VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo) has urged young women to master science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as well as digital literacy to support digital transformation programs in Indonesia.

In an official statement received here on Tuesday, Secretary General of the ministry, Mira Tayyiba, said that women's mastery of STEM and digital literacy is necessary to equalize the proportion of digital ecosystem users, which are currently male-dominated both at the global and national levels.

"As a woman in the digital era, I invite young women to continue to step up and work together to realize an inclusive, empowering, and sustainable digital transformation," Tayyiba said at the "Girls In ICT Day 2023" forum, held on Monday.

According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) data, in 2022, most of the world's 2.7 billion people who did not have internet access were women, she noted.

In the same report, the proportion of women using the internet globally amounted to 57 percent, compared to 62 percent for men.

"In the national context, the survey carried out by Kominfo and Katadata Insight Center in the same year showed that men's digital literacy reached 3.56 points, higher than women's score of 3.52 points," she informed.

Furthermore, she said that more men master STEM than women.

Therefore, in order to support gender equality, the ministry is seeking to close the gap in mastery of STEM and digital literacy by supporting women's empowerment through various digital transformation programs.

"With internet access and skills to use digital technology, women can expand their opportunities to start businesses with a larger market, get better jobs and health and financial services, pursue education, and exchange information and participate more actively in community and family life," she said. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia has more than 4,400 rivers that have great potential to be used to generate hydropower, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said.

"Regarding hydro potential, Indonesia has more than 4,400 potential rivers and 128 of them are large rivers, such as the Mamberamo River in Papua, which has a potential of 24 thousand megawatts, and the Kayan River with a potential of 13 thousand megawatts," he highlighted while opening the 2023 World Hydropower Congress here on Tuesday.

The Kayan River in North Kalimantan will later be used as a source of electricity for the Green Industrial Park in Kalimantan, he added.

President Widodo said that the over four thousand rivers represent great potential that can be utilized for the future of the planet and Indonesia's future generations.

However, Indonesia is also facing several challenges, one of which is related to the location of hydropower sources, which are far from centers of electricity demand, he pointed out.

In view of this problem, the Indonesian government has created a blueprint for accelerating the laying of transmission lines that can carry electricity to locations at the center of economic growth and industrial growth centers so that its value becomes higher.

"Meanwhile, another challenge is funding and technology transfer, which requires quite a bit of investment and requires collaboration with all hydro ecosystem powers in the world," he said.

He then expressed the hope that the World Hydropower Congress would serve as a collaborative forum that produces policy recommendations and boosts investment to support the use of hydro energy for building a sustainable and green economy.

Such policy recommendations and investments are important, considering that many changes and natural phenomena have occurred in recent times.

"Our Earth is under the weather. The UN says that currently it is no longer global warming, but it has entered global boiling," he said.

If the Earth's temperature rises to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, it is predicted that 210 million people will experience water shortages, 14 percent of the population will be exposed to heat waves, 297 million houses will be submerged by coastal floods, and 600 million people will experience malnutrition due to crop failure, Widodo explained.

This phenomenon is a real threat to people in various parts of the world. So, tackling it will require collaborative work.

Indonesia is fully committed to accelerating the energy transition through the addition of new and renewable energy on a large scale because the nation is rich in green energy potential, the President added.

"Based on calculations (the addition of new and renewable energy) is estimated to reach 3,600 gigawatts, starting from (energy derived from the) sun, wind, geothermal, ocean currents, waves, bioenergy, and also hydropower," he said. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi discussed cooperation in a number of sectors, including green investment, with Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot during a bilateral meeting here on Tuesday.

In a joint press conference after the meeting, Marsudi said that the Netherlands is the largest European investor in Indonesia, which has invested more than US$15.5 billion since 2013, with an annual average increase of 15.8 percent.

The Netherlands has also been one of the European countries committed to supporting the energy transition in Indonesia, she noted.

"And in the future, Indonesia hopes to strengthen cooperation (with the Netherlands) to develop the semiconductor industry ecosystem in Indonesia," she added.

Marsudi praised the Dutch government's commitment to supporting the energy transition, promoting sustainability, and strengthening cooperation in developing sustainable ports, the shipbuilding industry, as well as solar and wind power plants in Indonesia.

