VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Russia was shocked by the leaking of videos of sexual violence and torture of prisoners in the country's penitentiary. According to Russian prison inspectors, this has become a systemic culture in the Russian prison system and has happened more frequently.

As reported by the AFP news agency, Thursday (7/10), the leaked video evoked memories of the deadly riots that took place in a high-security prison in the Siberian region in April 2020. After the photos and videos were circulated to the public, the Russian Investigative Committee has promised to thoroughly investigate this case. Russia's Federal Correctional Service has also fired five senior prison employees, including one of its directors.

This is not the first time Russia's penitentiary system has come under scrutiny for violence. In July 2018, a video circulated the torture of an inmate named Yevgeny Makarov in Yaroslavl prison. At that time, the Russian authorities arrested 14 perpetrators.

In response to this case, Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Torture, Jens Modvig urged Russia to process all cases of violence in the Russian penitentiary system.

The call  for an investigation should also be followed by an urge to immediately reform the system in correctional institutions so that this incident does not repeat anymore. It is said that the death rate of prisoners due to torture in Russia is one of the highest in Europe.

The case of the leaked video has also been known by President Vladimir Putin. Through his spokesman Dmitry Peskov, President Putin has urged the investigation to be carried out quickly and sedately.

It is necessary to be careful in dealing with such cases, especially in determining the authenticity of the material as evidence for further investigation. Those who are guilty must be punished according to the laws of the country. It is known that anyone who commits a crime of sexual violence in Russia carries a maximal sentence of 10 years in prison.

The contribution of micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs) to the Indonesian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is very great. The Ministry of Cooperatives and Micro Small Medium Enterprises recorded, the MSMEs contribution to GDP in 2019 was 60.51% from total state revenue. Quoted from npar.ac.id (1/6), from 99.99% of the MSMEs, 50% of them are managed by women.

Based on data from International Finance Corporation (IFC), as quoted from katadata.co.id (11/8/2020), at least 43% formal MSMEs in Indonesia were owned by women. At a glance, the number is quite significant. However, if measured by scale, the businesses managed by women are still in micro-scale. IFC research showed that 52.9% women MSMEs are on a micro scale. There are only a very few women MSMEs in or developing into small and medium scale. 

Most of the women MSMEs are still struggling in developing their businesses. Their businesses are not only affected by basic issues faced by any business people, such as capital, but also women's double responsibility: doing business and household chores.

The Indonesian government keeps encouraging women MSMEs to not only handle the micro-scaled ones, but also to develop them into small and medium level; one of which is funding.

Coordinating Minister for Economy, Airlangga Hartarto as quoted by Antara (6/10) said that one of the government's supports for MSMEs owned by women is the Super Micro People's Business Loan (KUR) targeting housewives who are doing business. The other way is MSMEs digitalization.

The effort to develop the women MSMEs certainly needs cooperation and coordination with many sides. The most important thing is giving various training classes for women MSMEs, such as e-commerce, digital marketing, promotion, and financial management.

With good cooperation and coordination, the MSMEs managed by women are expected to level up.

Voice of Indonesia presents Let’s Speak Indonesian, a program that introduces the Indonesian vocabulary and guides you to speak in the language. Mari Berbahasa Indonesia or Let’s Speak Indonesian is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.  Today’s topic is about Wisata which means Tourism.

Here is the conversation entitled Kevin Pergi ke Bandung which means Kevin Goes to Bandung. Kevin calls Mela to tell her that he goes to Bandung. Let’s read to the conversation.

After reading to the conversation, now I am going to introduce some vocabulary and expressions related to the topic of the day.

In the dialog, you hear a sentence Aku pergi ke Bandung (2x) which means I go to Bandung. The sentence Aku pergi ke Bandung is a simple sentence consisting of subject, predicate and adverb. The word aku is a subject, the word go is a predicate and the word ke Bandung is an adverb of place.

Let’s read to the other examples of a simple sentence with such a pattern.

Kevin         : Siapa nama kamu? (2x) which means What is your name?

Mela           : Nama saya Mela (2x) which means My name is Mela

Kevin         : Kamu tinggal di mana? (2x) which means Where do you live?

Mela           : Saya tinggal di Jakarta (2x) which means I live in Jakarta

That was “Let’s Speak Indonesian” for today. Hopefully, this edition can be useful for those of you who want to know more about Indonesian language.

Bordering the Java Sea in the west and north makes Jepara Regency is awarded with many beautiful beaches. One of them is Blebak beach. The location is in Sekuro Village, Mlonggo District, Jepara Regency. The distance is 13 kilometers or one-hour drive by motor vehicles from Jepara City. The attraction of this beach is the stretch of white and soft sand. In addition, the view of the sea water is clean and transparent. To enter this attraction, you are only charged a vehicle parking fee of Rp 3000 for motorbike and Rp 5000 for the car.

Blebak Beach has calm waves with a stretch of yellowish and typical sand of the Jepara beach. The coastline is also quite long and it has characteristics like a bay. This beach is appropriate to swim or play in the water because it has a sea depth that is not too deep. In addition to swimming, you can fish on the beach. On the right side of the beach, there are usually many people fishing because that is the best spot for hunting fish on the beach. Blebak Beach is a right place to relax, even though it is day and heat, but the wind on the Blebak Beach feels so light and it makes anyone feel at home for long. Arriving late in the afternoon, do not immediately rush to leave Blebak beach, first enjoy the beauty of the sunset on this beach.

At Blebak Beach, there are several water rides that are quite interesting for you to try, such as the Sapta Pesona Boat, water tricycles, canoes, exciting banana boats, donut buoys (buoys in car tires), duck buoys (duck-shaped buoys), and parks. For children's play, do not worry about the availability of supporting facilities at the Blebak Beach. The reason is that this beach provides a prayer room for worship, trash cans at a number of points, a fairly large vehicle parking area, seating area, instagrammable photo spots, and lodging for those of you who want to spend the night at the Blebak Beach.