VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Welcome back to Today in History, a daily segment which brings back people and events from this date in the past as recorded in history.

We’ll start with May 8, 1945 Winston Churchill announced the end of the War in Europe.

In a radio-broadcast speech from Downing Street, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged the British people to rejoice, but not to forget the hard work and the efforts to be made for the future. King George VI also gave a speech, broadcast from Buckingham Palace which was damaged by bombs. In his speech the King thanked his people. Both speakers reminded listeners that Japan had not been beaten yet.

Next event is that  May 8, 1948 is establsihment of the first World Red Cross Day.

Every year since 1948, May 8 has been celebrated as World Red Cross Day to appreciate the services of the founder of the World Red Cross Movement, Henry Dunant, who was also born on the same date. The World Red Cross Day commemoration aims to inspire, facilitate and promote all humanitarian activities undertaken by the International Committee of the Red Cross and members of the participating National Community. In addition, it is also used as an opportunity to appreciate the services of volunteers and staff who are struggling to save the lives of many people.

Last event of Today in History is that on May 8, 1993 was the death of Marsinah, an Indonesian labor activist.

Before her body was found on May 9, 1993 in Jegong Village, Wilangan Nganjuk District, East Java, Marsinah was one of the employees of PT. Catur Putera Surya, who was very active in demanding a more decent wage. Marsinah along with other workers, went on strike to call their demands. Until May 5, 1993, Marsinah was still active with her colleagues in demonstrations and talks. However, on the following days, Marsinah's whereabout was not known by her colleagues until her body was found on May 9, 1993. Marsinah was declared dead on May 8, 1993. Autopsy results conducted by doctors at Nganjuk Regional General Hospital concluded that Marsinah died as a result of persecution. As an activist Marsinah earned the Yap Thiam Hien Award in 1993, for her sevice in upholding human rights.

Bajo is an inseparable ethnicity with the sea. Bajo community residence is very unique; most of their houses are built on the water. In the past, they even lived in boats or Lepa. Currently, Bajo people have spread throughout the archipelago, mostly in Sulawesi. There is one tradition of fishing that Bajo community usually does, which requires them to travel long distances. The tradition is called Bapongka. Bapongka is a Bajo community tradition that uses traditional equipment and keeps the marine environment from damage.

Bapongka is sailing tradition for a living survive or to get sea products to another region or province, for several weeks and even months. They went to sea in groups. Each group consists of three to five boats, each boat consists of one person. The formation of small group of Bapongka is done based on closeness. Usually the small group will meet each other in a fishing location then form a large group consist of 15 or even 20 boats.

The traditional boat called ‘lepa’, which is equipped with outrigger and roof made of sago leaves. Generally the boats are run with oars, although the boats are now equipped katinting machine. During the fishermen perform Bapongka, they brought quite a lot of foodstuffs such as sago and some equipments, such as petromax lamps, water containers, cooking and eating utensils, sleeping gear, and catching equipment for sea cucumbers and other marine products.

Bapongka tradition has a good impact for marine conservation, especially coral reef, because it only using simple equipment. In performing the Bapongka tradition, Bajo community have some taboos that must be obeyed. The prohibition for Bajo people is believed to affecting the catch, such as not to throw something at sea when doing Bapongka. They should not dispose rice washing water, cooking charcoal,  coffee grounds, chilli water, ginger water, orange peel, kitchen ash into the sea. When washing the rice, the water put on the boat, and will be shed after approaching the mainland. Likewise with wood charcoal used cooking, ash kitchen, orange peel, chili water and ginger water.

The simplicity of boats and equipments as well as the prohibitions that should not be violated because it is believed to be a disaster. While, Bajo community also believe the sea has a ruler in the form of spirit, called Mbo. All things make the Bapongka tradition of Bajo community highly appreciate and preserve the nature, as their local wisdom.

The Asian Games 2018 is going to take place in Jakarta and Palembang for a few months to come. But seemingly, President Joko Widodo has not been satisfied with the promotion of this international event that has not been carried out at maximum. In a limited meeting at Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java on April 18 and at Presidential Office in Jakarta on 4 May, President Joko Widodo reminded that the 18^th Asian Games does not become a fever amidst the Indonesian community. The President asks the echo of the Asian Games to resound throughout Indonesia. Indeed, the Asian Games is an event with the national and international scale; it does not belong to the host cities: Jakarta and Palembang.

