VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOI, Jakarta - Thai farm worker Kittipong Chaiyako watched six of his friends shot dead when Hamas militants attacked the Israeli kibbutz where he was working and said it was the "scariest day" of his life.

The 34-year-old had been working for a year at an avocado farm at the Kissufim kibbutz in southwestern Israel, next to the Gaza Strip, when sirens forced him to take cover in a bomb shelter last Saturday.

After about an hour of waiting, Hamas fighters arrived and started shooting people in the kibbutz.

"It was the scariest day of my life because I saw the soldiers and militants shooting at each other... They were fighting and I had to duck and crawl to escape," Kittipong told Reuters in northeastern Nong Bua Lamphu province where he was greeted on Friday with a traditional home-coming ceremony in which loved ones tied threads to his wrist.

"The fighting was happening right in front of me. As Hamas came, the Israeli soldiers fired more rounds at them. I witnessed it all, the smoke billowing from the vehicles while the spent ammunition ricocheted against our camp.

"Those images didn't really affect me, but the faces of six of my friends who were killed in the attack have never left my heart. I can't even describe the loss."

Kittipong said he left behind all his possessions, including his passport, and fled with only the clothes on his back and a mobile phone.

Kittipong's mother, 62-year-old Noopan Chaiyako, hugged her son and cried.

"We sent our son to work abroad to earn money to improve the family and then the war erupted," she said. "If my son had been killed, how would I be able to live?"

Kittipong was among the first batch of Thais repatriated from Israel who arrived home earlier this week.

There are some 30,000 Thais, mostly from the rural northeast, working in Israel's agriculture sector, according to government data.

At least 21 Thai nationals were killed, 14 injured and at least 16 taken hostage on Saturday, the Thai foreign ministry said on Friday. More than 6,700 Thais are looking to be repatriated.

Kittipong said he would not be returning to Israel after seeing his friends killed in front of him.

"We ate together, we joked around together, we worked together and had great times," he said.

"Then this happened, I can't wrap my head around it." (Reuters)

VOI, Jakarta - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russia was expanding its economic ties with countries of the former Soviet Union in spite of Western sanctions against Moscow.

Putin was speaking in Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian nation with strong ties to Moscow, during what was his first foreign trip since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Australia will send a senior defence official to China's top international security forum in October for the first time in four years, officials said on Friday.

China will host foreign defence officials in Beijing on Oct. 29-31 for the Xiangshan Forum, styled by Beijing as its answer to Singapore's annual Shangri-La Dialogue.

Reuters has reported General Liu Zhenli, the head of the military body responsible for China's combat operations and planning, has emerged as the top contender to replace Defence Minister Li Shangfu, who has not been seen in public for more than six weeks.

The appointment of Liu to replace Li was likely to happen before Beijing holds the security forum, which a U.S. representative is also expected to attend, Reuters reported.

U.S. security ally Australia has previously sent a defence assistant secretary to the forum, which has not been held since 2019, before a diplomatic dispute erupted between Beijing and Canberra that is now thawing.

"As it did for the most recent iterations of the forum held prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Defence will be represented at the 2023 Beijing Xiangshan Forum by a senior official," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Defence said in a statement to Reuters.

Chinese and Australian defence officials held their first meeting since 2019 in March, a week after Australia's AUKUS partnership with U.S. and Britain unveiled details of a plan to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines from the early 2030s, which China opposes.

The deportation on Wednesday of an Australian journalist who had been detained in China for three years on national security charges is the latest step in warming ties between Beijing and Canberra.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who came to power last year with a goal of stabilising relations with Australia's biggest trade partner, said he expects to visit China this year, the first by an Australian leader since 2016.

Australia has been stepping up its participation in military exercises with its allies, from amphibious drills in the Philippines to navy exercises with Japan, the U.S. and India, amid concern about Chinese pressure on self-ruled Taiwan.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Richard Marles said dialogue with Chinese defence officials was important to understand each other, "making sure there's not miscalculation". (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said he has not appointed a definitive agriculture minister to replace Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL), who is currently enmeshed in a legal case.

"Not yet (no definitive minister has been appointed)," Jokowi stated after attending the harvest in Indramayu here on Friday.

Limpo has been named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a corruption case within the ministry.

The commission also arrested Limpo on Thursday (Oct 12) evening at an apartment in the Kebayoran Baru area, South Jakarta. As of Friday, the KPK investigators were still examining Limpo.

Limpo, on Thursday (Oct 5) last week, submitted a letter of resignation to President Jokowi in the midst of an alleged corruption case being investigated by the KPK.

To temporarily handle the minister's daily duties, President Jokowi appointed Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi as acting minister of agriculture.

Jokowi had stated last week that the appointment of a definitive minister of agriculture would be carried out at the earliest.

"Yes, as soon as possible," Jokowi remarked at the Presidential Palace here on Friday (Oct 6).

"We will prepare it as soon as possible," Jokowi stated in response to the question on whether the new minister to be appointed to replace Limpo would come from the National Democratic Party (NasDem) or another one.

Meanwhile, Head of Bapanas Prasetyo Adi was appointed as Acting Minister of Agriculture to facilitate work coordination.

"This is to be more coordinative, to make things easier because usually, the National Logistics Agency (BULOG), the Food Agency, the Minister of Agriculture, and the Minister of Trade always consolidate to make things easier," the president stated. (Antaranews)