VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Deputy for Coordination of Mental Revolution for Cultural Advancement and Improvement of Sports Achievement at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture (Kemenko PMK), Didik Suhardi (left) ; Head of the National Library Muhammad Syarif Bando (rigth) - 

The Industrial Revolution 4.0 has a main characteristic, namely combining communication and information technology in the industrial sector. The emergence of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 has caused very rapid changes in various sectors of life and has an impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of the performance process.

4.0 is closely related to literacy, digital transformation, and disruption of the labor market which are interrelated and influence each other. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 emphasizes the speed and breadth of the network.

Based on research conducted by the World Economic Forum (2020) it is stated that 60 percent of jobs in the world will use automation and as much as 30 percent of jobs previously done by humans will be replaced by machines with massive use of advanced technology.

In 2022, it is predicted that there will be 26 million new jobs created in the MSME sector with the rise of e-commerce. This condition is increasingly disrupted due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, where in the last two years people have been indirectly forced to make lifestyle changes quickly.

To facilitate the community in these two types of basic and important skills, the library implements library transformation as a solution to the limited budget and the very wide gap in access to reading material information.

Head of the National Library Muhammad Syarif Bando said the urgency of the transformation was related to building a national digital ecosystem. One of them is building a network.

“We collect information that is scattered in the community. Because all over the world, this is the job of the librarian. Then it is disseminated and repackaged in the form of finished information, making it easier for users to use it," he explained in a talk show on Antara TV in collaboration with the Center for Library Analysis and Development of the National Library of Indonesia with the theme "Library Transformation Creates a National Digital Ecosystem", Tuesday, ( 19/4/2022).

Syarif said that throughout 2022, the National Library of Indonesia is targeting a minimum of one million content creators to appear on the National Library's Youtube channel by using the National Library as an information center. "So we don't create special applications, but focus on building networks," he said.

On the other hand, the Deputy for Coordination of Mental Revolution for Cultural Advancement and Improvement of Sports Achievement at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture (Kemenko PMK), Didik Suhardi, emphasized that transformation is a must.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Tuesday (19/04/22), the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture has the task of building people and culture so that they become great people in welcoming Indonesia Golden 2045.

“We have a human development cycle, namely the cycle of a thousand days of life, the cycle of early childhood, the school cycle, the college cycle, the cycle of productive age and the cycle of elderly," he explained.

These six cycles must be properly intervened. Must be able to guarantee the six human cycles are carried out to the fullest. And literacy is a connecting part that must be done in these six cycles of human development. Of course, the library becomes a reference for all literacy, so it must carry out the transformation in line with the development of information and technology.

“Currently, the era of industry 4.o is marked by critical thinking skills, communication skills, collaboration and artificial intelligence. It must be balanced with the ability of the library so that it can transform. So, it can be accessed all over the world,” he explained.

"Some time ago we held a coordination meeting with the Ministry of Education and Culture, Research and Technology, National Library and other ministries including the Ministry of Villages (Kemendes), because there are village funds so they have great potential. So that the library as an entry point for literacy will be even greater," he said//VOI

A general view of the Parliament House building in Islamabad, Pakistan, Apr 10, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Akhtar Soomro) - 

Pakistan's new ruling alliance took control of the lower house of parliament on Saturday (Apr 16) with the election of a new speaker, cementing control of the assembly after former premier Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote.

The previous speaker and his deputy, both Khan allies, had attempted to block and then delay the vote, only for the country's top court to deem their actions illegal.

The lower house of parliament eventually voted in favour of removing Khan from office on Sunday.

The new ruling alliance has already elected their candidate, Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister.

The new speaker is Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, a former prime minister who belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), part of the new ruling alliance. He was elected unopposed in the absence of Khan's party, which resigned en masse from the house on Monday.

"Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took oath as the 22nd Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan," said a Twitter account run by the staff of Pakistan's National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

The resignations are yet to be fully processed. If accepted, Pakistan faces the prospect of close to 100 by-elections within two months, a major distraction for Sharif and his coalition partners and a potential platform for Khan to mobilise support.

