VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia and Morocco commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic cooperation between the two countries since April 1960 and have continued to grow stronger.

Director-General for the Asia Pacific and African of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Desra Percaya, in his remarks in an international webinar commemorating 60 years of Indonesia-Morocco cooperation, said that the momentum of the celebration this year is a very important initiative amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said Indonesia and Morocco are close friends at the community level. He hopes that Indonesia and Morocco can continue to work together, especially in promoting moderate Islam to the international world. 

"The diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Morocco began on April 19, 1960, and for 60 years the cooperation between the two countries in various fields has been going well and stable," Desra said.

"Indonesia and Morocco are also strategic partners in advancing moderate Islam to the international community," he added.

Desra said the cooperation between Indonesia and Morocco can develop by sharing perspectives on moderate Islam and religious harmony in the two countries.

He said that Indonesia and Morocco can continue to develop efforts to promote moderate Islam, counteract radicalism, erase the image of radical Islam, and the stigma of Islamophobia, through bilateral cooperation and in various global cooperation forums. (VOI)

The Task Force for Handling COVID-19 said that until Wednesday, October 14, 2020, the number of patients recovering from the COVID-19 disease had increased to 4,555 people, to a total of 267,851 people.

Based on data compiled as of Wednesday at 12.00 WIB, confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 have also increased to 4,127 to a total of 344,749 cases. Meanwhile, the death toll was recorded to have increased by 129 people to a total of 12,156 people.

Based on the distribution of the number of cases, DKI Jakarta recorded the highest number of recovered patients, namely 1,191 people with 1,038 positive cases and 17 death cases.

Then, Central Java reported 897 new recovered cases with 286 positive cases and 10 people died, West Java 524 people recovered with 442 positive people, and 13 people died, East Java 330 recent cases recovered with 299 positive people and 17 people died.

Next, East Kalimantan recorded 271 recovered cases with 210 confirmed positive cases and 5 deaths, North Sumatra 161 people recovered with 88 positive people and 5 people died, while Riau recorded 145 people recovered with 300 positive cases and 12 people reportedly died from COVID-19.

Furthermore, there are 5 provinces that reported new cases under 10 and 1 province that today reported no additional cases, namely West Papua.

Then, the COVID-19 Task Force also recorded 154,420 suspected cases in 34 provinces throughout Indonesia.

Meanwhile, 40,393 specimens have been examined this Wednesday, using both real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) examination and molecular rapid test (TCM). (Antaranews)

The Dutch government is ready to track down the owners of the thousands of historical objects that were seized from the former colony and return the relics to their owners.

However, according to the Dutch National Museum, Rijksmuseum, Tuesday (13/10), finding the legal owners of these historical objects will not be easy.

Of the thousands of looted items, two of them were diamonds from a sultanate in Indonesia and a cannon that was used to welcome the king in Sri Lanka.

The Rijksmuseum says some 4,000 museum collections have a clear connection to the kingdom's colonial history, which spans some 300 years since the mid-17th century. During his reign, Dutch colonialism was concentrated in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean region.

The Head of History of the Rijksmuseum, Valika Smeulders, welcomed the government's plans. An independent commission in the Netherlands this month called the government's decision to continue to keep colonial-era booty as historically wrong.

"The museum receives new knowledge, fresh sounds, new skills, and new ways to accept the past and how we see these objects ... We will tear down the walls of the museum," Smeulders said.

The Netherlands plans to establish an independent research center as a data center for colonial-era artworks, which will later include the origin of the objects and how they were obtained. The research center also plans to form a panel that will handle requests for restitution.

According to Smeulders, the job will be difficult. He gave an example of one of the museum collections, namely a 36-carat diamond that was seized by Dutch soldiers from the Sultanate of Banjarmasin in 1875.

Banjarmasin, an area located on the island of Borneo, is a unitary territory of the Republic of Indonesia. Since the colonial period until today, many changes have occurred in the Dutch and Indonesian governments.

“In this case, are you going to return the item to the state/government? or to the descendants of the Sultan (Banjarmasin),". "And, who has the right to talk to about this matter," he said.

Meanwhile, the blue and gold cannon from the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka was seized by VOC soldiers in 1765. The cannon is on display in a special rare goods cabinet belonging to the Dutch Prince of Orange.

The cannon along with dozens of other loot will be returned to Sri Lanka next year, but before that many historians and art experts debated the decision at seminars.

The Dutch decision to return the looted objects was the same as the steps taken by Germany and France.

Efforts to return booty have started since the Washington Principles agreement was issued in 1998, which allowed Nazi booty during World War II to be handed back to ethnic Jewish descent. (Antaranews)

The concept of "smart tourism" with the "Electronic Securing Integrated System" (ESIS) program initiated by the West Manggarai Police to support super-premium tourism in Labuan Bajo is targeted to be launched in early 2021, said West Manggarai Police Chief AKBP Bambang Hari Wibowo.

"This program is to welcome Labuan Bajo as a super premium tourist area, and it has reached 80 percent," he told ANTARA in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, Wednesday.

He conveyed this in connection with increased security for tourists in the Labuan Bajo area, to support President Joko Widodo's program, which wants Labuan Bajo to become a super premium tourist area.

The number one person in the West Manggarai Police area added that with the existence of ESIS, his party would carry out security in the area based on information technology in which all roads in the area would be monitored by "Closed-Circuit Television" (CCTV).

"There are 2,000 CCTV points that we will install and will be connected to the Police and this will make it easier for us the police to monitor every crime that occurs in this area," he said.

Bambang, who was once the Head of Rote Police, added that his party was also working with the Labuan Bajo Flores tourism authority (BOPLBF) and the private sector to run the program.

The Police Chief admitted that if this has been implemented, Labuan Bajo will become the first super-premium tourist destination in Indonesia to implement this.

According to him, the attention of the central government, especially President Jokowi, to Labuan Bajo is very high to change the face of NTT in terms of tourism.

Therefore, he said, it is time for every government agency in the region to take the maximum opportunity to innovate to support the program of the number one person in Indonesia.

He also hopes for support from the local government for the ESIS program, so that the early 2021 target can be realized immediately, and can help provide comfort for tourists visiting the area. (Antaranews)