VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Taking advantage of a weekend moment in early summer, hundreds of visitors consisting of Japanese people and Indonesian citizens in Japan, have packed the Pesta Indonesia held at a shopping area in Tenri city, Nara Prefecture, Japan on Saturday, June 17, 2023. The event, which took the theme 'Let's Get in Touch with Indonesia', was organized by the Tenri Indonesian Department Alumni, the Indonesia - Tenri Friendship Association, and Rumah Durian in collaboration with the Indonesian Consulate General in Osaka.

"Strengthening cooperation between Japan and Indonesia is certainly a necessity. One of the efforts that can be made is through strengthening people-to-people relations, which can be achieved through activities such as Pesta Indonesia Tenri today," said Consul General Diana. At the end of his remarks, the Consul General also invited visitors to visit Indonesia in connection with the lifting of the Covid-19 global pandemic status by the World Health Organization.

Diana Sutikno, Consul General of Indonesia in Osaka, emphasized that 2023 is a special year for Indonesia and Japan as the two countries celebrate 65 years of relations.

In his opening speech, the Mayor of Tenri, Ken Namikawa, expressed his happiness that after 3 (three) years of suspension due to the pandemic, the people in Tenri could again celebrate Pesta Indonesia Tenri. "I am proud that among the Japanese people in Tenri city, many can speak Indonesian," said Mayor Tenri.

Visitors to Pesta Indonesia were treated to performances of Indonesian arts and culture, including angklung by the Pasir Bintang Group, Balinese gamelan by Tenri Sansoukan, shadow puppetry by the Magika Maejika Group, pencak silat by the Setia Hati Group, Balinese dance by the Arjuna Srikandi Group, and Indonesian and Japanese songs performed by Youtuber Icazahra. Uniquely, the art studio community that performed the Indonesian art and cultural performances were mostly Japanese nationals.

In addition to art and cultural performances, visitors to Pesta Indonesia can also taste the delicious Indonesian culinary specialties, including chicken satay, soto ayam, fried noodles, fried chicken, dadar gulung, and stuffed tofu. The presence of Indonesian culinary at the food stand managed by Dharma Wanita Persatuan (DWP) of the Indonesian Consulate General in Osaka, Restoran Langit, and Rumah Durian is one of the efforts to support the mission of Indonesia Spice Up the World (ISUTW), promoting Indonesian specialties throughout the world.

During the ceremony, Hishashi Nakanishi, Chairperson of the Alumni of the Indonesian Language Department in Japan, announced that Tenri University will reopen the Indonesian language department. "After being closed for 10 years, the Indonesian department will finally reopen and accept students for the 2024 academic year," he said. Before becoming the Indonesian Department at Tenri University, Indonesian had been taught in the city since 1925 at the College of Foreign Languages, majoring in Malay.

In celebration of the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Japan, Pesta Indonesia Tenri is expected to strengthen friendship and increase the interest of Japanese people, especially in the city of Tenri, in Indonesia. (VOI)

VOINews, Jakarta - In order to develop economic cooperation between Indonesia and the Southern Philippines, the Indonesian Consulate General Davao City team paid a working visit to the Head of the General Santos International Fish Port in Mindanao, Southern Philippines (15/6). The visit aimed to discuss various Philippine fish export/import regulations, as well as explore the potential for trade cooperation between General Santos City and North Sulawesi.

The Indonesian Consulate General in Davao City and the team were received by Br. Paris Uldrarico Ayon as the Head of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PPA), as well as the Head of the General Santos Fish Port who was accompanied by officials from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), ABS Maritime Agency, Processing Plant FAO 195, and SarGen Fishport Tuna Handline Fishing Association, Authorized Fishing Agent and Authorized Cargo Shipping Agent of General Santos City.

The working visit was also followed by direct observation to the fish auction site, in order to get a clear picture of the procedure and process of handling (tuna handling) starting from receiving fish cargo, checking, classification, distribution, to packing for export preparation.