Sharif is expected to name his Cabinet in the coming days with a number of policy challenges facing the new government, in particular dealing with an economy in deep trouble//CNA

A worker in a protective suit walks at an entrance to a tunnel leading to the Pudong area, after restrictions on highway traffic amid the lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Shanghai, China, Mar 28, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Aly Song) - 

Japan's top representative in Shanghai urged China's most populous city to address concerns of Japanese businesses over losses and other disruptions caused by lockdowns aimed at containing a COVID-19 surge.

Consul general Shuichi Akamatsu's letter, posted on the consulate's website on Saturday (Apr 16), comes as most of Shanghai's 25 million residents remain under strict lockdowns that have hobbled economic activity in the financial centre. The city reported a record 3,590 symptomatic cases on Saturday.

The US State Department on Monday ordered non-emergency US government workers to leave the consulate due to surging virus numbers and China's measures to control its spread.

The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters on Saturday. China's foreign ministry has termed the State Department concerns over coronavirus control measures in Shanghai "groundless accusations".

Akamatsu acknowledged the city's efforts at curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the letter to the vice mayor, dated Friday.

"However, with the extension of virus control measures, the situation of production and operations not being able to function normally has already lasted for more than a month," he said. "The impact on business activities is clearly becoming more severe by the day."

Akamatsu cited a survey published on Friday by a Japanese chamber representing more than 2,300 businesses, which indicated members' concerns over virus curbs, including interrupted supply chains, difficulty in securing food supplies and an inability to make payments including employee salaries due to bank closures.

"There is no room for optimism about the current reality," he said, adding that a lack of information about when lockdowns will end has made it impossible for companies to conduct business.

"Apart from the losses and impact on employees of work and production halts that have continued for more than a month, the future uncertainty has also become a major factor affecting companies," he said//CNA

North Korea marked the birthday of its founding leader on Apr 15. (Photo: AFP/Kim Won Jin) - 

Kim Jong Un oversaw a huge public procession to celebrate the birthday of North Korea's founding leader, state media images showed on Saturday (Apr 16), but the anniversary passed without an anticipated show of military strength.

Known as the Day of the Sun in the nuclear-armed country, the Apr 15 birthday of the late Kim Il Sung - grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un - is one of the most important dates in Pyongyang's political calendar.

Analysts and South Korean and US officials had widely predicted a military parade or even a nuclear test, but the celebrations on Friday involved a civilian parade, synchronised dancing and fireworks.

Photographs released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency showed thousands of colourfully dressed people marching through the capital's Kim Il Sung Square as Kim Jong Un looked on from a balcony.

"Columns of workers, peasant dancers and others marched past the square," carrying banners and boards bearing socialist slogans, and a giant national flag, KCNA said.

Three generations of the Kim family have ruled the country since 1948.

Kim also visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong Il lie in state.

There was a steady drumbeat of celebratory coverage in state media leading up to the day, including the opening of new apartment complexes, light festivals and floral tributes.

It was a calculated decision to highlight new apartments and citizens with smartphones taking pictures of flowers, said Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

"The Kim regime needs more sources of national pride and legitimacy than military parades," he said.

"So the public commemorations around its founder's birthday tried to portray an economy that is not only resilient but growing."

The anniversary celebrations came three weeks after North Korea staged its largest intercontinental ballistic missile test ever - the first time Kim's most powerful weapon had been fired at full range since 2017.

That test was the culmination of a record-breaking blitz of sanctions-busting launches this year and signalled an end to a self-imposed moratorium on long-range and nuclear tests.

The absence of military activity on the holiday "does not represent a shift away from North Korea's military build-up", Easley added.

Satellite imagery has shown signs of new activity at a tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, which North Korea said was demolished in 2018 ahead of a summit between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump.

South Korean officials have said Pyongyang could still stage a military parade or carry out a weapons test on or around Apr 25, the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army//CNA