VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Secretary General of the All-Indonesia Football Association (PSSI), Ratu Tisha Destria, has been appointed a vice president of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) from 2019-2023, making her the first Southeast Asian woman to hold the post. Destria was appointed to the post after AFF held an extraordinary congress in Laos Saturday (June 22, 2019), according to the PSSI official website Monday.

The other two people appointed as AFF vice presidents are Prince Sufri Bolkiah, who is the president of the Brunei Darussalam Football Association, and Lim Kia Tong, who is the president of Singapore Football.

"I say congratulations to the three figures on their appointment as new vice presidents. They come with a lot of experience and will contribute widely to the development of the AFF.in the future. We now have a dynamic team. We are determined to bring the AFF to the higher level of achievement," AFF President for the 2019-203 term, Major General Khiev Sameth of Cambodia said.

Dato Sri Francisco Kalbuadi Lay of Timor Leste had earlier been appointed as the AFF vice president in March 2019. The appointment of Ratu Tisha to the post of AFF vice president has added to the achievements of her career in the football world. She is also the first woman to hold the post of PSSI secretary general since the association was established on April 19, 1930.

She was also once director of the Gelora Trisula Semesta (GTS) competition, the operator of Torabika Soccer Championship (TSC) tournament 2016 which replaced Liga Indonesia when PSSI was still subjected to FIFA sanctions. (ant)

The working of cooperatives in Indonesia will improve if digitalization is implemented and millennials have an active role in management, Secretary General of the National Cooperative Council of Indonesia (Dekopin), Mohamad Sukri said.

"In line with the instructions from the Minister of Cooperatives, the government directs that cooperatives in the near future must prepare for these two important things, namely the role of millennials and digitalization," Sukri stated in Jakarta on Monday.

Most of the cooperatives in Indonesia have been managed by elderly people thus far, and it was time cooperatives started to increase the role of millennials or the younger generation in management. The ministry aims to use the service of millennials who have various creative ideas, to help increase the number of cooperatives in the country and improve their working.

Moreover, if cooperatives have so far run their organizations in a conventional manner, they should be able to implement the newest digital systems or technology in the future, so that they will not be found lagging and can keep up with modern times.

If cooperatives in Indonesia improve their quality by increasing the roles of millennials in management and make good use of digital technology, it would have a major impact on the national economy, Sukri argued.

The commemoration of the 72nd National Cooperative Day would provide huge opportunities for millennials, Chairperson of 2019 National Cooperative Day, Pahlevi Pangerang said.

"One of them is through the Industry 4.0 Millennial Cooperative Jamboree," he remarked.

The National Cooperative Day activities held in Purwokerto, Banyumas district in Central Java, will be attended by 400 participants consisting of some 102 representatives from 34 Indonesian Cooperative Councils, 105 representatives from Indonesian Local Cooperative Council in Central Java, 123 participants from student and youth cooperatives, and 70 participants from Start-up companies.(ant)

The Chinese Institute of International Relations' Executive Vice President, Ruan Zongze, said that Indonesia could be a victim of the trade war that took place between China and the United States (US).

This happened because the trade dispute disrupted the global supply chain, where China and the US play a vital role. In the normal chain, Indonesia and the ASEAN countries export to China, and China re-exports to the US.

"Indonesia will also suffer from the disruption because the possibility of a market share will be narrower," Zongze said at a news conference in Jakarta on Monday.

According to Zongze, the opinion that Indonesia or the Southeast Asian countries will benefit from the dispute is a short-term observation.

"I do not really agree with the observation that the ASEAN or Indonesia will benefit, because in fact, there could be potential damage to Indonesia," he said.

Not only does Indonesia have the potential to become a victim in this dispute, but it may also be a target in the US-China trade war.

Zongze underlined the trade dispute as a globalized issue and likened China and the ASEAN countries to being in the same boat, where "no one can survive this bad weather".

Zongze stressed that Indonesia and the ASEAN countries needed cooperation, especially to face the possibility of a narrowing market share.

"We must find out what the real priority of this trade dispute is. The number one priority is multilateralism," he said.

Multilateralism, according to Zongze, is the key to Indonesia's future development, as well as for the ASEAN integration.  (ant)

Indonesia's imports in May 2019 reached US$14.53 billion, a drop of 5.62 percent than that recorded a month earlier, according to the Central Agency of Statistics (BPS).

In comparison with the corresponding month last year, imports in May 2019 decreased 17.71 percent, BPS Chief Suharyanto noted in Jakarta on Monday.

Imports in May 2019 constituted non-oil/non-gas imports worth $12.44 billion and oil and gas imports reaching $2.09 billion.

The non-oil/non-gas imports dropped 5.48 percent than April 2019 and 15.94 percent as compared to May 2018. Oil and gas imports plunged 6.41 percent than April 2019 and plummeted 26.89 percent in comparison with that recorded in May 2018.

Imports of electrical machines and appliances in May 2019 witnessed the sharpest shortfall among non-oil/non-gas commodities, while the imports of vegetables recorded the highest rise.

The imports of electrical machines and appliances decreased 8.68 percent to $158.5 million, while the imports of vegetables rose 269.50 percent to reach $69.8 million.

The BPS chief remarked that three nations listed as the biggest suppliers of non-oil/non-gas commodities to Indonesia during the January-May 2019 period were China, with $18.03 billion, or 29.31 percent of the overall imports; Japan, $6.46 billion, or 10.50 percent; and Thailand, with $3.95 billion, or 6.43 percent.

By and large, non-oil/non-gas imports from the ASEAN and European Union nations comprised 19.18 percent and 8.23 percent respectively of the total imports.

However, the imports of consumer goods, raw/auxiliary materials, and capital goods in the initial five months of 2019 dropped 11.10 percent, 9.39 percent, and 7.41 percent respectively than the corresponding time frame last year.  (ant)