VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Head of Culture and Tourism Office of Bandung, Kenny Dewi Kaniasari, said more than 2,000 people consisting of representatives from several Asian African countries, representatives from several cities and provinces in Indonesia, and some communities and students in Bandung participated in the Asian African Carnival 2018. The event themed "Respect For Diversity" was held in the city of Bandung, West Java, Saturday, April 28th.

“Well, for the membership, the total number of participants of Asian African Carnival who have already registered is about 2,300 people. It consists of representatives of several countries. We have received confirmation that 15 countries participate in the carnival. Then there are also 10 regions in Indonesia, and also communities from the city of Bandung and West Java, and also groups of students in the city of Bandung. So the total is about 2,300 people,” Kenny Dewi Kaniasari said.

Kenny Dewi Kaniasari to RRI World Service Voice of Indonesia recently added that Bandung city administration through Bandung Culture and Tourism Office as the organizer, has been trying to show various performances that describe the cultural diversity of the Asian and African countries. Asian African Carnival, which is one of the series of events in Asia-Africa Week 2018 which runs from 23 to 29 April, was held to commemorate the 63 years of Asian-African Conference. The Asia Africa Carnival 2018 is the fourth held after firstly being held in 2015. (VOI/Dee/Trans Rezha/AHM)

Three cities in Indonesia, Jakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Banyuwangi in East Java, are proposed to be included in the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN). Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi in Singapore, during a press conference on the 32nd ASEAN Summit, Sunday,  said the concept of ASCN was designed to achieve a shared goal of smart city development in ASEAN network cooperation program.

"Each country delivers three cities and Indonesia proposes Jakarta, Makassar and Banyuwangi," she said.

The foreign affairs minister said that in the plenary of the ASEAN Summit, President Jokowi delivered several things, among others, ASEAN is a centered and people-oriented organization so that people should be the focus in the development of the ASEAN community.

"And innovation to strengthen the ASEAN community in the midst of a very complex urban problem needs to be encouraged, so the ASCN is one of the answers to the challenge," the foreign minister quoted the president as saying.

According to her, it is important for the interest of inclusiveness and innovation. Indonesia itself is developing a 100 smart cities movement in an effort to encourage more effective, transparent and reliable governance. The core of the cooperation in the field of smart city is to encourage the use of technology to advance the city designed in such a way that it is in accordance with the needs and potential of the region.  That is for optimal results for the community and for realizing more effective, transparent and reliable governance. ( antara ) 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has underscored the need for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to stay alert for cyber attack during the 32nd ASEAN Summit held in Singapore from April 25 to 28.

To that end, ASEAN member states need to work more closely in digital technology and cyber security. he said while addressing a plenary session of the 32nd ASEAN Summit on Friday night.

"We know there has been abuse of personal data by Facebook users. In ASEAN, we need to ensure the framework of cooperation in cyber security which also contains the protection of personal data. Hence, cooperation in the cyber field is a must," he said.

The Indonesian leader went on to say that ASEAN has very large potentials in the e-commerce field.

He predicted Internet users in ASEAN member states will triple to 600 million in 2015.

"E-commerce shopping is projected at almost US$90 billion and total internet-based economy is estimated at US$200 billion," he said.

Hence, ASEAN member states need to establish closer cooperation in developing cyber security policy and capacity building initiative through the ASEAN Cyber Capacity Program, the AMCC, and the ASEAN-Japan Cyber security Capacity Building Center, among others.

In their joint statement, ASEAN leaders underscored the need for ASEAN member states to implement steps and efforts to develop self confidence and adopt general, voluntary, and non-binding norms from the public behavior in order to act responsibly in the cyber world.