VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Japanese government will continue to repatriate the remains of its soldiers who died in Papua in the fight against the United States during World War II. The Embassy of Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia's Education and Culture Ministry with regard to the repatriation, in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The process would include the search, collection and identification of the remains, and the cremation before it is transferred to Japan to the families.

The repatriation of remains was being conducted earlier but had been halted for four years, Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Masafumi Ishii said.

Now the process can be restarted and the remains can be transferred to Japan, he said.

The excavation of remains would be important for research on his country's culture, according to Ishii.

Despite the difficulties in identifying them, if possible, the soldiers' remains would be handed over to their families, he said.

The cooperation to repatriate the Japanese soldiers' remains is a continuation of the previous cooperation that has been revised, the Director General of Culture of the Education and Culture Ministry, Hilmar Farid said.

"This is the signing of cooperation between the Indonesian government, in this case, the Education and Culture Ministry, and the Embassy of Japan, on the excavation of the remains of Japanese soldiers who died in the World War II, especially in Papua," Farid said.

Other agreements related to the repatriation was one on the establishment of a World War II monument (April 7, 1993), and another on the access to collect and repatriate remains of Japanese soldiers who died in World War II in Papua (November 20, 2013). (ant) 

The Ministry of Industry continues to encourage the replication of polytechnic development that links and matches the industry in an effort to create competent and ready-to-work human resources (HR). This is also in order to meet the industrial revolution era 4.0 and take the momentum of demographic bonuses in Indonesia.

"In our readiness to transform into the era of the digital industry, it requires reskilling HR in the industrial sector so that they are able to compete. Moreover, on the road map of Making Indonesia 4.0, the big aspiration is to realize Indonesia is in the ranks of the 10 strongest economies in the world in 2030, "said Minister of Industry, Air Hartarto in Jakarta, Monday (6/24).

Minister of Industry explained, in order to continue to boost the quality of industrial human resources in the country, President Joko Widodotelah instructed to make additional polytechnics, especially in industrial estates. This is in line with the focus of the development agenda in the second period of his leadership, namely the development of skilled human resources.

"Mr. President asked to add more polytechnics, and we continued to encourage him. Now, we already have 10 polytechnics and 2 community academies. In addition, the government will continue to encourage the empowerment of communities around industrial estates, "he said.

Regarding the acceleration of the vocational education program, the government has poured in the National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJM) 2020-2024, with a target of adding 500 polytechnics that link and match the industry.

"Mr. President Joko Widodo wants a massive polytechnic development, because in the RPJMN for 2020-2024, HR is the key to development," he added.

In the past two years, the Ministry of Industry has built four new polytechnics, one of which is the Metal Industry Polytechnic in Morowali, Central Sulawesi. "The facilities there are very good, even more complete than the lab facilities at the Bandung Institute of Technology. The Chancellor and his professor are paid quite high, "said Airlangga.

Then, the Ministry of Industry also established the Academy of Textile Communities in Solo, the Academy of Manufacturing Industry Communities in Bantaeng, and the Polytechnic of the Furniture and Wood Processing Industry in the Kendal Industrial Estate. More than 90 percent of students graduating from the polytechnic are directly absorbed by the industry because of their competency according to the current needs of the field.

"The experience is a momentum to encourage the private sector to contribute to the development of competent human resources in the industrial sector," continued the Minister of Industry. Because, if only relying on graduates from the Ministry of Industry polytechnic, the number of workers ready to work is only around 200-300 people per polytechnic.

"The President asked more graduates to work in the industry. At least one million workforce can be absorbed. Therefore, our experience makes polytechnics replicated to the industry. "The Ministry of Industry has also encouraged industries to participate in building polytechnics, and they will be given super deductible tax," he said.

The super deductible tax incentive is a tax relief given for industrial contributions in the program of creating skilled labor needed by the manufacturing sector. The Ministry of Industry has identified a number of industrial sectors that are encouraged to be able to build polytechnics.

"One of them is Astra, which makes a polytechnic in Cikarang. So far, Indorama or Astra have made polytechnics for their own needs, there are only 100 graduates, now they must be added. Then at Atmi Solo and Atmi Cikarang, the graduates are only 100-150 people. But Mr. President asked for more mass, "he added.

With this policy, the government and the industrial sector co-produced industrial human resources, because the government assessed the industries that knew the needs of HR the most. The Ministry of Industry continues to encourage the private sector to participate in preparing competent human resources in the industry.

In improving the quality of industrial human resources, the Ministry of Industry also revitalized vocational education and created a link and match program between Vocational Schools (SMK) and industry. The program has been carried out by the Ministry of Industry for the past two years.