At the press conference, the minister also announced the 2024–2025 action plan for a comprehensive partnership between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

This action plan will serve as a road map for the continuation of partnership and collaboration between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Minister Slot said that the Netherlands has proposed an investment grant of 105 million euros to support sustainable development in Indonesia.

The grant is part of a €300 million cooperation program between the Dutch and Indonesian governments in partnership with Dutch financial institution Invest International.

Slot informed that the program includes loans that will support sustainable and inclusive initiatives in sectors relevant to Dutch expertise, such as climate and energy, agriculture and food, healthcare, water, and infrastructure.

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the Netherlands' investment in Indonesia reached US$1.22 billion in 2022.

Dutch investment in Indonesia includes the Frisian Flag dairy factory in East Java and a terminal in Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta. (Antaranews)

VOI, Jakarta - Palestinian Americans and aid groups in the United States are raising funds for Gaza, which faces a deepening humanitarian crisis as the Israel-Hamas war enters its fourth week - but they have as yet limited ability to get supplies into the besieged enclave.

Aid organizations that serve civilians in Gaza say they are receiving record amounts of donations in a sign of public support for relief efforts even as a growing stock of supplies remain stalled at Egypt's Rafah border crossing.

In the Gaza Strip, where 2.3 million people live, civilians are in dire need of clean water, food and medicine, emergency medics say. Half of Gaza's population was already living in poverty before the crisis.

"We've seen a significant increase in donations, unlike we've ever seen before," said Steve Sosebee, president of the U.S.-based Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which has a staff of 40 in Gaza that provide medical support. He said the fund, which usually has an annual budget of around $12 million, had raised $15 million in just 10 days.

However, with a web of political and logistical obstacles on getting aid in, much of the money and supplies intended for Gaza is in limbo, forcing aid groups to wait as they amass truckloads of goods.

Hamas militants burst over the Gaza border and rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people and taking 229 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. In response, Israel launched its most intense air bombardment campaign on the tiny enclave, along with a "total siege," banning food, water and fuel imports.

Aid groups say they are building up supplies in hopes of eventually getting them through to civilians in Gaza, nearly half of whom are children.

There has been "a five-fold increase in the total number of donors versus typical past emergencies," said Derek Madsen, chief development officer of Anera, a nonpartisan emergency relief group for refugees throughout the Middle East. The organization, which maintains the privacy of individual donors, said it had recently received the largest single donation from an individual in its 55-year-old history.

The majority of support comes from donors based in the United States, he added, with individual donations averaging around $138. The efforts mirror those of Jewish groups in the U.S. and Canada who also fundraised millions for Israel.

Anera was using the last of its stocks this week to distribute meals and vegetable parcels in Gaza. Its staff of 12, like everyone in Gaza, were facing "unbelievable, unimaginable trauma," he said.

GLUED TO THE TELEVISION

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Rabia Shafie, national director of the Palestine Aid Society, said her group was speaking to student and Muslim groups on local university campuses and community centers to spread awareness and raise donations for the Red Crescent and UNRWA, the UN aid agency that serves Palestinian refugees.

"The money is needed to help people survive at this point of time. Medical support is so essential," she said.

"People are glued to the television ... watching the news moment to moment and very stressed out over the situation," said Shafie, adding that it was difficult as a Palestinian American to watch "the massacre and injustice done to our people back home."

Hamas-governed Gaza is one of the most densely packed places on earth and its medical authorities say over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed since airstrikes began, including more than 3,000 children.

Anera's Madsen called for a ceasefire and establishment of a humanitarian corridor "so that people literally do not starve to death, literally do not die of dehydration."

Last week, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, home to one of New York's largest Muslim and Arab communities, hundreds of protesters called for a ceasefire with signs written in Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew and Korean.

In Clifton, New Jersey, the Palestinian American Community Center's priority is advocating for U.S. officials to support a ceasefire and for the hundreds of Americans trapped in Gaza, said Basma Bsharat, the education director of the center.

The center has also been collecting cash donations to send on to UNRWA. It has asked people not to donate supplies, which it has no easy way of sending to those in need in Gaza.

Last week, a woman came to the center anyway, hauling bags filled with goods.

"We didn't know how to say no," said Bsharat. "She was like, I just want to do something. I just want to help somehow."

"It's a very difficult time, and the fact that we do see the support coming in it, it gives some relief," she said. "It gives some kind of solace." (Reuters)