Ten finalists from 10 ASEAN countries entered the final round of the ASEAN+3 Song Contest, Saturday night (7/27/2019), at the Quang Ninh Exhibition and Planning Center, Ha Long, Vietnam.  One of the ten finalists is Olivia Christina from Indonesia.  The Finalists of the 2019 ASEAN+3 Song Contest are to perform at the final round tonight, Sunday (07/28/2019).  Of the ten finalists, 3 winners will be chosen as the winners.  The Asian+3 Contest 2019 held by the Voice of Vietnam for the second time was attended by 22 contestants consisting of singers and artists from 10 ASEAN countries and 4 invitations from China, the Republic of Korea and Japan.  The Pop music contest which is intended for young professional singers ages between 18-35 years ofvaims to strengthen the understanding among the ASEAN member countris and foster the development of young talents in the music in the ASEAN community.  (ANI)

The Indonesian government has allocated Rp492.5 trillion in the 2019 state budget to enhance the quality of human resources and educational facilities.

"Under the state budget policy, 20 percent of more than Rp492.5 trillion (of the state budget fund) this year is earmarked to improve the quality of human resources, including civil servant and non-civil servant teachers, infrastructure and facilities, and pupils," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated after attending a function marking the 38th anniversary of PGRI University in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday.

The minister underscored the need for the business world to participate in the promotion of human resources.

"Hence, we recently used the fiscal incentives or provide tax reduction of 200 to 300 percent for vocational education and for research and innovation," he noted.

While addressing the event to mark the 38th anniversary of PGRI University, she remarked that the government had continued to optimally utilize the state budget fund and fiscal policy to tackle various issues in the educational world.

The government has continued to prioritize the use of 20 percent of the state budget fund to increase the Indonesian children's access to quality education, he emphasized.

To help increase the access of less fortunate children to quality basic educational services, the government has launched the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP) and schools' operational funds.

This year, a total of 20.1 million students received assistance under the PIP scheme as compared to 19.5 million a year earlier. In the meantime, the number of students receiving school operational funds had increased sharply to 60 million in 2018. (ANTARA)

Several global experts are taking part in "the 2nd International Conference on Global Science, Technology and Society (STS) organized by Hasanuddin University (Unhas) in Makassar, South Sulawesi, from July 24 to 27.

The Global STS is a follow up to the first such conference held at Nanyang Technology University in Singapore in 2014.

Chief of the event's organizing committee Dr Rijal Idrus said in Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, on Wednesday that the Global STS is a platform for the exchange of scientific works among international researchers in the field of science, technology and society (STS).

"We hope (the conference) will create productive debate and exchange of sciences among global researchers in the STS field," Dr Rijal Idrus of the faculty of pedagogy of Hasauddin University said.

Among the global experts who have confirmed participation in and will deliver their keynote address to the conference will be Professor Michael MJ Fisher of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, Dr Adam Brumm of Griffith University in Australia, Assoc Prof Sulfikar Amir of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Dr Sara Beavis of Australian National University and Prof Wen Lin Tu of National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

The conference is themed “between the land and the sea, knowledge transformation and new knowledge production”. Several sub-themes to be discussed at the conference include sustainability governance, biodiversity and conservation,; social changes and green development; climate change and anthropocene; disaster and resilience; cities and urban transitions; medical and public health; digital system and big data; and energy politics.

Secretary of the event's organizing committee, Dr Eng Ilham Alimuddin, said the Global STS conference or seminar is different from other conferences because it takes place near Fort Rotterdam Fortress.

The venue is expected to serve as special attraction for foreign researchers to take part in the event, he said.

"This place has historical value and is a symbol of Bugis Makassar cultural development which is important for global researchers to know," he said.

The Global STS conference is organized by Unhas in association with Nanyang Technological University as co-host and the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (API).

Some 70 researchers from the US, Europe and ASEAN member states will present their papers in the conference. (ANTARA)