VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Education and Culture's director general of culture, Hilmar Farid, in Jakarta, Thursday (Jan 2, 2019) observed an artefact that has returned to Indonesia from the Museum Nusantara in Delft, Netherlands (ANTARA)

Jakarta - Some 1,500 of Indonesia's pre-dated artefacts have been repatriated for the first time ever from Museum Nusantara in the Netherlands, a high-ranking official said in Jakarta, Thursday, citing collections that arrived on December 23, 2019.

"The collections earlier had been displayed at Museum Nusantara or Museum Prisenhof in the Netherlands," the Ministry of Education and Culture's Director General of Culture, Hilmar Farid said.

During the Dutch colony's occupation of Indonesia, thousands of the country's historic artefacts were seized for both museum and personal collections. Most of the artefacts were found in Delft, a city where most bureaucrats of the Dutch Indies took their degrees.

Before the repatriation, the Indonesian government had been negotiating with the Government of the Netherlands since 2015, Farid explained.

"We expect more of Indonesia's heritage items to return home in the future. We thank the National Museum of Indonesia as it has assisted the four-year repatriation process," he explained.

Not all artefacts were repatriated to Indonesia, according to the director general. "During the negotiation, we had selected which artefacts we need for National Museum's collections," he added.  (ANTARA)

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in Jakarta on Thursday.(2/01/2020)

Jakarta - Indonesia's reputation as an investment destination, particularly that of the capital market, should be maintained, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said. Based on the Financial Services Authority (OJK) data, investor confidence in Indonesia's economic prospects was quite high.

"This reputation should be maintained because Indonesia in the future needs capital inflow both internationally and domestically," Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta Thursday.

The Ministry of Finance together with OJK, Bank Indonesia, and the Indonesian Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) will seek to build economic stability for investors.

The flow of capital into Indonesia would be able to raise the economy if all parties maintained investor confidence in Indonesia, the former Managing Director of the World Bank revealed.

Even during 2019, when the world economy was affected by a trade war, the Indonesian Composite Index (IHSG) grew positively by 1.7 percent, OJK Board of Commissioners Chairman Wimboh Santoso said speaking earlier.

The growth was moderate, with the IHSG at 6,299.5 by the end of 2019, he said.

Apart from the growth of the IHSG, the net sale of foreign investors in the stock market increased significantly by Rp50.7 trillion in 2018 to a net buy of Rp49.2 trillion in 2019 and the number of investors also increased significantly in 2019, Wimboh also said.

Also, the funds raised in the capital market totaled Rp166.8 trillion with 60 new issuers and three equity crowdfunding, Wimboh continued.

The amount was quite stable as compared to the previous year when it reached Rp166.1 trillion with 62 new issuers, he said.

"This indicates that market confidence in Indonesia from investors is still quite high," he added.

The high market confidence in Indonesia was also confirmed through a Bloomberg publication which conducted a survey of 57 global investors and traders with Indonesia's results ranked highest for investment purposes, Wimboh stated.

The achievement was also the most promising among other emerging market countries, especially investments in the stock market and debt securities, he revealed.

"This will be history if we can defeat China and India. This has never happened before," he said.  (ANTARA)

The Indonesian government has several reasons to move the national capital to East Kalimantan. One of them is to improve the efficiency of administrative functions in Indonesia. This was stated by Dr. Riza Yosia Sunindijo, Associate Professor and Director of Postgraduate Research at the Faculty of Built Environment at the University of New South Wales, Australia, in a special interview on the Sydney Educational Radio community radio in Sydney on Thursday (02/01/2020). According to him, 40 percent of Jakarta city area is below sea level causing frequent flooding.

"So currently about 40 percent of the city is actually below the sea level causing frequent flooding. And even yesterday (Wednesday-ed) there was a massive flooding in Jakarta. So therefore moving the capital city to a new planned city, there is the potential to improve the efficiency of the administrative function of the country,” said  Dr. Riza Yosia Sunindijo.

Dr. Riza Yosia Sunindijo added that up until now the Indonesian people were of the opinion that the development carried out by the government had so far been more centered on the island of Java, so moving the Indonesian capital to East Kalimantan was expected to change this perception. In addition, the relocation of the national capital is expected to increase development in other regions in Indonesia. (VOI / STEPHEN / AHM)

Photo archives - Mount Anak Krakatau's eruption was visible from Indonesian warship KRI Torani 860 that was sailing in the Sunda Strait on Tuesday (January 1, 2019) (ANTARA)

Bandarlampung, Lampung - Mount Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) in Sunda Strait erupted, Tuesday morning, spewing a nearly 1,000-meter-high ash column upwards, Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry stated.

In its press statement released on Tuesday, the PVMBG observed a column of thick gray-to-black ash billowing out of the volcano and reaching as high as one thousand meters from its crater, or 1,157 meters above sea level, when the volcano erupted at 6:51 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

The seismogram recorded the eruption, with a maximum amplitude of 44 millimeters and a duration of one minutes, 33 seconds, according to the statement.

The agency noted that no thumping sounds were audible during the eruption.

The alert status for Mount Anak Krakatau remains at level II, or caution. The PVMBG has advised residents and tourists to not venture into the two-kilometer radius danger zone from the crater.

No immediate report was received of fatalities or injuries following the volcano's eruption on Tuesday.

The eruption of Krakatoa, or Krakatau, in August 1883 was one of the most deadly volcanic eruptions in modern history, with over 36 thousand people estimated to have died. (ANTARA)