VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The most famous two boy-bands from South Korea Selatan, Super Junior and TVXQ visited Indonesia starting from March 20-23. They promoted Indonesian tourism. Tourism Ministry also facilitated their attendance in Indonesia. Their attendance is expected to be able to make Indonesian tourism more well-known in the world. A number of destinations visited by Super Junior and TVXQ during in Yogyakarta are like Borobudur temple, Prambanan temple, Tamansari, Kalisuci Cave Tubing, Sultan Palace, Malioboro, Kampung Bule, Jamblang cave, Kalisuci cave, and Parangtritis beach. Head of Public Communication Bureau of Tourism Ministry, Guntur Sakti said on Friday, March 22 that their arrival was to make film and vlog content on channel and TV program TV which will be shown in September 2019.

Betawi’s culture showed its enchantment in Super Design Show. The event was held on March 21. This was a series of the largest design event in the world, Milan Design Week 2019. In the Super Design Show this year, Betawi’s culture was displayed by Indonesian Contemporary Art & Design (ICAD). ICAD collaborated with provincial government of Jakarta, with the theme ‘Essential Jakarta’. There were 8 icons of Betawi which were highlighted. They are Ondel-ondel, Kembang Kelapa, Gigi Balang ornament, Sadariah clothes, Kebaya Kerancang, Batik Betawi, Kerak Telor, and Bir Pletok. Then, the traditional foods, such as Gado-gado and Soto Betawi were served during the event. On the pavilion with 200 meters wide, ICAD explored Betawi’s traditional icons which succeeded to adapt with modern life. 

A singer from Indonesia achieved international award. After Agnez Mo achieved award in the United States of America, now a Dangdut singer, Via Vallen received an award as Special Guest from Indonesia from BraVo Awards 2019 which was held at The State Kremlin Palace, Moscow, Russia recently. Earlier, the award had been received by Sandhy Sondoro who achieved the award in International Professional Music Awards "BraVo" that was held at The State Kremlin Palace, Moscow, Russia last year.

To attract Russian tourists, Indonesia participated again in the largest tourism exhibition in Russia, "26th Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition "(MITT) in Moscow, Russia, which was held on March 12-14, 2019. Indonesia presented a pavilion with 70 meters wide, which was representative and interesting for the visitors to look around. They could also enjoy coffee from various Indonesian regions, which were specially presented by Indonesian Barista.

Lampung province promoted culture and tourism and the superiority of the region in the event of “Place2Go International Tourism Fair”, in the capital city of Croatia, Zagreb. The exhibition is an annual agenda which is quite big in East European territory that is developing rapidly. This was stated by Governor of Lampung, Muhammad Ridho Ficardo in a press release which was received in Bandarlampung on Saturday (16/3/2019). Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Croatia, Sjahroedin ZP, explained that high colleges of Croatia also established cooperation with many high colleges on Java Island. University of Zagreb also established cooperation with Lampung University.

Colombian government made an official visit to Bali province to strengthen relations. This was conveyed by Colombian Ambassador, Juan C Valencia when meeting Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster in Denpasar, Bali on Friday (15/3). Ambassador Juan also said that Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister, Maria Angela Holguin will visit Bali in April. Meanwhile, in March, as many as 27 mayors throughout Colombia also plan to conduct comparative study in Bali. They view that Bali is one of regions which succeeds in developing creative economy. Ambassador Juan also added that the government of Colombia also wants to study how to manage eco-tourism. Even for the future, Bali is hoped to be able to realize sister-city cooperation with one of the tourism destinations in Colombia, namely Cartagena.

