VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A number of farmers in Southwest Sumba (SBD), East Nusa Tenggara Province -NTT produce their own organic fertilizers with the guidance from Yayasan Pengembangan Kemanusiaan (YPK) Donders.

The farmers in Goludapi, Weelonda Village, for example, make organic fertilizer from various leaves, banana stems, straw and dry corn stalks. The leaves and dried stalks are chopped. Then, these are mixed with wood powder, and compost in the form of Micro Local Organism fermentation (MOL) to be fertilizer. The types of plants such as rice, corn, cocoa, cashew and others are used. In collecting and chopping up the leaves and dry stems, the farmers are assisted by their sons after school or during school holidays. Children work and play. At the same time, they also learn how to make organic fertilizer.

Dewi Mandeta, an assistant from YPK Donders accompanied them to work on one of the organic fertilizer making processes that will be utilized by 26 farmers in the group. She also explained to Antara on Wednesday (13/6) that the Micro Local Organisms –MOL is mixed with one-ton substance of solid organic fertilizer that can later be utilized to fertilize plants about one-hectare land. This organic fertilizer mixture comprises leaves, fruits and stems. If this is used, it will decompose to fertilize the plants with respective parts, such as branches/trees, leaves and fruits. Micro Organism Local or MOL is a mixture of ripe papaya fruit, half-fermented rice, coconut water and brown sugar. All these materials can be obtained easily in the villages except brown sugar that must be bought at the price of Rp25 thousand per kilogram.

YPK Donders guides nearly a hundred farmer groups in four Sumba districts, including 36 groups in Southwest Sumba, in cooperation with several parties such as the Food and Agriculture Organization -FAO and Millennium Challenge Account-Indonesia -MCAI.

Chairman of the Democratic Party who is also the 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -SBY said that the most important thing in the life of the nation is social justice in accordance with the fifth principle of Pancasila. Therefore, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for all Indonesian people not to contradict Pancasila against  religion. The call was made in Jakarta recently. He also said that Pancasila should be implemented, especially the fifth principle, namely ‘Social Justice for All Indonesian People’. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also requested that prosperity must be enjoyed by not only certain groups of people, but also all Indonesian people and they all should help each other. One of the dimensions of justice in life is social justice.

Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of Nahdlaul Ulama for Jember Branch Office, Moch Eksan said in Jember, East Java (10/6) as quoted from NU online that there are still parties who try to contradict Pancasila and Islam. He explained that there is still a good insight about Islam and Pancasila. Some people try to discredit Pancasila and try to replace Pancasila with religious ideology. He perceived that keeping Pancasila means keeping the Unitary State of Republic of Indonesia -NKRI.  Eksan added that the important point of the NU decision is that Pancasila is not a religion, and it cannot replace religion. Pancasila is only a principle or state ideology. While Islam is an aqidah. Although Pancasila is not a religion, its contents are the crystallization of religious values.

In addition, a member of the People’s Consultative Assembly –MPR, Sabam Sirait asked every element of the nation to fight together to maintain Pancasila and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia -NKRI. As quoted by Tribune.com during the Socialization of the Four Pillars at Sports Arena (GOR) Bintaro Permai, Pesanggrahan Sub-district in South Jakarta last week, Sabam said that to keep Pancasila and NKRI is very important for the Indonesian nation to remain intact. According to Sabam, loving the nation of Indonesia must be maintained together. He added that keeping the unity among Indonesian people is very important for the sustainability of this country because Pancasila is the only glue of all islands, tribes, and religions.