"Regarding vocation revitalization, we have collaborated with more than 2,200 Vocational Schools, which were then collaborated with over 600 industries. Then the link and match between industry and vocational schools has made almost 4,997 cooperation, "he explained.

Airlangga said, one form of cooperation, the industry provides equipment assistance for practicum at Vocational School with a minimum value of IDR 500 million. "The cooperation between the Vocational and Industrial Vocational Schools is also automatically carried out by increasing the curriculum, as well as changing the study program and curriculum. In addition, more than 40 study programs have been changed according to industry needs, "he concluded. (kemenperin)

Indonesia is present in Madagascar as a Pays Invite d'honneur at the Madagascar Tourism International Exhibition held June 13-16 2019 at the Ivato Madagascar International Conference Center. The Indonesian delegation of around 60 people has enlivened by presenting several Indonesian advantages in the field of Tourism.

They consist of government officials from the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ITPC Pretoria representing the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, Head of Republic of Indonesia representatives and staff of the Indonesian Embassy in Antananarivo. The Ministry of Tourism sent a Wonderful Indonesia Art Team accompanied by Chef Cooks Indonesian and Barista to serve coffee from Aceh, West Java, Padang and East Java. Sebelas Maret University performed Javanese mini concert dance from Solo, a batik demonstration accompanied by batik dance and the performance of the Javanese gamelan orchestra. Universitas Brawijaya and the Ponorogo Regency Cultural Service present the Reog Art Team. On this occasion, Universitas Brawijaya and Sebelas Maret University also promoted educational facilities in each of their campuses. In addition, Batik Semar entrepreneurs from Solo, Papuan Batik from the Regional Government of Papua, Tour Operators from Indonesia and Air Ethiopia flight agents as supporters of Indonesian events were also joined.

To enliven the Indonesian Pavilion, with the sponsorship of the Air Ethiopia flight company and local company Madaranch, Indonesian Pavilun provided the Door Prize for six Antananarivo-Jakarta-Antananarivo tickets.

Indonesia was a guest of honor in 2019 at the invitation of the Minister of Tourism of Madagascar because Indonesia was considered to have a special closeness regarding history and culture and its tourism promotion was considered advanced.

In order to encourage the Promotion and collaboration of Tourism Agencies, ONTM (National Office of Tourism in Madagascar) has invited Indonesian Tour Operators to be attended by four Tour Operators in the industry representing Yogyakarta, Bali, Jakarta and Lombok. On this occasion, Tour Operators besides being shown the mainstay of Madagascar's tourism, Baobab trees and Lemur animals, and seeing the traditional resemblance of Malagasy residents to Indonesia also held B to B / private to Private meetings. Together with ASDEP Marketing Development II, Regional 3 Ministry of Tourism, Sigit Wicaksono and RI-Antananarivo Representative Head Heru Wicaksono accompanied by staff from the African Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tour Operators at the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, they also held a conference on the development of tourism promotion in Indonesia attended by private parties and tourism stakeholders in Madagascar. On the occasion, he also met with the Minister of Tourism, Transportation and Meteorology of Madagascar and his staff.

In the spirit of batik Madagascar the Indonesian Embassy provided Batik to Madagascar officials and the Chair of the Madagascar National Office of Tourism and gave several committee officers. To promote the batik, the Indonesian pavilion displays Fashion Show, Demo and Batik Dance, and Minishop Batik Semar.

ITM's eighth implementation this year is special not only because of its Indonesian appearance with Reog and also a number of workshops such as batik, musicianship, dancing, cooking demonstrations of Indonesian cuisine and demonstrations to make traditional Indonesian coffee, but the Indonesian Pavilion has been opened by the Prime Minister and the next day President of Madagascar. During the visit the PM and the President got an explanation of the Indonesian delegation participants, a map of Indonesia, and took pictures in front of the miniature Borobudur temple, watched the batik dance and signed the batik paintings. And towards the end of the visit, the President of Madagascar expressed his interest in Bali's popularity and wanted to visit the island of Gods in August 2019. (Source: Indonesian Embassy Antananarivo)

The West Java provincial government has targeted to attract 48 million domestic tourists and 1.8 million foreign travelers to visit the province this year.

The target can be realized with the launch of the West Java Calendar of Events 2019, Head of the West Java Tourism and Culture Office Dedi Taufik stated here on Tuesday.

"May the launch of the West Java Calendar of Events 2019 be able to attract more tourists," he remarked, adding that the tourism sector is expected to contribute Rp43.5 trillion to West Java's Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) from 2019 to 2023.

During this year, West Java will have held 262 events, including 113 arts events, 85 cultural events, 23 culinary programs, and 24 sport events, he noted.