VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) has estimated the peak of the Asian Games competition at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) stadium in Senayan, Jakarta, to be on Aug 28, following the final-semifinal matches of 15 sports.

"We estimate around 110 thousand people to come to GBK stadium on Aug 28 if all tickets have been sold out completely," INASGOC`s Chairman, Erick Thohir, told the press in Jakarta on Saturday night.

Thohir stated that the GBK Senayan complex in Jakarta will hold the matches of 15 sports, such as badminton, basketball, volleyball, squash, and rugby.

"If all the audiences come together in the final and semi-final matches, there will certainly be tremendous congestion. We expect a breakthrough to reduce congestion," he remarked.

In addition, INASGOC also expects that the Asian Games, especially in Jakarta, would be attended by 300 thousand people.

INASGOC also expects the government of Jakarta to continue to monitor the travel of Asian Games athletes and officials from the "Wisma Atlet" in Kemayoran to the match locations, including in Pondok Indah, Cibubur, and the Indonesia in Miniature Park (TMII)

The Asian Games 2018 is scheduled to be held from Aug 18 to Sept 2, in Jakarta and Palembang (South Sumatra).

About 19 thousand athletes and officials have been registered until Tuesday. INASGOC opens registration until June 30, Secretary of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, Gatot S Dewa Broto, said in a written statement to the media, received by Antara in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Indonesia will strive to make the total number of athletes and officials taking part in the Asian Games to reach 15 thousand.

"There are 32 countries that will take part in the football event of the Asian Games. The All-Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) has been ordered to arrange the toss for the matches early in July and use it as a means of promoting the Asian Games," he remarked. (ANTARA)

People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Chairman Zulkifli Hasan has lauded Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed’s commitment to supporting the sovereignty of the nation by seeking national economic growth.

"During the meeting between Mahathir and Indonesian officials and businessmen at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here, I admire Mahathir`s statement about how to make the national economy grow while maintaining national sovereignty," Zulkifli remarked on Friday.

Present at the meeting, organized by the Indonesia-Malaysia Business Council, were Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil, Manpower Minister Hanif Dakhiri, Zulkifli Hasan, and former Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Dai Bachtiar, among others.

At the meeting, Mohammed emphasized that the nation`s economic growth should prioritize national sovereignty.

Quoting Mohammed’‘s statement, the MPR chairman said that in this era of globalization, it is inevitable for every country to cooperate with other nations, especially in the fields of trade and investment.

However, Zulkifli noted that investment from other countries should not all be accepted, let alone look for potential investors.

"The foreign investment plan must be analyzed for its pros and con. If it is good, accept it, but if not, do not accept it," he remarked.

"If everything is accepted, our nation will become a coolie," he said.

According to Zulkifli, Mohammed also noted that a good policy is one that prioritizes the sovereignty of the nation. (ANTARA)

Indonesia’s Tourism Minister has expressed hope that the reopening of Bali`s Ngurah Rai International Airport would encourage six countries to revoke the travel advisories they issued against Indonesia.

"We wish to announce that the I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport has been officially reopened as of June 29, 2018 at 2:30 p.m., Central Indonesia Standard Time (WITA)," Arief Yahya, the Minister of Tourism, said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday. "So, to the countries that have issued travel advisories, please revise them immediately."

Earlier, six countries -- the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and France --published travel advisories following the eruption of Gunung Agung.

As of 2.35 p.m. local time on Friday, the six countries` travel advisories were still in place.

"The reopening of the Ngurah Rai Airport will normalize flight schedules to help travelers recover from flight delays," Arief explained.

The airport, which serves as the biggest gateway for foreign tourists entering the country, will operate for 24 hours until conditions return to normal.

"Thanks to Angkasa Pura I (port operator) and to the transportation ministry (Kemenhub) for being proactive in thinking about our customers, the tourists who go to Bali," the minister said.

Arief lamented the extended effect of a travel advisory, saying it applies to an entire country even if the danger is confined to only one or two provinces.

"Therefore, the impact can be nationwide if the advisory is not immediately revised," he added. (ANTARA)

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, during a visit to Indonesia, met President Joko Widodo at the Bogor Palace to discuss issues related to governance, corruption eradication, connectivity, border settlement, and politics.

"I have already discussed with him and the delegation. In essence, we share the same commitment to ensure good governance, which is about eradication of corruption, and on the issue of the importance of connectivity and border-related settlements. We will discuss it one-by-one at the ministerial-level forums," President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) noted during a joint press statement with Prime Minister Mahathir in Bogor, on Friday.

The president believes that both countries will be able to reap the benefits of cooperation and be able to solve border issues.

He also revealed that at the meeting, Prime Minister Mahathir made assurance of offering protection to Indonesian workers staying in Malaysia.

"We also spoke about the construction of schools for Indonesian children in Malaysia," he stated.

He remarked that Indonesia and Malaysia also shared the same commitment on prioritizing settlement through dialog based on international laws.

Prime Minister Mahathir is optimistic that friendship and cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia would increase due to its several advantages in the fields of politics and economics and also relations between nations.

"We face the same problem, for instance, oil and palm oil exports. We are threatened by Europe, and we need to fight them together," he pointed out.

Indonesia and Malaysia need to jointly fight their campaign that states entrepreneurs obtain palm oil from plantations in forest areas and in the process fail to protect the environment.

"It is not true at all," he remarked.

The Malaysian prime minister further said that palm oil is competing with petroleum, so it concerns economic and financial issues rather than environmental ones.

Speaking in connection with education for children of migrant workers, the Malaysian prime minister vowed to guarantee their education.

"Children of migrants need to be educated. There are some schools in our peninsula, but in Sabah Sarawak, there are no schools for Indonesian children to study. We will fix this problem soon," he noted.

Moreover, for border issues, Mahathir agreed to an approach to resolve the overlapping issue of Malaysia and Indonesia.

"We have agreed on an approach to handle this issue. We need to accept that cooperation exists between Indonesia and Malaysia, as the latter is cooperating with Thailand where we have a joint development area," he explained.

Mahathir also remarked that President Jokowi`s visit in 2015 was related to the possibility of building a Malaysian-Indonesian train that may be operated throughout the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"For certain reasons, we could not continue it. However, now, I visit this country to continue to address that issue," he remarked.

The Malaysian prime minister also revealed that Indonesia and Malaysia faced similar problems in terms of domestic political issues.

"We also discussed about our domestic politics, and that the problems faced in Indonesia are bigger than those in Malaysia. Of course we are speaking about our ways to deal with political problems in this democracy, he added. (ANTARA)