VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Ketupat or Kupat is an Indonesian typical food which is made of rice and wrapped with young coconut leaf or janur. Usually this food serves in Islamic religious celebration such as Eid Al-Fitr and eaten along with side dishes. Indonesian people know various kinds of Ketupat and every region has its own characteristic. If you go to Brebes, Central Java, you will find one of variant Ketupat, namely Kupat Sableng. If you are in Brebes, I suggest you to eat this food which has savory and spicy taste. Kupat Sableng combines ketupat with coconut milk sauce and blengong satay as side dish. The satay is made of Blengong meat. Blengong is a kind of bird which is a combination of duck and itik (muscovy duck). Firstly, Blengong meat is soaked in seasoning of coconut milk and skewered by using stick. After the seasoning being permeated, the satay was roasted with charcoal. When you buy Kupat Sableng, you can determine the chili you need in accordance with your taste. The chili then entered into the sauce of ketupat. When kupat sableng being eaten, savory taste of its coconut milk which is mixed with chili, is tasted so delicious. Blengong satay with soft texture becomes complementary of the taste. If you are interested to enjoy this food, there are many stalls which sell Kupat Sableng in Brebes. Usually, this food is sold in the afternoon until evening. The price is relatively cheap, only Rp 7,000 per portion.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi said at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat meeting in Nha Trang, Vietnam, (16-17 January 2020) that the Indonesian government emphasized full support for Vietnam's leadership this year. The meeting highlighted a theme "Cohesive and Responsive". As quoted by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, kemlu.go.id, in the meeting, Minister Retno Marsudi explained, Indonesia is happy to note that ASEAN has completed many lines of action of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the ASEAN Community Blueprint. This year's mid-term review is a major step to ensure the full realization of the ASEAN Vision and its Blueprint. In addition, she added as a follow-up to ASEAN's views on the Indo-Pacific, Indonesia said that it would hold an ASEAN-World Economic Forum on Indo-Pacific Infrastructure and Connectivity in Jakarta on 7-9 July 2020. This meeting will involve the governments and businesspeople of ASEAN and Indo-Pacific countries. Indonesia also emphasized that ASEAN must remain an engine of peace and stability. According to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, ASEAN must be consistent in ensuring peace and stability in the region, including in the South China Sea. At the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat, ASEAN agreed to ensure that international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is respected by all parties.

Besides， Indonesia also encourages ASEAN to prioritize the issues of women, peace and security. Indonesia will hold a second regional training on women, peace and security this year. Regarding Vietnam's priority for leadership in 2020, Indonesia hopes that the AICHR Term of Reference review can be completed under Vietnam's leadership. Indonesia also encouraged ASEAN to more actively collaborate in ensuring the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to be signed in 2020.

In promoting ASEAN's identity, awareness and pride, Indonesia proposes the adoption of an ASEAN Narratives on ASEAN Identity which is currently being discussed at the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Pillar. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat was the first meeting held by Vietnam during its presidency. Through the theme "Cohesive and Responsive", ASEAN is expected to be able to strengthen unity and boost its presence in the community.

The government has finished the draft of the Omnibus Law to Create Employment. This week, the draft will be submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR) and is targeted to be completed within three months. Omnibus law is a law created to target one major issue that might revoke or amend several laws to be simplified. So far, the government has scrutinized 74 laws that will be affected by the omnibus law. According to President Joko Widodo, if the government only combines the laws one by one and then submits a revision to the DPR, the process can take time more than 50 years. Based on the omnibus law, the existing laws that are viewed to hamper can be revised simultaneously.

In fact, there are two Omnibus Laws submitted by the government to the DPR. They are Omnibus Law to Create Employment and Omnibus Law of Taxation. However, the Omnibus Law to Create Employment is criticized by a lot of people, remembering that there are some points in the omnibus law draft, that are unacceptable. Because, they think that this will threaten the welfare of workers, such as the imposition of workers’ hourly wages. The workers assume there is an effort to eliminate the minimum wage by setting the hourly wage. In other words, if the workers work fewer than 40 hours a week, their wages will automatically be below the minimum wage. On the contrary, according to the government, this hourly wage regulation does not eliminate the minimum wage rule. This rule gives flexibility to business entities or companies in providing salaries to temporary workers. The rules for hourly wage schemes are intended to accommodate certain types of work, such as consultants and part-time workers. In addition, the hourly wage payment rules are intended to accommodate new types of work in the digital economy industry with millennial workers who want flexible working hours. Based on this, socialization is needed for the community to understand correctly what the objectives of the government are in making regulations. Thus, bias information amid the community can be prevented. Now, the DPR's task to study the draft Omnibus Law proposed by the government is whether it is advantageous or disadvantageous to the community. The task of the parliament members is also to provide a correct explanation to the people they represent, and the reasons for their decision on the draft of the omnibus law.

Today in History with the event of January 18th, 2000  that Meteor Fell at Lake Tagish, Canada.

Rocks from outer space or commonly called as a meteor, fell on Lake Tagish, Canada, on January 18th, 2000.  When the meteor fell down, residents around the area saw the light like a falling star on Lake Tagish. After that there was an explosion. The local residents came close  to the location. A number of both local and international scientists conducted research on falling space objects. After studying the meteorite at Lake Tagish, the team of scientists from Japan's Tohoku University concluded that most of the water content on Earth originated from a collision with an asteroid 4.6 billion years ago.

On January 18th, 2002, the Sierre Leone civil war was declared to be over.

The Sierre Leone Civil War was a war that lasted for 11 years, from 1991 to 2002 and it  killed 50,000 people.  The war began on March 23rd, 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front with the support of special forces National Patriotic Front of Liberia under the leadership of Charles Taylor. It launched an attack on the government.  The aim was to impose Joseph Momoh's government. The war was officially declared over by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah on January 18th, 2002.

Today in History with the event of January 18th, 1964 that the Beatles appeared on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
 
The Beatles appeared on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time on January 18, 1964.  This music group was named as the most successful rock musician in the 60s. The Beatles is one of the earliest and most influential rock group in the modern era. The members are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The Beatles is considered as the manifestation of progressive ideas which influenced the socio-cultural revolution in the 1960s.