VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with the Austrian Study Association (WAPENA) successfully hosted "Ramadan Assembly, Greet and Meet with the Indonesian Ambassador to Vienna" on Saturday (23/3) at the Indonesian Embassy/PTRI Vienna building. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to Austria, Slovenia, the UN and International Organizations in Vienna, Damos Dumoli Agusman said that this activity invited the Indonesian Muslim community and Austrian partners to strengthen Islamic brotherhood between muslims in the two countries.

"Iftar or Breaking the Fast Together 1445 AH is a collaboration between the Indonesian Embassy/PTRI in Vienna and the Indonesian Muslim community in the Vienna and surrounding areas who are members of an official community organization in Austria called Warga Pengajian Austria or WAPENA, in German Der Indonesische Islamische Verein which is affiliated with IGGÖ as coordinator of Muslim community organizations throughout Austria," said Damos Dumoli in a statement received on Sunday (24/2) in Jakarta.

He also revealed that in 2022, WAPENA will have a mosque to introduce and propagate Islam in Austria.

"Alhamdulillah, Praise God that starting in 2022, WAPENA will have its own mosque which will become a home to proclaim Indonesian Islam which is Rahmatan 'lil Alamin, spreading Islam which is a blessing for the universe with special characteristics of tolerance, moderation and mutual respect between fellow religious believers, ” said Damos Dumoli.

Damos Dumoli also said that the iftar event brought together the Indonesian Muslim community with its partners in Austria and was a momentum in the holy month of Ramadan to strengthen people-to-people partnerships between the two countries to improve relations even better in the next 70 years.

Meanwhile, WAPENA Imam Andi Ahmad Junirsah encouraged Muslims to develop a greater sense of compassion and responsibility towards others, both for their communities and globally.

"Through acts of kindness, charity and good intentions, Muslims aim to have a positive impact, promote social justice, sharing and foster a sense of optimism, unity and solidarity during the holy month of Ramadan," said Andi.

IGGÖ Main Imam Ermin Sehic said that Islam had been designated by the Austrian Government as an official religion since 1912 and was the largest minority religion with around 800 thousand adherents spread across all corners of Austria in 2024.

"It is an honor that the Indonesian Islamic community is now part of IGGÖ and can play an active role and contribute to the good of Muslims in Austria," said Ermin. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Sharia banks are identical to the real and labour-intensive sector. Adiwarman Azwar Karim, Deputy Commissioner of Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) in an interview with Voice of Indonesia on the Mutiara Ramadhan program which aired on March 21 2024 outlined the strategy of the largest Sharia Bank in Indonesia to develop the real sector and grow MSMEs in Indonesia.

First, Adimarwan A. Karim, who is also the founder of Karim Consulting, stated that Bank Syariah Indonesia has a relatively larger portfolio in consumer services and small business financing compared to Sharia Banks in neighboring countries.

"If we compare it with the neighboring country of Malaysia, the majority of sharia bank customers in Malaysia serve large corporations, which is quite different from that in Indonesia. At BSI, for example, almost 50% of us serve consumers, namely the needs of the general public, those who want to buy a car, buy a house, and fulfil their needs using sharia methods. "Then the other 50 percent is a combination of small businesses and corporations," said Adiwarman to Voice of Indonesia.

Second, regarding the MSME development strategy, Adiwarman emphasized the importance of business ecosystem-based financing.

“We must develop small businesses in an ecosystem. By developing it in an ecosystem, the cash to cash flow becomes closed loop, we know where the money flows (circulates). Creating an ecosystem, this is the small business that we are now working on, namely small businesses that are in one ecosystem. In fact, small businesses that are sporadic in nature, which are not yet connected in an ecosystem according to banking experience, are businesses with quite large risks, so there are other ways to develop these sporadic businesses. But for small businesses that are in the ecosystem, insha Allah, we can serve them very well." Adiwarman continued

Third, Adiwarman reminded business actors that it is important to pay attention to actual demand to maintain the continuity and success of their business.

"In all the case studies that we learn about the successful startups in building their ecosystems, the first is that they must be based on actual demand, the demand is real in society. We look at several startups that have now become extraordinary successes. There was already a request for that, even before they existed, people were already riding motorbike taxis at the base. There is actual demand, which we then organize into a good ecosystem," said Adiwarman A Karim.

The development of the halal industry, as stated by Adiwarman A Karim, needs to be done using an ecosystem approach.