Indonesian Industry Ministry facilitated some national small and medium batik industry players in joining international exhibition entitled, “Indonesia Batik for the World” at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. One of the participants was Batik Azmiah, a premium-class batik small-medium industry from Jambi province which had penetrated European market. The exhibition held on June 6-12 was to commemorate the 9-year Indonesian Batik being listed as the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO since October 2 2009. That was said by Indonesian Industry Ministry’s Small-Medium Industry Director General, Gati Wibawaningsih in Jakarta last Monday (18/6). She said that the aim of holding the Indonesia Batik for the World was to show the wealth of Indonesian batik culture, craftsmen’s competence, and continuity of batik industry to the world. According to Gati, Indonesian batik keeps showing its identity in various international exhibitions. Gati also explained that this year’s exhibition, there are 100 premium batik cloths exhibited by batik craftsmen from many regions of Indonesia. In 2015, Industry Ministry awarded Three-Star One Village One Product (OVOP) for Batik Category to Batik Azmiah. According to Gati, Rumah Batik Azmiah is a batik small-medium industry, famous for its classic colors and unique patterns. Some of the produced patterns are kapal sanggat, tampuk manggis, bungo keladi, and merak ngeram. Something special about Azmiah batik is its batik-making process which is through six-time coloring until pretty colors appear. Gati further said that the batik industry plays an important role for the national economy. As market leader, Indonesia had conquered global batik market as well as moved both regional and national economy through it. In addition, the batik industry has provided thousands of job opportunities and contributed to national foreign exchange. The Industry Ministry recorded the value of batik export and product in 2017 had reached $58 million dollars. The main markets are Japan, the United States of America, and some European countries. According to Gati, this indicates that the national batik industry has comparative competitiveness in the global market. She also said, currently the batik industry is being dominated by small-medium industry players spread across 101 centers in Indonesia. The number of absorbed workers in the batik small-medium industry centers reaches 15 thousand people. Gati Wibawaningsih reaffirmed, the Industry Ministry keeps trying to increase the competitiveness and productivity of national batik industry. The strategic moves that have been implemented are manpower competence increase, product quality development, standardization, machinery and equipment facility, as well as promotion and exhibition.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said political and economic stability of regional countries, especially Indonesia, is key to the sustainability and success of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). According to Antara , Jusuf Kalla in Tokyo, Japan recently said, as a country with a population that represents 40 percent of all ASEAN, Indonesia has such an important key to promote economic and political stability in the eyes of the international world. Therefore, Indonesia's domestic stability will affect the region. Jusuf Kalla stated this in his speech at The 24th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday, June 12.According to Jusuf Kalla, political conditions in Indonesia are increasingly democratic, especially with the general elections, both president and vice president and regional head elections taking place in 2,400 regions. The implementation of elections in Indonesia, since the 1998 reforms, has been transparent without being followed by the chaos that led to ongoing conflicts within the country. He insisted that all elections are peaceful, and that next year's election will also be peaceful, even better than ever. Meanwhile, from the economic side, economic growth in Indonesia which reached five percent indicates Indonesia can improve the economy after the economic crisis occurred in 1998. Jusuf Kalla explained, Indonesia's economy continues to grow about five percent per year.Despite the stable political life in Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla did not dismiss the acts of terrorism that occurred several times . But it is a lesson for Indonesia to continuebe prepared to anticipate all forms of terror. According to Jusuf Kalla, the increasing and sporadic acts of terrorism in the world have affected Indonesia as well. Some terrorist attacks occurred recently. However, the Indonesian authorities have managed to handle it well. Jusuf Kalla said Indonesia continues to improve its intelligence capabilities. In addition, Indonesia made several necessary revisions to the rule of law to enable more proactive and preventive action. Indonesia also educates the public to participate in prevention and preventive measures.In front of conference participants, Jusuf Kalla also presented a number of government subsidy programs for the community. Starting from social programs, health, to education. He said the program is important to maintain the unity and stability of the nation. As a diverse nation, Indonesia believes in the importance of common prosperity to maintain a sense of unity and political stability. Jusuf Kalla added that over the past three years Indonesia has been able to reduce income inequality, poverty level and unemployment rate. However, Indonesia needs to work harder to narrow the gap with neighboring countries. This is my Indonesia this time.