VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The hundreds of trillions of rupiahs that have been rolled out by the central government for village development for almost the last five years are a manifestation of the country's presence in the development of villages and communities. President Joko Widodo said, building villages that exist throughout Indonesia, is the same as building this country.

This was conveyed by the President while attending the Indonesian Village Government National Gathering event held at the Indoor Tennis Stadium, Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, on Wednesday, April 10, 2019.

"The village is always in my mind and heart. Not because I come from the village, not only that. But in my opinion building a village means building Indonesia," he said.

For information, up to 2019, a total of Rp257 trillion in budget has been channeled by the central government to villages throughout Indonesia, reaching 74,900 villages. The budget is intended for villages to have adequate resources to develop their own territory.

"So if the government since 2015 disbursed IDR 20 trillion in village funds, 2016 IDR 47 trillion, 2017 IDR 60 trillion, 2018 IDR 60 trillion, and this year 2019 IDR 70 trillion is correct and mandatory. We have not paid attention to the village for years," he said.

The President said, the key to the success of village development also means that there are two successes in building a country. The first is that leadership that truly understands the governance that is beneath it simultaneously brings it towards the birth of innovation and progress. Then secondly, leadership that cares about the development of Indonesian human resources in all its regions, including rural areas. (biro pers ) 

 In a bid to promote and market national tourism in Thailand, the Ministry of Tourism will establish a Visit Indonesia Tourism Officer (VITO) there.

"I have decided that we should have a VITO in Thailand. We should realize this plan soon, as Thailand has many tourists," Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said after opening the 2019 VITO Annual Meeting here Wednesday.

The plan to establish the VITO in Thailand is also based on the foreign exchange the country earns from the tourism sector.

"Thailand's foreign exchange earned from tourism is the highest in the ASEAN," the minister continued.

VITO's annual meeting in Batam was attended by representatives from 16 countries in 20 cities around the world. The person appointed as a VITO is a native citizen of the country concerned, and/or an Indonesian citizen who has lived in the country for decades.

The minister explained that this was essential, as every VITO needed to understand how to sell tourism according to the characteristics of the country he or she lives in. In addition, the VITO should be able to build good relations with the parties concerned.

At the meeting, Areif said the government would evaluate the performance of each VITO.

"The evaluation is based on performance. If it is less than seven, we will replace the person," the minister noted.(ant)

Small and medium-sized businesses in Indonesia can now take advantage of the new online devices ASEAN Solutions for Investments, Services and Trade (ASSIST) - to convey their problems when doing business in the ASEAN region. The online ASSIST facility was developed with the support of the European Union. Met after the Outreach event on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 in Jakarta, Director of Trade Negotiation Services, Directorate General of International Trade Negotiations, Indonesian Ministry of Trade, Iskandar Panjaitan said that the organization facilitated Indonesian entrepreneurs to know more about foreign trade policies, especially in ASEAN.

“This is among the 10 ASEAN countries, so of course trade only has competence for the country but does not have the competence to question in other ASEAN member countries so they become facilitators later. If there are questions from our business people or from investors about the policies made by Thailand, for example, he can later do this through ASSIST. Later by management at the ASSIST he will ask the vocal point designated in another country. For Us, the Vocal Point is trading," said Iskandar Panjaitan.

ASSIST itself is a free online facility developed by ASEAN financially supported by the European Union under the ARISE Plus program. This makes it easy for business owners to complain online with ASEAN member countries when facing export problems. The European Union also encourages the Indonesian business community to take full advantage of the free online service. (VOI/NK/AHM)

The Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Hong Kong will be temporarily closed for public activities, except for immigration services, until April 30 Consulate general Tri Haryat said in Hong Kong on Tuesday that this was because some 7.2 tons of ballots packed into 362 sealed packages were being stored on the office’s fourth floor since March 31.

“There are ballots stored here, so we need to keep the documents safe until the elections," Haryat stated.

Some 140,000 Indonesian diaspora and migrant workers in Hong Kong will cast their ballots at the 32 polling stations from April 7 to April 14.

According to the Indonesian Overseas Elections Committee in Hong Kong, a total of 180,232 Indonesian diaspora in China were registered to vote.

Similar to other overseas polling stations, the voting in Hong Kong will be held on April 17.

For this year’s election, Haryat said that polling stations were set up across three locations, including at Victoria Park, to avoid disturbances. “We have learned from the previous elections, and therefore, this time, we set up dozens of polling stations,” Haryat noted.

Five years ago, the presidential election in Hong Kong was centered only at Victoria Park's polling station, and as the result, the committee was overwhelmed while helping people cast their ballots.

Indonesia will hold its first ever simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on April 17. The incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo and his running mate Ma'ruf Amin will compete against Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno. (ANTARA)