Monica Hapsari is a graphic designer who was born in Jakarta in 1983. Her work experience as an illustrator and a women’s fashion designer contributes to making her works look girly and attractive. She also pays attention to every detail in her design. Monica or familiarly known as Monic is also a vocalist of Pandai Besi group and a fashion lecturer. Monic has fallen in love with arts since she was a child and she has engaged in textile arts since 14 years ago. Monica Hapsari is known through her first illustration published on GADIS Annual Edition 2007. Monica’s work won the 7 Asia Media Award in Macau, China in the category of “the Best Design and Illustration for Magazines with More than 50,000 exemplars”. Monica then tries to enhance her experience in fashion industry by working as a stylist mode in house at a renowned fashion magazine called A+. In 2009, Monica held her first group exhibition which displayed her bead paintings at Ruang Rupa, an art gallery in Jakarta. She currently works as a freelance fashion stylist, illustrator, and visual artist. Her paintings and illustrations have been published in many prestigious magazines. For years, she has been known as a fashion illustrator who creatively combines various media and ornaments in producing her works. Her paintings are made from watercolors, charcoal, and textile materials such as fabric, button, thread, and embroidery. Monica is now renowned as one of the best pop and commercial illustrators in Indonesia. Monica Hapsari has participated in a lot of exhibitions both in Indonesia and abroad. In Monica’s perspective, the essence of art is about the way to express minds and emotions. Usually, Monic talks about her surrounding through her works. Some of her works talk about fashion, consumptive society, and other issues. According to her, one of her most outstanding works was the one ordered by a housemaid for her wedding. Actually, Monic offered to give her the painting for free, but the housemaid rejected it. The maid said that she would pay the painting in installments. It really touched Monic knowing that her works can be useful and accepted by society from various backgrounds.Although Monic learned a lot from conventional artists in developing her works, she is open to innovation.Monic uses Instagram as an innovative way to showcase her visual works so they can be enjoyed by public. In addition to being known as an illustrator, Monica is the vocalist of Pandai Besi group. Previously, Pandai Besi often performed songs that belong to an indie group named Efek Rumah Kaca because Pandai Besi was formed by the personnel of Efek Rumah Kaca. However, they began to think that it is a monotonous thing to only cover the songs of Efek Rumah Baca with the same arrangement. Therefore,as their innovation, Pandai Besi recycled Efek Rumah Kaca’s songs with their own arrangement. However, now Pandai Besi is able to compose their own songs so they can show their identity.Meanwhile, Monica Hapsari currently focuses on producing her solo album.

The establishment of Indonesian Corner in Iran, is one of implementation of educational cooperation formation as well as promotion of Indonesian cultures to Iranian people, especially young generation. Indonesian corner at FerdowsiUniversity becomes the first Indonesian corner, not only in Mashhad but also in Iran. This was stated by Indonesian Ambassador to Iran concurrently Turkmenistan, Octavino Alimudin, on the inauguration and also opening of Indonesian Corner at Ferdowsi University, Mashhad (7/3). Furthermore, Ambassador Octavino Alimudin said Indonesian corner is not only belonging to Ferdowsi University but also public property and opened for public who wants to receive information related to Indonesia. 

Various kinds of furniture products and Indonesian wooden interior design attracted visitors of Indonesian stand at Wohnen & Interiuer exhibition in Wina, Austria that held starting from March 9-17, 2019. Indonesian Embassy/Permanent Representative in  Wina for the second time invited 10 small, medium and big enterprises at Wohnen & Interiuer exhibitiom which is the largest annually event in Austria. That was press release from the Indonesian Embassy in Wina, Austria which was received by Antara London, on Monday. Indonesian ambassador to Austria and Slovenia, Dr Darmansjah Djumala, in the opening of the exhibition said that export potential of Indonesian wooden products to Austria is very big. 

Creative economic actors from 7 Indonesia’s starts up companies which are participating in “South by South West Festival (SXSW) 2019”, introduce their creative products to creative economic actors in Austin, Texas in a forum titled “The Power of Indonesian Creative Economy: Austin Chapter”. Creative economic business forum is being held by Indonesian Consulate General Forum in Houston cooperating with Economic Creative Agency andAustin Chamber of Commerce.One of the mainstay creative economic products of Indonesia which was displayed, was TeleCTG machine which is portable version of Cardiotocography (CTG) tool to see baby’s condition to push death risk of mother and baby during the womb process and giving birth.In his speech, Consul General in Houston, Nana Yuliana, said that consulate general Houston appreciated creative young people who are able to create Indonesian innovative products. The ambassador hoped the business forum is useful to facilitate meeting with investor in Austin.