VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

DIPLOMATIC CORNER is a segment

presenting  information about Indonesian diplomatic activities, both at home and abroad.

The first information is from Frankfurt, Germany.International Meeting Exhibition (IMEX) 2018 was held at the Messe, Frankfurt on May 15-17 2018. It  was one of the biggest MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) in  the  world. Indonesia’s participation, under the coordination of the Ministry of Tourism presented 12 partner companies booths at the Indonesian Pavilion which are engaged in hotel sector, accommodation, resort, convention center / venue, and destination management cooperation. Consul General of Indonesia in Frankfurt Franciscus De Salles Toferry Primanda Soetikno saidIndonesia's participation in IMEX is  also contributing  to realize the target of 20 million foreign tourists visit in 2019. According to him, Germany is an important market for the promotion of Indonesian tourism.

The next information is from Paris, France. International Film Festival was held again in Cannes, France. In the   71^st Festival International Du Film De Cannes, an Australian actress, Cate Blanchett was chosen as the main judge of this festival. The festival, held from May 8-19 2018, opened with a  psychological thriller movie made by Asghar Farhadi entitled Everybody Knows. The movie became the second Spanish-language movie to open the Cannes Film Festival, after the Bad Education made by Pedro Almodóvar opened the festival in 2004 ago.

Although this year there were no Indonesian films screened,there were several Indonesian film producers came tobuild relationships and seek cooperation opportunities.Indonesian Consulate General in  Marseille Asianto Sinambelaspecifically welcomed and met Indonesian film producers who came to the festivalto discuss how important the participation of Indonesian films in the event.Consulate General Asianto also invited Indonesian film producers to cooperate with film producers in France, especially Southern France.With the cooperation,the film producers can offer the beauty of Indonesian panorama as a setting for making film and marketing films made by Indonesians  to be aired in France.

The last information is from Stockholm, Sweden. In order to promote Indonesian coffee and batik in Sweden,the Indonesian Embassy in Stockholm held an event themed "The Colors of Indonesia" at the Sheraton Hotel, Stockholm (14/5). This coffee and batik promotion event featured three activities, namely specialty coffee presentation, batik workshop, and batik fashion show.

Batik Workshop presented cultural heritage of Indonesia whichhas been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.According to Indonesian Ambassador to Sweden Bagas Hapsoro, the coffee and batik promotion themed “The Colors of Indonesia”is the first initiative held in Sweden. He hoped Indonesia's export of coffee and textile products to Sweden increased and Indonesian tourism promoted .

Besides Stockholm, the promotion was  held in Riga City, Latvia on May 17 2018.

Welcome to “Indonesian Wonder”, a daily segment featuring tourism, culinary arts, fine arts and culture from various regions across Indonesia. In today’s edition, we will introduce you to "Waruga Site in North Sulawesi".

Entering one of the historic sites in North Minahasa, it takes a bit of a struggle. Its location which is behind the housing and land residents makes one of the historic sites in North Sulawesi hidden. This is the Site of Waruga Sawangan which is an ancient tomb of megalithic relic of Minahasa people. Waruga in Minahasa is estimated to have developed at about the beginning of the 13th century BC. Waruga's first appearance was in Bukit Kelewer, Treman, and Tumaluntung areas, North Minahasa District. Waruga's appearance then continued to expand in various regions in North Sulawesi until an early 20th century AD.In pre-historic times, the Minahasa community still believed that the ancestral spirits has magical powers. Therefore, the grave is made in a special and beautiful ways. Waruga consists of two parts, body part and the cap. The body resembles a cube and the cap is like the roof.

Uniquely, Waruga is made by a person before he passed away. When the person would die, he entered the Waruga after being given full grave supplies. One day when it was done fully, it brought good things to his family.   Actually in North Sulawesi, there are many Waruga sites; one of them is in the Sawangan Village, Airmadidi Sub-district, North Minahasa regency. There are 143 Waruga sites in the village, divided into several sizes of groups such as 3 groups.

The first group is the small Waruga with 0-100 cm high for 10 pieces. The second group is medium-sized Waruga with 101-150 cm high for 52 pieces. Third gruop is the large size of Waruga with 151-250 cm high for 81 pieces. Waruga comes from the Tombulu language, which is from the syllable Wale Maruga which means the home of the processing dried-body. Waruga also has another meaning such as Wale Waru or grave from Domato or a kind of waxy soil. That was Indonesian Wonder for today with the topic “Waruga Site, in North Minahasa”.

Welcome back to Music Corner, a musical segment which introduces you to Indonesian music, either traditional or modern one. In today’s edition, we will present the songs from North Sulawesi.

Although the rhythm of the song sounded cheerfully, the pop song from North Sulawesi region is about a broken heart. Listener, this song is accompanied by modern music and nuances of traditional music of North Sulawesi.

Like the previous song, the song di Pantai Ene Mawita also combines with pop music and traditional music of North Sulawesi. The beach becomes a place that is often visited by people when unwind or just enjoy the beauty. This song tells the story of someone sitting on a beach in North Sulawesi, ENE MAWIRA beach, just to reflect and remove the sadness. The beach is usually more suitable for people who are reflecting, the only sound of the waves breaking on the beach.

The state must let its citizens understand their country. Indonesia should not be strange to its citizens. The state must explain its ideology, its constitution, its laws and its rules. By deeply understanding the country, the citizens will increasingly love their country. This was disclosed by Deputy Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly -MPR, Hidayat Nur Wahid in the Socialization of the Four Pillars of the MPR in Klaten, Central Java more recently, as quoted page mpr.go.id.

He explained that this socialization is intended for Indonesian citizens to have an in-depth understanding of Indonesia so that they love their country. Hidayat also disclosed that understanding the country is necessary. Hidayat took an example that developed country like Soviet Union could be divided into several countries because communist ideology is an imported ideology. He perceived that Indonesia which is an archipelagic country is more vulnerable to split. But reform in Indonesia does not make Indonesia split. Because, Indonesia has ideology Pancasila that is able to unite Indonesian figures and citizens.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of MPR, Ma'ruf Cahyono in the Quiz Competition of Four Pillars in Jakarta recently, as quoted mpr.go.id stated that MPR will continue to instill this nationality values, because the challenges ahead will be more severe. He also perceived that to face these challenges, Indonesia must have two main points: the resilience of ideology and competitiveness. In terms of competitiveness, according Ma'ruf, Indonesia inevitably has to compete domestically and internationally. He added that the identity must be present in every citizen of Indonesia.