VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Porridge is one of Indonesian foods which has been known since long time ago. It is made from rice and various kinds of flour. There are various kinds of porridge with typical taste of sweet or salty flavor in each region. The culinary are many found in various cities in Indonesia. If you visit Surabaya, East Java, you have to tr Madura porridge.

Madura porridge consists of some kinds of porridge which combine in one portion such as sumsum, black glutinous rice, candil and mutiara porridge. Sumsum porridge is made of rice flour. While,  candil is made of a mixture of rice flour and boiled sweet potato. The dough of candil is formed circle with various sizes according to the taste. Then, main ingredient of black glutinous rice and mutiara flour are mixed become black glutinous rice and  mutiara porridge. When being served, those porridge are smeared with thick coconut milk which is savory and liquid palm sugar. When being eaten, the mixture between savory taste of sumsum porridge and coconut milk directly blend with the sweetness of palm sugar sauce. The sweetness and savory taste will make everybody addicted to the Bubur Madura.

The famous center of Madura porridge in Surabaya located in Pasar Atom, precisely on the ground floor of the Pasar Atom building. At this market you can find some vendors of Madura Porridge, who have been there for more than decades. Usually, the porridge is sold in the morning as breakfast menu. Besides selling Madura porridge, the vendors also sell various kinds of traditional snacks such as klanting, cenil, lupis, ketan, jongkong, talam, tiwul, and biji salak with affordable price, only Rp. 7,000 - Rp. 10,000 per portion.

Finally, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced his cabinet members three days after his inauguration. Along with Vice President KH Ma’ruf Amin, the president did something unusual when announcing his aides for the next five years. President Joko Widodo announced his ministers and institutional leaders by sitting on the stairs in front of the State Palace. There were 34 ministers and 4 ministerial-level positions. They will work together in the administration of Joko Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin to bring Indonesia forward.

For three days, the people of Indonesia watched figures answering summon from the State Palace. Many speculated the right figures to support the president for the next five years.

President Joko Widodo fulfilled his promise that his cabinet will have more professionals and fewer politicians. More than 56 percent are professionals. However, the most interesting part is that Joko Widodo appointed Prabowo Subianto, his former rival, to become Minister of Defense. This is a very strategic position in a government. Former National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian as Home Affairs Minister became a hot topic.

As we know, President Joko Widodo has prerogative rights. It seems he did not want to be dictated by his supporters, since it will be fatal for his government. Along with Vice President KH Ma’ruf Amin, the President also let young generation joining in as national development engine. More overly, with the upcoming national demographic bonus, the government wants to plant strong will to move fast, so that Indonesia can catch up with her neighboring countries.

Despite of pros and cons about the chosen ministers of Indonesia Onward, no one is perfect. Everyone has their own weakness and strength. Instead, the most important thing is that professionalism of president’s aides in executing better bureaucracy is what can bring Indonesia onward. With slogan “Work, work, work…,” hopefully bureaucracy inside the government will speed up every matter and ease the development and economy.

Businesspeople of Indonesia and Italy agreed a 60-million US dollar-worth trade contract.

Indonesian and Italian pulp and paper companies signed a trade contract worth around US$60 million dollars during Trade Expo Indonesia, held in Tangerang, Banten. Indonesian Embassy in Rome, with a written statement received in Jakarta on Saturday (19/10) said, the agreement was one of the biggest single trade contracts between PT Pindo Deli Pulp and Paper Mills from Indonesia and APP Italia Srl. APP Italia Srl, Timo Toivonen said that his Indonesian counterpart had long history in producing high-quality paper and support community development programs, so that his company appreciated the agreement signing.   

Next information is that Indonesian songket and tenun are promoted in Ukraine.

Indonesian songket and tenun cloths were promoted in Ukraine recently, more precisely during a fashion show by Indonesian designer, Anna Maria. Indonesian Ambassador to Ukraine, Yuddy Chrisnandi in a written statement said in Jakarta on Saturday (19/10) that they cooperated with ‘Rumah Kreasi Indonesia Hebat’ and gained support from Ukrainian conglomerate, Oleksandr Feldman to hold the country’s fashion show about songket and tenun. For the last 25 years, this was the first fashion show by Indonesian designer, which displayed the diversity of Indonesian tenun and songket.

Last information is that Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah and Palembang Aviation Polytechnic sign Cooperation Agreement.

Acting Function of Information and Socio-culture at Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah, Agus MUktamar and Director of Palembang Aviation Polytechnic, M Andar Adityawarman signed cooperation agreement on Human Resource Development at Air Transport in Jakarta (18/10). The signing was witnessed by Head of Air Transport Human Resources Development Center at Indonesian Transportation Ministry, Hery Sudarmadji, Indonesian Consul General in Jeddah, Mohamad Hery Saripudin, and Transportation Attaché of Indonesian Consul General in Jeddah, Amiruddin.

Indonesian Consul General in Jeddah Mohamad Hery Saripudin welcomed the cooperation agreement signing and expected it would be followed-up soon with real working plan, so that the benefits can be enjoyed by both sides soon. For Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah, the signing mandated two things. First, Consulate General’s Information and Socio-culture Function in cooperation with Indonesian School in Jeddah (SIJ) and Indonesian School in Mecca (SIM) must start mapping the interest and talent of the students they will recruit. Secondly, the Transportation Attaché must begin analysis on flight attendant need in Saudi Arabian transportation industry, along with the requirements.

Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII was one of the kings in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta who was in power from 1921-1939. His original name is Gusti Raden Mas Sujadi, and he was crowned as  the Sultan of Yogyakarta on February 8, 1921. During his reign, he ordered a lot of renovations of the Yogyakarta palace complex. One of them is Bangsal Pagelaran which is located in the front of the palace. Other buildings are Siti Hinggil tratag, Donopratopo Gate, and Gedhe Mosque. He was one of the first people from the top politicians in Yogyakarta City to support the struggle of KH. Ahmad Dahlan in the formation of Muhammadiyah as a form of loyalty to Islam. He passed away on October 22, 1939.

On October 22 as National Santri Day

October 22 as National Santri Day was set by President Joko Widodo at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on October 22, 2015. It is intended to exemplify the spirit of jihad to the students about Indonesianess which is encouraged by the Ulemas. The date refers to a historic event that is a call by the National Hero, KH. Hasjim Asy'ari on October 22, 1945. It contained orders to Muslims to fight against the Allied troops who wanted to re-colonize the territory of the Republic of Indonesia after the Proclamation of Independence. As the winner of World War II, the Allied came to take over the former Japanese colony. Apparently, there were Dutch troops who were riding along to re-colonize Indonesia which already proclaimed its independence on August 17, 1945.

The last event was International Stuttering Awareness Day.

October 22 was designated as International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) in 1998. Today, it is intended to raise public awareness about millions of people, or about one percent of the world's population  who have a speech impediment. In an article published in the British Community magazine to mark International Stuttering Awareness Day, Irina Papencheva from the Bulgarian Stuttering Association and Phil Madden from the European Service Providers Association for People with Disabilities demanded a new start in attitude towards stuttering. They say, everyone has a responsibility to be aware, to be sensitive in conversations and meetings and to remember that stuttering is "not funny".