In response to the President's criticism of the promotion of the Asian Games, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of Asian Games Indonesia –Inasgoc, Erick Thohir said that the role of state institutions is very important in promoting the Asian Games. On the sidelines of the 2018 Asian Games entitled "BRI Sunday Fest" in Jakarta on last Sunday (6/5), Erick expressed his hope that state institutions such as TVRI and RRI must play a major role in promoting the Asian Games. In addition, the Indonesian National Police -Polri must guarantee the security during the event. He views that both state media have wide network throughout Indonesia and the Polri also have professional personnel to safeguard the 18^th Asian Games.

To promote the Asian Games 2018 which will take place on August 18 to September 2 is the common responsibility of all state institutions, including the Indonesian Armed Forces –TNI, Polri and the general public. Both TNI and Polri have the main task to maintain security in the implementation of the Asian Games. The Ministry of Youth and Sports and Inasgoc must take advantage of many channels in addition to expecting state agencies to promote in short time ahead. Schools, social media and private institutions should also cooperate to further intensify the promotion of the 2018 Asian Games.

Diplomatic Corner, a program which presents information about activities and progress of Indonesian diplomacy in the international world.

The first information is from Russia.

Indonesian student association in Russia held sport competition among students of ASEAN member countries on Sunday (29/4/2018). The title of the competition was ‘Permira ASEAN Student Games 2018’. The sport competition was participated in by 7 countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Kamboja, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar. The games with the theme “let’s play together, build friendship and fair play “ was opened by displaying flags from each country of ASEAN countries and it was accompanied with traditional songs from those countries. At the opening, the participants also performed opening creation dance with the name “Perdamaian” or in English “peace” dance from East Kalimantan. Thus, cutting ‘Nasi Tumpeng’ was done by Indonesian Ambassador to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, Wahid Supriyadi as a sign that the event was begun. Tumpeng is a cone-shaped rice dish with side dishes of vegetables and meat. Garin Yudha Primaditya as head of the committee said that the event was hoped to be able to strengthen relations among ASEAN countries, to unite ideas and to strengthen ASEAN young people in the future. There are 3 sports which were competed namely badminton, table tennis and futsal. In addition to the sport games, there was also ASEAN stand bazaar Indonesia. The winners of the event for the first time were single man badminton from Vietnam, single woman table tennis from Vietnam, and futsal was from man group of Malaysia and Indonesia only ranked on the 2nd and 3rd. Around 300 participants and guests who attended the event, were very enthusiastic to hold the sporty event for the first time by Indonesian Student Association in Russia.

The next information is from Aceh province.

Governor of Aceh, Irwandi Yusuf received the visit of Qatar Ambassador to Indonesia, Ahmed Jassim al-Hammar in Aceh on Monday (30/4/2018). In the meeting, he offered investment in Sabang port to Qatar. In addition, the Governor also said that Aceh province wants to open direct flight route between Aceh and Qatar. To Ambassador Ahmed Jassim, Governor Irwandi Yusuf further said that many Acehnese people are currently working at oil companies in Qatar. Ambassador Ahmed Jassim welcomed the investment offered by the government of Aceh. The Ambassador also appreciated good relations which have been established between Qatar and Indonesia so far. The Ambassador also said that he will conduct the official visit in the future in a bid to discuss in detail various kinds of cooperation which are probably explored.

We end Diplomatic Corner with the news on Indonesia Fair 2018 in Dhaka.

The event was held as integrated promotion event is which combined with trade mission, culture performance and tourism. During 3 days of the implementation of the event starting from April 26-28, 2018, the Indonesia Fair held in Dhaka, Bangladesh was visited by around 10,000 visitors of Bangladeshi people. Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Rina P. Soemarno said that the event succeeded to record transaction worth $279.19 million dollars or more than Rp 3.76 billion, which was received from business meeting and trade exhibition. Ambassador Rina stated in a press release on Tuesday (1/5) that the achievement is a good start to strengthen Indonesia-Bangladesh trade cooperation. Especially, Ambassador Rina gave appreciation to Indonesian businesspeople who participated in Indonesia Fair 2018. She hoped that the national businesspeople could expand their business to see market potential of Bangladesh which is so big. The visitors of the exhibition were entertained with Indonesian traditional dances from 6 provinces namely West Sumatera, Aceh, Kalimantan, Papua, Jakarta, and West Java by the Indonesian embassy’s art team in  Dhaka and Dhakabashi. The event also showed short movies, documentary or fiction to introduce social life of Indonesian people. Bangladeshi people and the businesspeople who participated in the exhibition, hoped that the event can become annual event in Bangladesh.