"Then developing the halal economy, we also map the ecosystem. For example, if the Hajj ecosystem starts from buses, transportation, airplanes, hotels, food, and we combine all of that into one ecosystem, then we develop that ecosystem. We can't just pay for the Umrah and Hajj travel, for example, because if we don't use the ecosystem approach it will collapse. Likewise, for example, for cosmetics, we also cannot only finance halal cosmetic companies without building the ecosystem. Because the risks are greater without an ecosystem. This is actually what we do.” concluded the ustadz who is also an alumnus of Boston University.

Fourth, Adiwarman emphasized the importance of focus and priority scale in developing a well-mapped business ecosystem.

“The mistake that often occurs is that we are too enthusiastic about developing various ecosystems simultaneously, so that in the end we don't focus. So what we actually have to do is after we have mapped the existing ecosystem, then we choose one as the quick win and then we enlarge that ecosystem. We then replicate the success to generate other ecosystems," concluded Adiwarman A. Karim. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Voice of Indonesia, the Overseas Broadcast Station of Radio Republic Indonesia successfully held a Diplomatic Forum entitled ‘Cultural Diplomacy Binds Nations’ on March 27, 2024, in Medan, North Sumatra. The forum presented the Malaysian Consul General in Medan, the Dutch Consul Honorary, Ony Hindra Kusuma, and the Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of North Sumatra, Rober Sibarani as speakers.

Consul General of Malaysia in Medan, Shahril Nizam Abdul Malek talks about Malaysian experience in presenting culture amidst its multiracial communities as a unifying factor of the nation.

“Let me share with you two interesting points. It may be joke to some, but there is only in Malaysia that you can combine four languages and it will make perfect sense. The Sentence is like “Wei macha, you want to makan here or tapau?” so, it is a mix of bahasa Chinese, English, Malay and also Indian. Wei macha is a salutation call for Indian cha. You want to makan here or tapau?, tapau is Chinese (means takeaway). And it makes perfect sense. So that one fact that you can make one sentence that can combine all the main four langugaes in Malaysia.” Said Shahril Nizam Abdul Malek.

Malaysian Consul General in Medan also shared his view about Malaysia who has 50 holidays that symbolize tolerance and the joy of celebrating cultural diversity.

“The second cultural diversity which I believe I can share with you is that Malaysia is perhaps one of the countries that have the most public holiday in the world. Why? Because we have so many multiracial communities and ethnic, so, we have to celebrate all the cultural diversity, so, I think we have more than about fifty public holidays per year, just to show the cultural diversity in Malaysia” Shahril Nizam Abdul Malek added. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi's visit to Algeria in December 2023 brought an agreement concerning energy cooperation, one of which was the signing of a collaboration between Sonatrach, the Algerian National Oil Company and Pertamina. The Indonesian Ambassador to Algeria, Chalief Akbar Tjandraningrat, in an interview with Voice of Indonesia which was broadcast on Wednesday (27/03/2024) gave an update on the potential and achievements of this collaboration.

Ambassador Chalief Akbar Tjandraningrat said that Algeria has abundant oil and gas reserves that open up opportunities for cooperation.

“Algeria has very high oil reserves, and is probably number 15 in the world, and even higher gas reserves at number 11 in the world. From this aspect alone, we can actually increase Pertamina's investment here, that's why, when signing the MOU, and extending the contract license, it also has the potential for us to take gas, because previously we couldn't take gas, now we can take gas to bring to Indonesia .” Said Ambassador Chalief Akbar Tjandraningrat.

Ambassador Chalief Akbar further explained the division of the oil and gas business into upstream, downstream and mixstream sectors.

"For oil, there is a division of business between upstream, then downstream, and in the middle there is mixstream. If we talk about upstream, it could be Pertamina or we can go in for exploration, both onshore and offshore, and then if we talk about downstream, we can go in or sell and introduce Pertamina products for use in Algeria. " continued Ambassador Chalief Akbar.

Regarding the mixstream sector, Ambassador Chalief Akbar sees big opportunities in this sector. "Mixstream is in the middle of storage, there are storage facilities, there are shipping facilities, so we can play there," explained Ambassador Chalief Akbar.

Chalief Akbar also said that Sonatrach invited Pertamina to invest together in third countries.

"Apart from that, Sonatra also offered Pertamina to work in third countries, for example in this case Libya, they could enter together." Explained Ambassador Chalief Akbar.

Ambassador Chalief Akbar saw Pertamina's opportunity to maximize Algeria's strategic position for penetration of European and American markets through the giant oil and gas companies in Algeria.

“Algeria is now the main supplier, the main player for gas and oil supplies to Europe. Many large European and American oil companies have entered here. For example, Pertamina uses drilling fluid for drilling. "That's their own product and that's one example of how we can sell our products to the giant NOCs in Algeria," concluded Ambassador Chalief Akbar. (Daniel)