VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: The Türkiye Defence Industry has developed rapidly in the last two decades. The country, which is located on two continents, has exported the main defence system equipment (alutsista) to 185 countries. The Indonesian Ambassador to Ankara, Achmad Rizal Purnama, in an interview in the Ranah Diplomasi program on Wednesday (03/04) conveyed the rapid progress of the Türkiye defense industry.

“Türkiye’s defence is currently extraordinary. In the last 20 years they have grown very rapidly. Currently the Türkiye defence industry has exported to 185 countries. The number of products in 2023 will be around 230 products with a value of around USD 5.5 billion and next year there will be contracts for USD 10 billion. That's the size of Turkiye's defence industry. "Finally, 7 Türkiye companies are included in the 100 largest companies in the world in the defence industry," said Ambassador Ahmad Rizal Purnama to Voice of Indonesia.

Türkiye’s defence industry is very labour intensive. Türkiye is building its defence industry by involving local Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

"Here I have met maybe more than 25 Türkiye defence industries. Türkiye has an MSME model. If I may make a classification, for example Tear 1 type of defence is the big companies TAIS, Havelsan, Aselsan, BMC, and Baykar, which make the best drones in the world. There are more Tears 2 and 3, actually MSMEs. What the Türkiye MSME industry builds is airplane steering, and they make Boeing wings. That's what we have to learn. "This happened because they succeeded in building their defense industry," continued Ambassador Ahmad Rizal Purnama.

Ambassador Ahmad Rizal Purnama also emphasized the importance of learning and replicating Türkiye’s success in building a defence industry in accordance with the interests and situation in Indonesia.

"Turkey really opens up extraordinary opportunities for technology transfer, how they build their defence industry. "After that, we replicate it according to our interests and situation and then work together to build our defence industry," concluded Ambassador Ahmad Rizal Purnama. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with the Austrian Study Association (WAPENA) successfully hosted "Ramadan Assembly, Greet and Meet with the Indonesian Ambassador to Vienna" on Saturday (23/3) at the Indonesian Embassy/PTRI Vienna building. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to Austria, Slovenia, the UN and International Organizations in Vienna, Damos Dumoli Agusman said that this activity invited the Indonesian Muslim community and Austrian partners to strengthen Islamic brotherhood between muslims in the two countries.

"Iftar or Breaking the Fast Together 1445 AH is a collaboration between the Indonesian Embassy/PTRI in Vienna and the Indonesian Muslim community in the Vienna and surrounding areas who are members of an official community organization in Austria called Warga Pengajian Austria or WAPENA, in German Der Indonesische Islamische Verein which is affiliated with IGGÖ as coordinator of Muslim community organizations throughout Austria," said Damos Dumoli in a statement received on Sunday (24/2) in Jakarta.

He also revealed that in 2022, WAPENA will have a mosque to introduce and propagate Islam in Austria.

"Alhamdulillah, Praise God that starting in 2022, WAPENA will have its own mosque which will become a home to proclaim Indonesian Islam which is Rahmatan 'lil Alamin, spreading Islam which is a blessing for the universe with special characteristics of tolerance, moderation and mutual respect between fellow religious believers, ” said Damos Dumoli.

Damos Dumoli also said that the iftar event brought together the Indonesian Muslim community with its partners in Austria and was a momentum in the holy month of Ramadan to strengthen people-to-people partnerships between the two countries to improve relations even better in the next 70 years.

Meanwhile, WAPENA Imam Andi Ahmad Junirsah encouraged Muslims to develop a greater sense of compassion and responsibility towards others, both for their communities and globally.

"Through acts of kindness, charity and good intentions, Muslims aim to have a positive impact, promote social justice, sharing and foster a sense of optimism, unity and solidarity during the holy month of Ramadan," said Andi.

IGGÖ Main Imam Ermin Sehic said that Islam had been designated by the Austrian Government as an official religion since 1912 and was the largest minority religion with around 800 thousand adherents spread across all corners of Austria in 2024.

"It is an honor that the Indonesian Islamic community is now part of IGGÖ and can play an active role and contribute to the good of Muslims in Austria," said Ermin. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Sharia banks are identical to the real and labour-intensive sector. Adiwarman Azwar Karim, Deputy Commissioner of Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) in an interview with Voice of Indonesia on the Mutiara Ramadhan program which aired on March 21 2024 outlined the strategy of the largest Sharia Bank in Indonesia to develop the real sector and grow MSMEs in Indonesia.

