VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

MOU signing between Indonesia and Australia on Water Management - 

Minister of National Development Planning/Head of National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Suharso Monoarfa with Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Penny Williams PSM Sunday it exchanged the latest memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the field of water resources planning cooperation. 

This 5 year agreement was signed on 17 April 2023 by Minister Monoarfa and Minister for Environment and Water Australia, Tanya Plibersek MP, to support information exchange and expertise between Australia and Indonesia in the areas of sustainable water resources management, adaptation and climate mitigation related to water, as well as effective water supply and sanitation practices.

“Effective water infrastructure supports the survival of the community, industry and the environment our live. This agreement demonstrates the strength of cooperation between Indonesia and Australia on the topic it is important to manage water resources," said the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams. 

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Thursday, this renewed commitment builds on the hard work and strong collaboration of the previous MoU, which has helped realize various joint activities.

This includes successful joint training in the field of flood risk management and water resources governance and lake management workshops, which brought together experts from both countries to share ideas on how best to manage water quality and water scarcity issues.

Minister Monoarfa expressed his appreciation for the collaborative activities under the previous MoU in in flood management, water regulation, irrigation modernization, and lake management.

"We are collaborating on several activities that will bring the two countries towards management efficient, effective, accountable, transparent, and water resources and agriculture people oriented," he said.

Minister Monoarfa also said that water security and its relationship with food security and energy, are part of Indonesia's Vision 2045 in the long-term development plan
national. Senior Officials from Australia and Indonesia will meet again in late 2023 to developing new projects under renewed agreements//VOI

Head of the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP), Yudian Wahyudi - 

In commemoration of the Bung Karno month, the National Library (Perpusnas) through the Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) of the Bung Karno Library, held the Bung Karno Exhibition.

The exhibition entitled "Internalization of Bung Karno's Thoughts Through Various Collections of the National Library", was held at the Lobby of the National Library of Indonesia Services Building, Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan No. 11, Jakarta.

Head of National Library, Muhammad Syarif Bando said, June is such an important month. The reason is, it contains important dates related to Bung Karno's life.

Among them, June 1 marked the birth of Pancasila, Bung Karno was born on June 6, 1901, and Bung Karno died on June 21, 1970.

"This exhibition was held as an effort to internalize Bung Karno's thoughts, both regarding the values ​​contained in all the documents produced," he said after opening the Bung Karno Exhibition, Thursday (1/6/2023).

He explained that National Library has the main task of disseminating information about the nation's journey, to ensure that the younger generation does not lose its cultural roots.

"Then the symbol of the library is a bridge of past, present and future knowledge," he said.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Thursday, currently, the Bung Karno Proclamator Library UPT has a collection of 6547 copies about Bung Karno and 246,856 copies which are supporting collections related to Bung Karno's thoughts.

Meanwhile, Head of the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP), Yudian Wahyudi conveyed, one of Bung Karno's thoughts was the Pancasila concept which became the basis of the nation's philosophy of life.

"Pancasila as a state philosophy has proven everything, especially as a liberating and unifying ideology for the nation," he said.

He explained that Pancasila as the ideology of the Indonesian state includes values ​​that were also listed in the Proclamation of Independence.

"I say our proclamation is the best proclamation on earth in history. Because it happened in the middle of the second war, and we can be independent without military technology," he explained.
With this exhibition, he continued, it is part of remembering that history should not be forgotten.

"They used to be very simple, very limited but able to offer independence, so now it's our job and that of the younger generation to practice Pancasila values ​​in various ways of life," he continued.

He hopes that the younger generation can make Bung Karno a role model in increasing self-capacity and enriching insight.

"Of course by reading a lot of books, especially books in the library," he ordered.

The exhibition, which will be held from 1-30 June 2023, is open to the public. The exhibition displays a collection of historical books, tapes, photographs. This exhibition shows the deep thoughts of the Proclaimer.

Besides that, the Deputy for Development of Library Materials and Information Services at the National Library, Mariana Ginting said, the exhibition for the Bung Karno Month aims to introduce and socialize Bung Karni's thoughts through various types of library materials owned by the National Library.

"Not only exhibitions, we also organize other activities which are routinely held every year in Blitar in collaboration with the Blitar City Government," he said.

The activities carried out included Pancasila Grebeg, Economic Independence Talkshow, Bung Karno Library Expo, Videographic Literacy, Graphic Design Literacy, Mustikarasa Literacy, Safety Riding Festival, Painting Festival, to the Bung Karno Jackets Declaration (Bung Karno City/Regency Network) the plan will be attended by 22 regional heads throughout Indonesia//VOI

Head of National Library, Muhammad Syarif Bando, meets Commission X DPR RI - 

Commission X DPR RI supports the National Library of Indonesia (Perpusnas) to obtain more budget in the coming year. This reflects on the National Library's budget performance score which reached 94.42 in 2022 in the very good category.

This was revealed at the Hearing Meeting held by the National Library of Indonesia together with Commission X DPR RI in the agenda for discussing the Budget Work Plan (RKA) and Government Work Plan (RKP) at Senayan, Wednesday (31/05/2023).

Deputy Chairperson of Commission X DPR RI Faction of the Prosperous Justice Party Abdul Fikri Faqih explained that currently the indicative ceiling for National Library Spending for the 2024 fiscal year is IDR 721.19 billion. This figure increased by 45.29 billion rupiah from this year's only 675.9 billion rupiah.

