VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Diplomatic Corner is from Denpasar, Bali.

KRI Bima Suci ship anchored at Benoa seaport of Bali after carrying out a series of mission of the first sailing of Bark class sailing ship to visit 9 neighboring countries. The countries, which were visited, are the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, China, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar. The ship carried Kartika Jala Krida 2019 unit of exercise to conduct diplomatic sailing of national ambassador and also students of Navy Academy. This was stated by Commander of Indonesian Navy of Benoa Headquarters, Col. Henricus Prihantoko at Benoa seaport on Wednesday. He said that the ship, which was made by Vreire shipyard in Spain, sailed for 99 days by carrying 89 crews, 18 trainers, and 83 students. In addition to carrying out diplomatic sailing, they also introduced Indonesian culture.

Pariaman, West Sumatera. 

The city government of Pariaman, West Sumatera will construct Tahfiz boarding school whose operation cooperates with Turkey’s Sulaimaniyah boarding school. This was stated by Head of Religion Ministry’s Office of Pariaman, M. Nur in Pariaman on Wednesday (23/10). The construction of the boarding school has three-star standard so that every room has air conditioner. He also explained that the cooperation with the Turkey’s boarding school related to provision of teacher looks for students and operational finance. While, Mayor of Pariaman, Genius Umar said that the existence of the boarding school is expected to be able to support the region as tourism city in Islamic principles.

Davao, the Philippines.

Indang Badinding and Rampai Saman dances, which were performed by students of Davao Indonesian school, succeeded to amaze thousands of visitors of Pakaradyan 2019 Festival at Tagum City, Davao del Norte province, the Philippines. This was stated by Principal of the school, Agus, which was quoted in press release of Indonesian Consulate General in Davao received in Jakarta on Wednesday (23/10). The promotion of Indonesian culture has become one of missions of Davao Indonesia school. Agus’ statement has been proven with various events which were participated in by Davao Indonesian school to introduce Indonesian culture throughout South Philippines. The participation of Indonesian Consulate General in Davao in Pakaradyan Festival is expected to give more understanding on Indonesia to the Filipinos and also to be able to strengthen relations which have been established so far.

Porridge is one of Indonesian foods which has been known since long time ago. It is made from rice and various kinds of flour. There are various kinds of porridge with typical taste of sweet or salty flavor in each region. The culinary are many found in various cities in Indonesia. If you visit Surabaya, East Java, you have to tr Madura porridge.

Madura porridge consists of some kinds of porridge which combine in one portion such as sumsum, black glutinous rice, candil and mutiara porridge. Sumsum porridge is made of rice flour. While,  candil is made of a mixture of rice flour and boiled sweet potato. The dough of candil is formed circle with various sizes according to the taste. Then, main ingredient of black glutinous rice and mutiara flour are mixed become black glutinous rice and  mutiara porridge. When being served, those porridge are smeared with thick coconut milk which is savory and liquid palm sugar. When being eaten, the mixture between savory taste of sumsum porridge and coconut milk directly blend with the sweetness of palm sugar sauce. The sweetness and savory taste will make everybody addicted to the Bubur Madura.

The famous center of Madura porridge in Surabaya located in Pasar Atom, precisely on the ground floor of the Pasar Atom building. At this market you can find some vendors of Madura Porridge, who have been there for more than decades. Usually, the porridge is sold in the morning as breakfast menu. Besides selling Madura porridge, the vendors also sell various kinds of traditional snacks such as klanting, cenil, lupis, ketan, jongkong, talam, tiwul, and biji salak with affordable price, only Rp. 7,000 - Rp. 10,000 per portion.

Finally, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced his cabinet members three days after his inauguration. Along with Vice President KH Ma’ruf Amin, the president did something unusual when announcing his aides for the next five years. President Joko Widodo announced his ministers and institutional leaders by sitting on the stairs in front of the State Palace. There were 34 ministers and 4 ministerial-level positions. They will work together in the administration of Joko Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin to bring Indonesia forward.

For three days, the people of Indonesia watched figures answering summon from the State Palace. Many speculated the right figures to support the president for the next five years.

President Joko Widodo fulfilled his promise that his cabinet will have more professionals and fewer politicians. More than 56 percent are professionals. However, the most interesting part is that Joko Widodo appointed Prabowo Subianto, his former rival, to become Minister of Defense. This is a very strategic position in a government. Former National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian as Home Affairs Minister became a hot topic.

As we know, President Joko Widodo has prerogative rights. It seems he did not want to be dictated by his supporters, since it will be fatal for his government. Along with Vice President KH Ma’ruf Amin, the President also let young generation joining in as national development engine. More overly, with the upcoming national demographic bonus, the government wants to plant strong will to move fast, so that Indonesia can catch up with her neighboring countries.

Despite of pros and cons about the chosen ministers of Indonesia Onward, no one is perfect. Everyone has their own weakness and strength. Instead, the most important thing is that professionalism of president’s aides in executing better bureaucracy is what can bring Indonesia onward. With slogan “Work, work, work…,” hopefully bureaucracy inside the government will speed up every matter and ease the development and economy.

Businesspeople of Indonesia and Italy agreed a 60-million US dollar-worth trade contract.

Indonesian and Italian pulp and paper companies signed a trade contract worth around US$60 million dollars during Trade Expo Indonesia, held in Tangerang, Banten. Indonesian Embassy in Rome, with a written statement received in Jakarta on Saturday (19/10) said, the agreement was one of the biggest single trade contracts between PT Pindo Deli Pulp and Paper Mills from Indonesia and APP Italia Srl. APP Italia Srl, Timo Toivonen said that his Indonesian counterpart had long history in producing high-quality paper and support community development programs, so that his company appreciated the agreement signing.   

Next information is that Indonesian songket and tenun are promoted in Ukraine.

Indonesian songket and tenun cloths were promoted in Ukraine recently, more precisely during a fashion show by Indonesian designer, Anna Maria. Indonesian Ambassador to Ukraine, Yuddy Chrisnandi in a written statement said in Jakarta on Saturday (19/10) that they cooperated with ‘Rumah Kreasi Indonesia Hebat’ and gained support from Ukrainian conglomerate, Oleksandr Feldman to hold the country’s fashion show about songket and tenun. For the last 25 years, this was the first fashion show by Indonesian designer, which displayed the diversity of Indonesian tenun and songket.

Last information is that Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah and Palembang Aviation Polytechnic sign Cooperation Agreement.

Acting Function of Information and Socio-culture at Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah, Agus MUktamar and Director of Palembang Aviation Polytechnic, M Andar Adityawarman signed cooperation agreement on Human Resource Development at Air Transport in Jakarta (18/10). The signing was witnessed by Head of Air Transport Human Resources Development Center at Indonesian Transportation Ministry, Hery Sudarmadji, Indonesian Consul General in Jeddah, Mohamad Hery Saripudin, and Transportation Attaché of Indonesian Consul General in Jeddah, Amiruddin.

Indonesian Consul General in Jeddah Mohamad Hery Saripudin welcomed the cooperation agreement signing and expected it would be followed-up soon with real working plan, so that the benefits can be enjoyed by both sides soon. For Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah, the signing mandated two things. First, Consulate General’s Information and Socio-culture Function in cooperation with Indonesian School in Jeddah (SIJ) and Indonesian School in Mecca (SIM) must start mapping the interest and talent of the students they will recruit. Secondly, the Transportation Attaché must begin analysis on flight attendant need in Saudi Arabian transportation industry, along with the requirements.