First, Adimarwan A. Karim, who is also the founder of Karim Consulting, stated that Bank Syariah Indonesia has a relatively larger portfolio in consumer services and small business financing compared to Sharia Banks in neighboring countries.

"If we compare it with the neighboring country of Malaysia, the majority of sharia bank customers in Malaysia serve large corporations, which is quite different from that in Indonesia. At BSI, for example, almost 50% of us serve consumers, namely the needs of the general public, those who want to buy a car, buy a house, and fulfil their needs using sharia methods. "Then the other 50 percent is a combination of small businesses and corporations," said Adiwarman to Voice of Indonesia.

Second, regarding the MSME development strategy, Adiwarman emphasized the importance of business ecosystem-based financing.

“We must develop small businesses in an ecosystem. By developing it in an ecosystem, the cash to cash flow becomes closed loop, we know where the money flows (circulates). Creating an ecosystem, this is the small business that we are now working on, namely small businesses that are in one ecosystem. In fact, small businesses that are sporadic in nature, which are not yet connected in an ecosystem according to banking experience, are businesses with quite large risks, so there are other ways to develop these sporadic businesses. But for small businesses that are in the ecosystem, insha Allah, we can serve them very well." Adiwarman continued

Third, Adiwarman reminded business actors that it is important to pay attention to actual demand to maintain the continuity and success of their business.

"In all the case studies that we learn about the successful startups in building their ecosystems, the first is that they must be based on actual demand, the demand is real in society. We look at several startups that have now become extraordinary successes. There was already a request for that, even before they existed, people were already riding motorbike taxis at the base. There is actual demand, which we then organize into a good ecosystem," said Adiwarman A Karim.

The development of the halal industry, as stated by Adiwarman A Karim, needs to be done using an ecosystem approach.

"Then developing the halal economy, we also map the ecosystem. For example, if the Hajj ecosystem starts from buses, transportation, airplanes, hotels, food, and we combine all of that into one ecosystem, then we develop that ecosystem. We can't just pay for the Umrah and Hajj travel, for example, because if we don't use the ecosystem approach it will collapse. Likewise, for example, for cosmetics, we also cannot only finance halal cosmetic companies without building the ecosystem. Because the risks are greater without an ecosystem. This is actually what we do.” concluded the ustadz who is also an alumnus of Boston University.

Fourth, Adiwarman emphasized the importance of focus and priority scale in developing a well-mapped business ecosystem.

“The mistake that often occurs is that we are too enthusiastic about developing various ecosystems simultaneously, so that in the end we don't focus. So what we actually have to do is after we have mapped the existing ecosystem, then we choose one as the quick win and then we enlarge that ecosystem. We then replicate the success to generate other ecosystems," concluded Adiwarman A. Karim. (Daniel)

VOInews, Jakarta: Voice of Indonesia, the Overseas Broadcast Station of Radio Republic Indonesia successfully held a Diplomatic Forum entitled ‘Cultural Diplomacy Binds Nations’ on March 27, 2024, in Medan, North Sumatra. The forum presented the Malaysian Consul General in Medan, the Dutch Consul Honorary, Ony Hindra Kusuma, and the Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of North Sumatra, Rober Sibarani as speakers.

Consul General of Malaysia in Medan, Shahril Nizam Abdul Malek talks about Malaysian experience in presenting culture amidst its multiracial communities as a unifying factor of the nation.

“Let me share with you two interesting points. It may be joke to some, but there is only in Malaysia that you can combine four languages and it will make perfect sense. The Sentence is like “Wei macha, you want to makan here or tapau?” so, it is a mix of bahasa Chinese, English, Malay and also Indian. Wei macha is a salutation call for Indian cha. You want to makan here or tapau?, tapau is Chinese (means takeaway). And it makes perfect sense. So that one fact that you can make one sentence that can combine all the main four langugaes in Malaysia.” Said Shahril Nizam Abdul Malek.

Malaysian Consul General in Medan also shared his view about Malaysia who has 50 holidays that symbolize tolerance and the joy of celebrating cultural diversity.

“The second cultural diversity which I believe I can share with you is that Malaysia is perhaps one of the countries that have the most public holiday in the world. Why? Because we have so many multiracial communities and ethnic, so, we have to celebrate all the cultural diversity, so, I think we have more than about fifty public holidays per year, just to show the cultural diversity in Malaysia” Shahril Nizam Abdul Malek added. (Daniel)