VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Erin McCusker, Senior Vice President, Leader, SATO and LIXIL - 

Sanitation must be the main concern because it relates to important needs for the community, but it is quite unfortunate if it turns out that more than two million Indonesians still use toilets that do not comply with existing health standards.

Erin McCusker, Senior Vice President, Leader, SATO and LIXIL, explained that more than two million people in Indonesia still use non-standard toilets, this refers to the World Health Organization (WHO) / ​​United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Program ) for Water Availability, Sanitation, and Cleanliness.

“That's why SATO offers sanitation and hygiene products that are easy to implement and affordable for more than 16 million people in Indonesia who still use open latrines. In fact, we are developing innovative, aspirational and affordable sanitation and hygiene product solutions, both for household consumers and agencies in rural and peri-urban areas or around urban areas," said Erin.

She added, not only in Indonesia, his party expanding in the Southeast Asia region is also a step towards achieving his big goal of improving the quality of life of more than 100 million people in various countries in 2025.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Tuesday, SATO Leader for the Asia region, Suguru Sakata explained that SATO Solutions has been prepared to bring change to millions of lives around the world and hope to fill the gap in Indonesia, by offering affordable and advanced solutions towards sustainable sanitation management that is safe and clean, and can achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 6.2//VOI

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams - 

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Penny Williams PSM begins an official visit to North Sumatra today. Ambassador Williams will meet with the Deputy Governor of North Sumatra, Mr. Musa Rajekshah, as well as local business owners, representatives in the field of education, and local community leaders.

“It's great to be in Medan, the heart of North Sumatra province and one of the biggest cities in Indonesia. With a strong economy, including in the tourism and education sectors, I really
excited to learn more about this dynamic region," said the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams. 

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Monday, while in Medan, Ambassador Williams will visit the University of North Sumatra for delivering a public lecture on Australia-Indonesia relations. In addition, he will also organized a series of activities with Australian alumni marking the 70th anniversary Australian scholarships in Indonesia.

“For 70 years, our Australian alumni have helped create strong relationships between Indonesian and Australian communities. I can't wait to meet our great alumni based in Medan and celebrating this important year together,” said Ambassador Williams//VOI

Illustration : Graduation - 

UK Minister for Development Andrew Mitchell announced a new UK funding of £30 million (IDR 600 billion) to boost education opportunities for women and girls in Southeast Asia at the Education World Forum (EWF) held in London this week. EWF is the largest international gathering of education ministers which was also attended by Indonesian Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Nadiem Makarim.

The five-year programme is the first in a series of new ASEAN-UK programmes designed to deliver on UK commitments as a Dialogue Partner. The programme will focus on four main areas: foundation learning; out-of-school girls and children with disability; gender barriers to digital skills and employment; enabling work on education technology.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Saturday, The new UK funding will help address barriers to education including low quality schooling, learning poverty and limited access to schools in rural areas across the ASEAN region. UK expertise will help schools improve the quality of teaching through lesson planning and in-class support which means the programme will directly support progress towards the UK’s international development commitments for 40 million more girls in school and 20 million more girls reading.

Though this is the first in a series of new ASEAN-UK programmes, the UK already works closely with Indonesia to empower women and girls through education and digital literacy. Our Digital Access Programme in Indonesia promotes inclusive, responsible and sustainable digital transformation through projects that focus on 

improved internet connectivity in rural communities, digital literacy for the underserved, and the upskilling of marginalised female entrepreneurs in business, financial, and digital technology. Over the last two years, the UK spent £1.2m supporting digital inclusion across Indonesia, with approximately 6,000 women and girls having directly benefitted from improved digital connectivity, skills, content, and services.

The UK Skills for Prosperity Programme in Indonesia has supported more women and girls to develop their skills to join the maritime sector workforce and encouraged more women entrepreneur to start new tourism businesses in coastal areas. Whilst through the MENTARI programme, women and girls form the marginalised community in Sumba, NTT were given a tailored support and education to become local leaders for the management, operation, and economic opportunities of the project.

