VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

After the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, the situation in Myanmar did not show any improvement. Attacks between the military and anti-coup groups have even tended to increase. The mass media in Myanmar is also polarized between the military junta media, the anti-coup media and the media that contains information about the various violence that occurred.

A few days after the ASEAN Summit discussed Myanmar's crisis following the military coup, the atmosphere in several regions there became increasingly tense. The bomb that exploded in the residential area made people even more afraid and worried. Local media reported that a parcel bomb exploded in the West Bago area that killed, among others, a former member of parliament who supported Aung San Su Kyi. Five people, including a policeman, were reportedly killed in the explosion that happened Monday, May 3. Naturally, people are increasingly fearful because neither party feels responsible for the bomb explosion that occurred more than once.

Ethnic armed resistance groups supporting the demonstrators have begun to step up attacks on Myanmar's military. Along with that, came attacks from unknown parties on Myanmar air bases and military bases.

The situation became increasingly unclear due to confusing news and information. The domination of news from the military is countered by the reporting of the opposing parties. Meanwhile, provoking information appears which is only reporting acts of violence. The closure of the media supporting the resistance action and the blocking of the internet and social media did not solve the problem or stop the resistance.

The people of Myanmar live in uncertainty due to the military coup. If the situation gets more chaotic and out of control, there is great concern that there will be civil war in that country.

In fact, the commitment to carry out the results of the ASEAN summit in Jakarta recently is very important to be realized, especially by the military junta government. The presence of the Myanmar Senior General then, should not be used by the military junta only to legitimize its existence and actions.

The points of the Summit results in Jakarta need to be realized immediately. ASEAN leaders, can and need to take further steps to prevent a civil war in Myanmar. The country is a member of ASEAN. Myanmar's increasingly chaotic situation will certainly have an impact on the existence of ASEAN and other member countries.

To increase the promotion of Indonesian culture, particularly in the culinary sector, the Indonesian Embassy in Manila, the Philippines in collaboration with Colegio San Antonio-Bacolod City, organized 'Culinary Tourism: Modern Indonesia Cuisine' which was broadcast live on Wednesday (28/4).  Indonesian chef, Untung Taurat demonstrated how to cook chicken Opor and fried bananas. Chargé d'affaires of Ad Interim of Indonesian Embassy in Manila, Rahmanto explained that the culinary is  an important part of tourism, which is full of culture, history and the characteristics of a nation.  

He further said that culinary promotion is one of the strategies which is often used by the Indonesian Embassy in Manila to promote Indonesia in the Philippines.  Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, culinary promotion was done through the Indonesian Food Festival and participation in other food expos in the Philippines. The activities of Live cooking are considered as a good promotional alternative during the pandemic.

The activity was attended by university students of tourism and hospitality management major from Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod City virtually and it was broadcast via the Youtube channel of the Indonesian Embassy in Manila. Acting Dean of the Faculty of Accounting, Business, Education and Computers Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod City, Airyn Apale appreciated the activities.  He also explained live cooking is very useful for university students because culinary tourism is an important aspect of tourism education and Hospitality Management, particularly amid the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Chef Untung revealed that indeed, Indonesian foods have similarities with Filipino foods.  The main differences are in the ingredients and spices used in which Indonesian cuisine uses more spices. Moreover, Filipino foods have a lot of influences from the West countries, especially Spain because of historical links.

The level of air pollution in Indonesia caused by the large number of motorized vehicles is still quite high. Seeing this condition, a team of students from the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) tried to come up with an EvoGreen innovation aimed at helping reduce high air pollution. EvoGreen is a tool that functions to capture CO2 to create cleaner air. This bioreactor is created similar to an artificial habitat for algae. Algae was chosen because it has been proven to capture CO2 better than ordinary plants. In addition, algae are also more flexible in terms of maintenance.

EvoGreen works by absorbing dirty air from the environment which will then be stored in a dirty tank. Afterwards, the algae mixture and the dirty air will be pumped into a series of clear pipes so that the algae can carry out the photosynthesis process and convert CO2 into O2. So, this long process will produce oxygen which can be released back into the air. EvoGreen works not as an ordinary air purifier, but as a converter of carbon dioxide into oxygen. This tool affects not only humans, but also the environment. In addition, with further processing, the algae that have been used can also be used as biomass.

EvoGreen can absorb 10 times more efficiently than trees and can be installed in homes, so users can contribute to reducing the carbon footprint. In addition, EvoGreen is also digitally integrated with smart home devices which allows users to get data in real time through the application. Based on this innovation, this team won second place in the Schneider Go Green 2021 competition in early April.

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 still about Sakit which means Sick. 

Here is the conversation entitled “Kira-kira Lima Belas Kilometer” which means “About Fifteen Kilometers”. This dialog is between Kevin and a taxi driver on the way to clinic. Let’s read to the conversation.

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

In the dialog, you listen to an expression “Kira-kira lima belas kilometer”   (2X) which means “About fifteen kilometers”. In the expression, there is the word kira-kira (2X) which means about. It used to estimate something, for example time, number, weight and measurement such as distance like in the dialog.

Other examples

Let’s listen to the usage of the word kira-kira in some other contexts.

Berapa jumlah pasien hari ini? (2X) which means How many patients are there today?

Kira-kira dua puluh orang (2X) which means About twenty people

Berapa berat badan anak Ibu? (2X) which means How much does your child weigh?

Kira-kira empat kilogram (2X) which means About four kilograms

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.