VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: The Ministry of Agriculture will build a 10,000-hectare modern agriculture cluster. As a first step, the development will begin in Bandung Regency, West Java by involving many parties including universities to attract millennials. This commitment was conveyed by Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman during a working visit to Solokan Jeruk Village, Bandung Regency, Tuesday (7/5/2024). "We want to create a cluster in West Java of 5,000 to 10,000 hectares. So, everything will use high technology that is in line with modern countries," said Minister Amran Sulaiman.

Mr Amran said the modern farming cluster is a future breakthrough to attract young people who are currently entering the demographic bonus. Later, millennials or gen z will operate drones, remote controls and other planting robots that can speed up production.

"There will be no manual planting. Everything is planted using machines, harvested using machines. We are enhancing our efforts so far with the use of technology and mechanisation," he said.

In the future, the Minister hopes that this modern agriculture cluster will trigger the expansion of modern agriculture in other areas so that Indonesia can become a model for Southeast Asia and ASEAN as a whole. "I want our agriculture to be an example for Southeast Asia and Asia. So fertilising is no longer manual but using drones," he added.

Bandung Regent Dadang Supriatna fully supports Ministry of Agriculture's efforts to build modern agriculture in his area. Moreover, he said, agriculture has proven to be the main support for economic growth in the Bandung area. "During Covid-19, Bandung's economic growth rate was minus 1.87 per cent, but now it has increased to 4.93 per cent. After we study and explore that it turns out, the majority of the main support in the economic growth rate of Bandung Regency comes from agriculture," he said.

Therefore, Dadang wants his people, who are mostly farmers, to make good use of all the programmes run by the Ministry of Agriculture, including pompanisation and modern agricultural clusters. "Thank you for your help and support so that we Bandung Regency farmers are ready to take steps to make Bandung Regency the location of future modern agriculture,"  Bandung Regent concluded.

VOInews, Jakarta: Fiji shared many similarities with Indonesia. Quoting an interview with the Indonesian Ambassador to Fiji, Dupito D. Simamora on the Voice of Indonesia's Ranah Diplomasi programme on Wednesday (8/5/2024) there are at least three similarities between Indonesia and Fiji.

First, according to Ambassador Simamora, like Indonesia, Fiji is also an archipelago republic. "Fiji is an archipelago in the southern Pacific with about 300 islands but the area is about almost four times the island of Bali, so all the islands in Fiji are about four times the size of the island of Bali," Ambassador Simamora said. Ambassador Simamora added that Indonesia is actually also part of the Pacific archipelago which is glued together by the Melanesian race of some Indonesian tribes with Pacific countries. Indonesia is an associate member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group as well as a dialogue partner of the Pacific Island Forum along with Fiji.

Like Indonesia, according to Ambassador Simamora, Fiji is a country that lives with ethnic and religious diversity. "Maybe it can be said to be the only country that is multi-ethnic and multi-religious because here in addition to the Melanesian group which is the indigenous population of around 65 percent, there is also a fairly large portion of indo-fijians or Fijians of Indian descent who were brought here to work on plantations, especially sugar cane plantations and that is also one of the characteristics of Fiji is that besides being multi-ethnic it is also multi-religious, or multi-religious. The largest is Christianity followed by Hinduism and then Islam and of course other religions. So if in other Pacific countries it can almost be said to be homogeneous although there are always minorities but here is the only heterogeneous country which may also be a kind of mini Indonesia but in a different composition, "continued Ambassador Simamora.

The third similarity, according to Ambassador Simamora, is that the Fijian people are generally sports lovers. If Indonesians are generally happy with football and badminton, while Fijians like rugby. "So I think there are similarities with Indonesia. But the pride of Fijians is rugby, so it is not surprising that in 2020 this country also won a gold medal at the Olympics in Tokyo," concluded the Ambassador who began serving since August 2023.

 VOInews, Jakarta: Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), which currently ranks among the 10 Islamic banks with the largest market capitalisation in the world, makes Indonesia's Islamic finance an attractive and potential market for domestic and foreign investors. This was conveyed by Adiwarman Azwar Karim, an Islamic finance expert at the Islamic Banking Outlook 2024 held at Flix Cinema, Ashta 8 District South Jakarta, Wednesday (8/5/2024). The event was attended by Islamic Banking leaders and Islamic finance practitioners in Indonesia.

"The first thing is that we are happy with the current developments. Bank Syariah Indonesia, for example, is in the top 10 largest Islamic banks in the world in terms of market capitalisation. This is an encouraging thing and gives a signal to the world that Indonesia is an attractive country and has great potential for investment in Islamic finance," said Adiwarman, who is currently Deputy President Commissioner of Bank BSI.

In his presentation, Adiwarman A. Karim outlined a roadmap for the development of national Islamic banking through the consolidation of sharia units per cluster. "We see that there will be consolidation, where banks that have small sharia business units (UUS) will consolidate with seven scenarios, where these small banks, UUS-UUS, assets will group themselves into several groups and become banks with larger sizes," explained the founder of Karim Consulting Indonesia.

Adiwarwan also stated the possibility of the birth of two giant Islamic Banks like Bank Syariah Indonesia, which currently has total assets of Rp 348.41 trillion as of February 2024. According to him, the presence of new large Islamic banks will increase the percentage of Indonesia's Islamic banking assets, which currently reaches 7.38% of Indonesia's banking share.

VOInews, Jakarta: Eid Jalaa' (Evaluation Day), which falls every 17 April, is a big day for Syrians that symbolises glory and freedom. This was stated by Syrian Ambassador to Indonesia Abdulmonem Annan in a special interview aired on 2 May 2024 on the Voice of Indonesia terrestrial radio channel. As is known, Eid Jalaa' marks the expulsion of the French army from the land of independent Syria on 17 April 1946.

"Indeed, the day of evacuation or independence day is an important day in which various tribes, nations, and cultures around the world gather. And this day is a great day that for Syrians symbolises glory and freedom, because it is impossible for citizens or a nation to feel honour and freedom if they are denied their independence or are under occupation," Ambassador Abdulmonem Annan said.

According to Ambassador Abdulmonem Annan, Eid Jalaa' is a moment for the people to celebrate Syria's glorious history of their collective struggle for independence. "Syrians on 17 April every year celebrate the greatness of their past history, despite the mosaic and diversity that distinguishes them, they are united, making sacrifices up to blood for the independence of their country from French colonialists," Ambassador Abdulmonem Annan continued.

Ambassador Abdulmonem Annan, who began serving since February 2023 in Indonesia, also mentioned the Palestinian struggle and efforts to realise peace in the region. "It is impossible for peace to be realised in the world, including in the Middle East in particular without a comprehensive and just peace. When I say comprehensive, we mean that peace must include the core conflict in the Middle East, namely the Palestinian conflict. It is impossible for Arab countries to reach a lasting and durable peace agreement as long as the Palestinian people have not gained their independence, dignity and freedom," Ambassador Abdulmonem Annan concluded.