VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo reshuffles minister and some high rank officials including Indonesian Airforces Chief of staff. 

MondayJanuary 8, President Joko Widodo paid a working visit to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. During the visit the President distributed the Smart Indonesia Card (KIP), gave a public lecture at the Muhammadiyah University of Kupang, and handed over 2,500 land certificates to the people. On Monday afternoon, the President and First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo departed to Rote Regency. In Rote, the President briefed the National Coordination Meeting of Bara JP (Volunteers Troop for Jokowi Presiden) 2018. Starting his second working day visit in Rote Ndao District, the President enjoyed the beauty of Nemberala Beach. At Nemberala Beach, the president washed his hands and face with the sea water. After the event, Nemberala beach became the public spotlight.

Nemberala Beach is one of the leading tourism destinations in Rote island. For a long time, Nemberala Beach is known as the beach with world class waves. In 2016, Nemberala Beach won the award of Anugerah Pesona Indonesia or the Indonesian Wonder Award as the first winner of the most popular surfing spot category. The waves at Nemberala Beach can reach 7 meters high in August to October. Not surprisingly, many world surfing championship event were taken place at Nemberala Beach.The beach location itself is located on the Rote island. Nemberala Beach takesone hour drive from Saudale DC Airport, Rote. You can use the plane from El Tari Airport Kupang.

In addition to the awesome waves, Nemberala beach has white sand. Traveling to the beach, you can find many things to do such as fishing, swimming, surfing, and much more. Fishing is one of the most popular activities because the sea around the coast has many species of fish. The most common fish species found in the sea including Tuna Gigi Anjing (dogtooth tuna), Spanish Mackerel, Yellow fin Tuna, Trevalli, Wahoo, Sailfish, Sea Perch, Kerapu and Marlin.

Visitor can do another fun activityat Nemberala beach such as snorkeling. With snorkeling, you can enjoy the beautiful underwater life on the beach, including colorful corals, large pelagic and small reef fish as well as beautiful sea shells and octopus. Other interesting activities including surfing, trips to the village and island exploration. With the Island exploration, you can visit other islands nearby such as Donna, Do'o and N'Doa. To stay overnight on the beach, you need not worry, because there has available many facilities from luxury resorts to simple lodgings on the Nemberala beach. So someday, if you come to Kupang East Nusa Tenggara, keep in your mind to travel to Rote to see the beauty of Nemberala beach.

The implementation of the 18^th Asian Games is few months ahead. The Asian Games will be held from August 18 to September 2, 2018. Various preparations continue to be done by the government of Indonesia, whether by the central government, as well as the two regional governments to host the implementation, Jakarta and Palembang.

The preparation of all infrastructures and facilities has at least satisfied the Asian Olympic Council. This was expressed by the Chief Organizer of the 2018 Asian Games 2018 –INASGOC, Erick Thohir after attending the 8th Committee Coordination Meeting in Jakarta on last Sunday (14/1). The Asian Olympic Council has seen significant progress made by INASGOC, the central government and the government of South Sumatra.

The success of Indonesia as the host for the second time is certainly expected. In 1962, Indonesia had successfully hosted the 4th Asian Games and grabbed second place in the achievement of medals after Japan. This could at least be an inspiration to achieve success in this event. In addition, because this activity is international scale, the eyes of the world at least Asia, will be on Indonesia. It is no exaggeration for Indonesia to expect a positive impact from the 18th Asian Games in various fields, including social, political and economic spheres.

The spirit to make the 2018 Asian Games successful must be echoed by not only Indonesian government, event organizers and athletes, but also all stakeholders, especially Jakarta and Palembang. The spirit of promoting the activities that will be themed "The Energy of Asia" should continue to be intensified.

Some ornaments of the 2018 Asian Games have been already installed in Jakarta and Palembang. Office Buildings of the government and recreation areas have been colored by the distinctive ornaments and attributes of the Asian Games. The spirit of hosting the Asian Games has also been felt, not only in the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex, but in other places of the sport implementation.

The involvement of all stakeholders to resound the implementation of the 2018 Asian Games should continue to be strengthened. The utilization of all promotional media, including social media, should be further improved. So, the 2018 Asian Games fever can be widespread in Indonesia in particular and Asia in general.

Director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance or INDEF, Enny Sri Hartati believes that Indonesia's economic growth in 2018 can exceed the government's target of 5.4 percent. In a special interview with Voice of Indonesia on Tuesday, January 16, she explained, in 2017 and the growth of neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia has improved. The improving condition of the external economy boosted optimism and showed a recovery in the global economy. According to her, Indonesia has the potential source of extraordinary economic growth. Indonesian population growing above 265 million people is a huge source of household consumption. Enny explained, as the potential of resources and markets, Indonesia is much better than other countries in ASEAN. Nevertheless, there are still many challenges faced such as slowing household consumption and limited realization of investment figures. Increased investment can support Indonesia's economic growth acceleration.

She also said “ Homework “in 2018 is how soon the government to recover from public purchasing power. The second is how to really realize the commitment of the investors to investment in the real sector. The key is investment in the real sector, because if you just enter the portfolio as 2017 , it did not have a significant impact or a significant contribution to the acceleration of economic growth.

Enny further explained, the effectiveness of government spending also gives a significant impact for economic growth. The government has a budget of more than 2000 trillion rupiah. According to Enny, the procurement of goods amounting to approximately 400 trillion can be used to absorb domestic products that can promote the Indonesian industry. In addition, funds for village can also be used to improve rural products. Thus, rural products can meet domestic demand even for export. (voi)