VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Kambang Iwak Tourist Park is a beautiful city park with a lake in the middle which is now increasingly visited by many people, including Palembang residents and tourists. Kambang Iwak Park is located between Tasik Street and Sutomo Street, Palembang City.

This park, which covers an area of around 5 hectares, is equipped with various facilities which are continuously updated. These facilities include a children's playground, sitting place, drinking water taps, and free hotspot facilities for those who want to access the internet while relaxing and enjoying the shady garden.

This tourist park is one of the favourite tourist attractions to enjoy the green atmosphere and several Dutch heritage buildings. Kambang Iwak has now become a public facility for Palembang residents to gather, because it is equipped with various supporting facilities. 

The location of this park, not far from the city center of Palembang, makes Kambang Iwak easy to reach, both using private and public transportation. There is no entrance ticket fee to enter this area. Entering Kambang Iwak you will be greeted by lush green trees.

In the middle of the park there is a clean lake and is equipped with a fountain that comes to life every hour of the day. In the middle of the lake there is a bridge which is about 200 meters long. The bridge divides the lake and connects Tasik Street and Sutomo Street which are on the other side.

Apart from that, this park is also equipped with facilities and infrastructure that can make tourists feel at home chatting there. There is a jogging track for those of you who want to exercise, then there are lots of sitting places on the edge of the park lake. In the park area there are also many stalls or food stalls that serve various menus. 

The right time to visit Kambang Iwak is in the morning and evening, because at that time the air is cool enough and comfortable to enjoy this park. Because of its strategic location, this park is a gathering place for young people to carry out activities, such as skateboarding, dancing, playing guitar, taking photos, and so on. At night, this park is still busy with tourists because it is very bright with decorative lights surrounding almost every corner of the park.

If you are a culinary lover, and are in South Sulawesi, one of the typical South Sulawesi foods that you must try is Songkolo Bagadang. It is called songkolo because it comes from the word "Sokko" which means sticky rice. Because songkolo comes from processed sticky rice. "Bagadang" or staying up late is added because this food is often found late at night.

This Songkolo menu is included in the type of heavy food, because the main ingredient is made from white or black sticky rice. This sticky rice is cooked with coconut juice or coconut milk that makes the sokko taste delicious and sticky, especially with the addition of grated coconut which has been processed into "bajabu" or serundeng. Bajabu is often the best pairing for delicious sokko and is the right combination to shake up the tongue.

Usually, songkolo or sokko is combined with crispy anchovies, salted eggs and tomato sauce. Even in some places, songkolo is sometimes combined with chicken or beef. The combination of various flavors, including sweet, sour, spicy, savory and sticky, will add to the enjoyment of eating this songkolo. If you intend to bring songkolo or songkolo bagadang at home, then usually each portion of songkolo bagadang is wrapped in banana leaves tied with rubber. One pack of songkolo is sold from Rp 10 thousand to Rp 15 thousand. It’s very cheap, isn’t it?

For Makasar residents, songkolo is generally also eaten in the morning as breakfast before doing activities. What's unique is that when buying songkolo, you have to weigh it first, because there are 1.5 ounce packages and 2.5 ounce packages. These are, of course, different prices.

The Indonesian Embassy in Canberra Australia presented dances from various regions in Indonesia at the 2024 National Multicultural Festival organized by the local government on Saturday. Education and Culture Attaché of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra Mukhamad Najib in a statement explained for this agenda the embassy presented Saman Dance from Aceh Randai Dance from West Sumatra and the Lutung Kasarung performance from West Java. Najib explained art performances from these three regions were meant to make the world community become more familiar with the diverse culture of Indonesia, apart from the already well-known Balinese culture. The Indonesian Embassy in Canberra's arts team also contributed to the Saman Dance performance. In addition, the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra especially invited the arts team from the Faculty of Language and Arts Education, Jakarta State University, to perform at the 2024 Australian National Multicultural Festival. Najib said, the audience who packed the location at the Canberra Center warmly welcomed the artistic performances from Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Dean of the Faculty of Language and Arts Education, Jakarta State University, Liliana Muliastuti said the faculty wants to continue to be involved in introducing and promoting Indonesian culture to the world community. According to her, the 2024 National Multicultural Festival in Australia is very suitable for the mission which is part of the international community service activities of the Faculty of Language and Arts Education, Jakarta State University, She noted those who attended the event came from many countries. The biggest annual cultural festival in the Australian capital took place from 16-18 February 2024 and was attended by representatives from various countries in Canberra, including Indonesia. Besides dance arts, the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra also opened an Indonesian booth to introduce various tourist destinations and Indonesian food as well as Indonesian visa application procedures to the local community.

Indonesian students make the Indonesian nation proud i. the international world. After competing with students from European, American, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, the students from MAN 4 Islamic school Jakarta successfully won a gold medal at the 2024 Asean Innovative Science Environmental And Entrepreneur Fair (AISEEF) research event which was held online and offline on 2-5 February 2024. The research team was headed by Alifia Kayyisa (XII IPA 1), consisting of Afralifia Cahya Nadira (XII IPA 1), Ezza Azkiya Sanee (XII IPA 5), Rifelli Azkiyah Luqman (XI-4), and Nadia Pintenate (X-13). In their research, they examined banana peels to determine the borax content in food.

The research team consisting of five students conducted research for three weeks at MAN 4 Jakarta. They were accompanied by Nugroho Wahyu Sumartono as the supervising teacher. MAN 4 team leader, Alifia Kayyisa explained that banana peels contain many organic compounds that can be converted into carbon dots. Carbon dots are a carbon-based material that is nano-sized, non-toxic, and has the property of fluorescing with different colors depending on the substance involved when illuminated with a UV lamp. With these properties, carbon dots can be used as an alternative to identify borax in food. Alifia said that banana peels were chosen because the waste was very abundant. In this way, she hopes that the results of his research can be useful in making banana peel waste more useful. The team also concluded that borax is a material that is dangerous for the body. Meanwhile, the distribution of foods containing borax is currently very widespread and not everyone knows about it.

The competition was held by the Indonesian Young Scientist Association in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University (Undip), Semarang, Central Java. There are 447 teams taking part in AISEEF 2024 from 17 countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Romania, Iran, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, Portugal, the United States, Korea South, China, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. 152 Teams took part in the competition offline at the Undip campus. Meanwhile, 295 other teams participated online. AISEEF participants also consist of middle school, high school, vocational school students and university students.