional sovereignty. In addition, the experience of the arms embargo by producing countries has provided lessons for Indonesia to be independent in strategic industries. Technology transfer cooperation is the right step to becoming an independent nation in the strategic defense industry.

The work program of the National Library (NLI) is ready to make many changes to maximize the benefits for the Indonesian people through IPusnas. Speaking after the national working meeting 2020 themed Innovation and creativity of librarians in strengthening the literacy index to realize Superior HR Towards Advanced Indonesia in the pepembnas building in Salemba, Jakarta, Head of the National Library, Muhammad Syarif Bando expressed the readiness of the National Library to provide millions of book titles in digital form.

"There are lots of changes in terms of the old paradigm to a new concept. The first is that the library is no longer a book of books on a shelf that is kept by librarians until they are rotten. But it changed to how to manage collections, how to manage knowledge, how to transfer knowledge. Therefore, don't ask me again as the head of the library, how many visitors you have, how many books are read, ask me how much digital access you provide at any time and the ability of the National Library can. God willing, can be twenty thousand per second and I can provide 20 million every day and 3 billion scientific journals available at the National Library are ready to be accessed free of charge by anyone and at any time as long as you have a mobile phone. Secondly, you might ask what about the latest books, please enter the application, install IPusnas, you will find millions of new book titles to read, you don't need to be a member of the library, and it's free. The third may be historians, researchers who want to know the history of Indonesia hundreds of years ago, you can enter kastara there all manuscripts, rare texts have entered there" Syarif said.

Syarif added that the National Library must focus on what is received by the community. Therefore, for all the rupiah spent by the current state budget, the parameter is to create what benefits the Indonesian people receive. // (VOI/​​NK/AHM)

When traveling to various places you will feel complete only after you taste the local dishes. Indonesia has various unique and delicious snacks. Take for example, Purworejo regency, Central Java, there is Lompong Cake which you must taste. Unlike other snacks in general, with packaging decorated with bright and various colours, the Lompong cake is precisely jet black. At a glance, it is not interesting, but if you try it, its taste is so chewy and sweet. The cake is called Lompong, because it is made from taro stalk. In addition to the stalk, the cake is also made of straw flour, sticky rice flour and sugar. Meanwhile, its filling is made of pounded peanut which is mixed with palm sugar. To make the snack, the sticky rice flour is firstly mixed with water, sugar, taro powder and straw powder. Then, the dough is stirred, then mixed with coconut oil, so the dough is not sticky when being steamed. Before being steamed, the dough is wrapped with dried banana leaf. Then, the dough is steamed for around 2 hours. When cooked, the Lompong cake has jet black colour. The colour is from straw flour and dried banana leaf. The cake is delicious when warm. If the cake is getting cool, its texture changes and may become a little bit hard. This cake is suitable to be eaten as breakfast. It can also be a souvenir, because it can last upto one week. If you are interested in enjoying the Lompong cake, you will find it at traditional markets in Purworejo costing around Rp. 2,000 to Rp. 35,000 per piece.

President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo visited the KRI Alugoro Submarine - 405 in Surabaya, East Java on Monday (1/27/2020). The Alugoro submarine is the third vessel in the first batch of submarine development cooperation between PT PAL Indonesia and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) from South Korea. The success of Alugro submarine construction has confirmed that Indonesia is currently the only country in the Southeast Asian region, capable of building submarines. Indonesia targets to build ten submarines by 2025.

The defense industry is one of the focuses of President Joko Widodo's administration. In a limited meeting on Development Policy of the Main Weaponry System at PT PAL in Surabaya on Monday, the development of the defense industry was discussed. President Joko Widodo wants to ensure that the defense equipment development program can strengthen Indonesia's defense industry. He also explained, spending in the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget which reached Rp127 trillion was directed to the defense industry. In the limited meeting, President Joko Widodo also expressed his hope that the Indonesian defense industry could meet the domestic market. Meeting domestic demand is a top priority.Law No. 16/2012 about the Defense Industry mandates the fulfillment of the demand for Defense and Security Equipment. At present, Indonesia has dozens of State-Owned Enterprises in the field of defense, such as PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI), PT Dahana, PT Indonesia Nuclear Industry (Inuki), PT LEN Industri, PT Pindad, and PT INTI. The Defense Industry must convince the users of the defense industry, namely the Indonesian Armed Forces -TNI that the products produced can meet the minimum requirements of the essential force of the TNI. Trust in the products of the Domestic Defense Industry must be strengthened. Take for example, PT PINDAD, which has a production capacity of up to 250 million rounds of ammunition each year, can easily meet the needs of the TNI.

The existence of the Indonesian defense industry must be broadened. Thus, the products produced must not only be able to meet the minimum basic strength of the TNI, Polri and Ministries and other institutions, but also produce products to overcome threats to defense and security, such as border waters crises, terrorism, drug smuggling, and cyber-attacks. President Joko Widodo's message in the limited meeting is that Indonesia must be able to develop the main weaponry system that absorbs and adopts the development of the latest digital military technology and is able to overcome the leap of military technology in the next 20, 30 or 50 years. This will aid in Indonesia developing a defense industry that is advanced, strong, independent and competitive.