The exporter and the Head of the General Santos Fish Port expressed hope that fish export activities from the North Sulawesi region could be realized soon.

The Consulate General in Davao City has also met with one of the most trusted importers in General Santos City, Tenpoint Manufacturing Corporation, who openly expressed interest in cooperating with Indonesia.

TenPoint also expressed its hope that the Consulate General Davao City can provide support, as well as recommend prospective exporters from Indonesia. The Head of the General Santos Fish Port Office, Mr. Paris Ayon, also expressed that Indonesia could participate in the "Tuna Congress" in September 2023, and encouraged the B-to-B fisheries meeting between the city of General Santos and exporters from the Indonesian region to be held soon. (VOI)

VOINews, Jakarta - To bring ASEAN and the Pacific closer together, Indonesia organized the "ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Workshop on Marine Plastic Debris" on (15/06).

As is known, one of the priorities of Indonesia's Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2023 is to focus on the Pacific. Bringing ASEAN and the Pacific closer together is one form of concrete implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific proposed by Indonesia in 2019.

The issue of handling marine plastic waste was chosen because this issue is a common challenge faced by ASEAN and Pacific countries.

Indonesia's Minister of Environment and Forestry, Dr. Siti Nurbaya, in the opening video message emphasized that, "viewing the Indo-Pacific as one interconnected region is important to tackle the problem of marine plastic debris."

New Zealand's Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, Rachel Brooking, said in her video message that "the ocean has become a dumping ground for all kinds of pollution, from plastics to toxic chemicals, and countries in the Indo-Pacific are at the center of the ocean plastic crisis".

According to estimates, marine plastic debris will account for more than 80% of all marine debris by 2050.

Therefore, it is important to promote broader Indo-Pacific cooperation by engaging the Pacific region on the issue of marine plastic debris, emphasized Minister of Environment and Forestry, Dr. Siti Nurbaya, in the opening video message.

The workshop featured speakers and participants from ASEAN countries and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) members, including from Cook Islands and Kiribati.

The presence of speakers and participants from PIF is also the first step in ASEAN-PIF cooperation.

The speakers and participants of the Workshop also reviewed the Klungkung Temporary Waste Management Site (TOSS) and examples of harmonious application of sustainable lifestyles in Penglipuran Tourism Village.

Workshop activities were held at the Regional Capacity Center for Clean Seas (RC3S), Bali, on June 15, 2023.

This workshop was organized in collaboration between the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry and RC3S Bali, the New Zealand Mission to ASEAN, and PIF. (VOI)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Health Ministry has said that the COVID-19 situation in Indonesia is under control, although the disease has not disappeared completely.

"Now, the pandemic in Indonesia has declined. From an epidemiological perspective, it has dropped to an endemic," Head of the ministry's Public Communication and Service Bureau Siti Nadia Tarmizi said here on Thursday.

The government has lifted the public health emergency status for COVID-19 as the situation has improved, she added.

According to indicators, she said, COVID-19 in Indonesia is currently more localized, but remains a problem that needs to be addressed.

As of Thursday, the number of active cases decreased by 53 from a total of 9,974, with 179 new infections confirmed, which took the total number of cases recorded since March 2020 to 6.81 million.

The number of confirmed cases as of Thursday was far from the safe threshold of eight thousand daily cases set for Indonesia by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Tarmizi said that COVID-19 is currently no longer an emergency disease in Indonesia, so it can be accorded the same status as other infectious diseases, such as HIV and syphilis.

Health science expert Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama said that people need to understand the government's policy of lifting the emergency status for COVID-19.

"The public needs to understand the policy of no longer requiring wearing masks while using public transportation and in public spaces," he added.

He advised people who are sick to wear masks in order to not infect others.

For those living in highly polluted areas, Aditama said, masks are highly required to prevent the spread of diseases via air.

"Washing hands should remain the norm because it can prevent the transmission of various diseases, not just COVID-19," he added.

He also asked the government to continue to carry out COVID-19 surveillance, including case detection, deaths, and genomic surveillance to detect new variants.  (Antaranews)