"National Library is considered capable of carrying out what is the hope of Commission X DPR RI even though the budget is very small and limited," he explained.

Fikri said National Library of Indonesia had submitted additional proposals to the 2024 RAPBN to strengthen literacy and internal service quality in the amount of 383.16 billion Rupiah and was asked to complete a study of the determination of programs and activity targets.

“It needs to be completed with budget data along with qualitative and quantitative studies on target setting. So it can be seen clearly in the RKP which activities require budget support," he added.

Head of National Library, Muhammad Syarif Bando revealed, not only in terms of budget performance value, distribution of physical special allocation funds (DAK) for 2022 National Library of Indonesia also occupies 2nd position with a value of 94.93% compared to other fields/sub-sectors.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Thursday, even though the budget provided previously was limited, National Library of Indonesia has already implemented many programs that are in line with the theme of the 2024 RKP, namely accelerating economic transformation that is inclusive and sustainable.

"In the 2024 RKP, National Library will focus on developing a culture of literacy, creativity and innovation in an effort to improve the quality of life and welfare," he said.

The Head of National Library of Indonesia further explained that this would be achieved in various ways. These include improving the quality of library services based on social inclusion, strengthening literacy content that supports community productivity, and developing an Archipelago manuscript center as an effort to develop and utilize the nation's cultural treasures.

In an effort to preserve the Archipelago manuscripts, Syarif Bando revealed that the National Library had collaborated with various parties. One of them, namely the result of National Library of Indonesia collaboration with Leiden University in the Netherlands and various parties who succeeded in obtaining the designation of the Hikayat Aceh Manuscript as Memory of the World (MoW) by UNESCO on 18 May 2023.

National Library of Indonesia has also signed an MoU with the British Library in terms of documentation and research on the cultural heritage of the Indonesian nation in its collections as well as good practices in managing manuscripts as cultural and historical heritage.

In line with this matter, Member of Commission X of the National Mandate Party Fraction Zainuddin Maliki said that with a fairly limited budget, National Library has shown very good performance.

"The mindset currently owned by National Library of Indonesia in efforts to build and improve literacy culture to the producer level is very good. This will be achieved more quickly if we can provide support to increase the amount of the budget, "he concluded//VOI

Ice melted in Antarctica - 

Geneva, WMO - The World Meteorological Organization will elevate the cryosphere to one of its top priorities, given the increasing impacts of diminishing sea ice, melting glaciers, ice sheets, permafrost and snow on sea level rise, water-related hazards and water security, economies and ecosystems.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Monday, the World Meteorological Congress, WMO’s top decision-making body, endorsed a new resolution calling for more coordinated observations and predictions, data exchange, research and services. It proposes to ramp up activities, with a proposed increased in funding from the regular budget and extrabudgetary funding.

Delegates from around the world voiced concern that what happens in Polar and high mountain areas affects the whole globe, in particular small island states and densely populated coastal zones.

“The cryosphere issue is a hot topic not just for the Arctic and Antarctic, but it is a global issue,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.

Sue Barrell (Australia) and Diane Campbell (Canada) who are co-chairs of the WMO’s, Executive Council’s Panel on Polar and High Mountains Observations, Research, and Services, outlined the challenges and the need for urgent action.

Well over a billion people rely on water from snow and glacier melt, carried downstream by the major river basins of the world. The irreversible changes in the global cryosphere will therefore affect adaptation strategies and access to water resources.

Arctic permafrost is melting and is a “sleeping giant” of greenhouse gases. Arctic permafrost stores twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere today. Thawing mountains and Arctic permafrost creases increased risk of natural cascading hazards.

Glaciers, Greenland and Antarctica ice sheet melt accounts for about 50 percent of sea level rise, which is accelerating. This is having growing and cascading impacts on small island developing states and densely populated coastal areas.

Cryosphere changes in mountain areas are leading to an increased risk of hazards such as rockslides, glacier detachments and floods. For example, Pakistan has surveyed more than 3000 glacial lakes, of which 36 were potentially dangerous and at high risk for outburst. It suffered numerous glacial lake outbursts and flash floods in 2022 – a year which saw extreme and prolonged heat in March and April and devastating floods in September and October.

There is a need for coordination of activities in Antarctic carried out by Members to meet needs for meteorological data and services and for environmental monitoring and climate research. 

The resolution calls for greater investment and mobilization of activities well beyond the WMO community. It sets out the high-level priorities and proposed actions, which are linked to WMO’s Long-Term Goal. 

The urgency of global and regional emerging risks from the changing cryosphere in a changing climate, is understood and reflected in the workplans of WMO bodies and in global frameworks.

Collaborative and coordinated technical mechanisms are optimized to support advancing service delivery by Members, to address relevant gaps in polar and high mountain regions, at all scales.

Earth system predictions are enhanced through closing gaps in polar and high mountain observations; improving data sharing; and improved numerical models integrating research on cryospheric processes.

Partnerships and collaboration with research and external stakeholders advance knowledge sharing and amplify the existing capacity to deliver services, in a regional relevant manner.

Antarctica: Members’ collaboration in collecting and sharing observations, conducting research, and developing and providing services, is enhanced.

Sea level rise, ice and glaciers are among the climate indicators monitored by WMO and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The WMO State of the Global Climate 2022 report highlighted the rapid change//VOI