On education sector, the UK government’s flagship scholarship programme, Chevening, aims to give opportunities to future leaders and change makers from across Indonesia with diversity and inclusive agenda attached. In recent years, well over 50% of successful candidates for the Chevening programme in Indonesia are dominated by women//VOI

During the launch of the book “Admired and Despised: the Life and Works of Christaan Snouck Hurgronje” by Leiden University Professor, Wim van den Doel - 

The Research Center for Society and Culture and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV)-Jakarta together with the National Library (Perpusnas) of the Republic of Indonesia, the Pustaka Torches Foundation and the ANTARA Journalistic Photo Gallery held the launch of the book “Admired and Despised: the Life and Works of Christaan Snouck Hurgronje” by Leiden University Professor, Wim van den Doel, Saturday (13/5/2023).

Snouck Hurgronje is a historical figure, a scientist from the Netherlands whose story is controversial among historians. The book, translated from Dutch, describes the adventures of Snouck's life.
In his book, Wim van den Doel tells the life of Christaan ​​Snouck Hurgronje as a person who is full of nuances and extraordinary, despite the controversy over his being considered a spy.
“Snouck is very happy living with the Sundanese people. He really wanted to live a life among the Muslims. He didn't even like the Dutch living in Batavia just to get rich quick or to have a career as a Civil Servant. He doesn't like it at all,” said Wim.

Born in Oosterhout on February 8, 1857, continued Wim, Snouck had lived and studied in Mecca. Because of his intelligence and understanding of Islam, Snouck was appointed as an official adviser to the Dutch East Indies colonial government and played an active role in formulating the strategy for the Aceh War (1873–1913) with General van Heutsz.
In 1890, the book tells that Snouck married a Sundanese woman named Sangkana. People think that Snouck married a Sundanese just to get information and spy, but based on the letter that Wim read, this is not the case.

Together with Sangkana, Snouck was blessed with four children. When giving birth to her fifth child, Sangkana died with the baby being born. From the letter that Wim found, Snouck's life became dark.
Snouck didn't want to do anything, didn't want to eat. Snouck was completely shocked by his wife's death.
"Snouck wouldn't have done all of that if he didn't really love his wife," said Wim.

The Head of the National Library, Muhammad Syarif Bando said that as a Malay Professor at Leiden University, Snouck had written more than 1,400 articles about the situation in Aceh and the position of Islam in the Dutch East Indies.

His books have become reference material in various socio-anthropological studies and have inspired writers to create books, as well as educational materials for all walks of life.
"Snouck's great thoughts made him known as a colonial architect in the field of Islamic theology and its correlation in socio-cultural aspects," he said.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Sunday, the Head of National Library of Indonesia revealed that as a preservation and deposit institution, National Library continues to preserve, utilize, and disseminate Snouck Hurgronje's works.

Meanwhile, in a mini symposium, Professor of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Jajat Burhanudin explained that the Indonesian-Netherlands Cooperation in Islamic Studies (INIS) published a number of translated editions of books published by the Netherlands on Islam in Indonesia, including Snouck's work. However, the publication is very limited.

"Snouck's books are very limited in Indonesia which can be accessed by the general public," he said.
Jajat continued, starting from Java, Snouck's encounter with Indonesian Muslims was followed by observing the ways of Javanese clerics in practicing Islam so that the religion developed into an established system.

The book launch event was also attended by the President of Leiden University, Annetje Ottow; Leiden University Library Director, Kurt de Belder; Director of KITLV-Jakarta, Marrik Bellen; General Manager of the Indonesian Torch Library Foundation, Kartini Nurdin; and Professor of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Jajang A. Rohmana.

The event was also enlivened by a photo exhibition from the digital collection of the Leiden University Library, the Netherlands. The exhibition will take place from 13-25 May 2023 in the Exhibition Zone, 4th floor of the RI National Library Service Facility Building//VOI