VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Lombok has been popular with its enchanting destinations such as Gili Trawangan and Gili Nanggu. However, today, I would like to introduce you one of the tourism destinations in Lombok, that has been more popular namely Gili Kedis. Gili Kedis is located in Central Sekotong, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Gili Kedis has pristine nature which has not been discovered by many people. Its clear waters captivate visitors to stay longer there. There are plenty of healthy and gorgeous coral reefs inhabited by fish. In addition to its tourism potential, the access to Gili Kedis is also relatively easy.

There are two routes that you can choose to get to Gili Kedis namely through Tawun Seaport in Sekotong or through Lembar Seaport in West Lombok. The Tawun Seaport is not like any other seaports. It is only a beach. At the seaport, visitors can rent small boat with a capacity of 6 people. By paying only Rp 300,000 to Rp 500,000, visitors can also explore Gili Sudak, Gili Tangkong, and Gili Nanggu which are located surrounding Gili Kedis.

Gili Kedis is a small yet beautiful island. To visit the desert island, the trip takes approximately 10 minutes. The white sand spanning across the coastline looks incredibly amazing. Since it is an uninhabited island, there is not a single facility except two gazebos that visitors can use to relax. If you want to stay over at Gili Kedis, you can camp there. The peacefulness at Gili Kedis makes you feel like at a private island. It is recommended that you visit the island in the morning. In addition, don’t forget to bring your power bank if you want to charge your phone because there is no electricity at the island. We also recommend you to bring enough foods and drinks if you want to camp there. You can buy water surrounding the Tawun Seaport.

Diplomatic Corner is from Denpasar, Bali.

KRI Bima Suci ship anchored at Benoa seaport of Bali after carrying out a series of mission of the first sailing of Bark class sailing ship to visit 9 neighboring countries. The countries, which were visited, are the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, China, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar. The ship carried Kartika Jala Krida 2019 unit of exercise to conduct diplomatic sailing of national ambassador and also students of Navy Academy. This was stated by Commander of Indonesian Navy of Benoa Headquarters, Col. Henricus Prihantoko at Benoa seaport on Wednesday. He said that the ship, which was made by Vreire shipyard in Spain, sailed for 99 days by carrying 89 crews, 18 trainers, and 83 students. In addition to carrying out diplomatic sailing, they also introduced Indonesian culture.

Pariaman, West Sumatera. 

The city government of Pariaman, West Sumatera will construct Tahfiz boarding school whose operation cooperates with Turkey’s Sulaimaniyah boarding school. This was stated by Head of Religion Ministry’s Office of Pariaman, M. Nur in Pariaman on Wednesday (23/10). The construction of the boarding school has three-star standard so that every room has air conditioner. He also explained that the cooperation with the Turkey’s boarding school related to provision of teacher looks for students and operational finance. While, Mayor of Pariaman, Genius Umar said that the existence of the boarding school is expected to be able to support the region as tourism city in Islamic principles.

Davao, the Philippines.

Indang Badinding and Rampai Saman dances, which were performed by students of Davao Indonesian school, succeeded to amaze thousands of visitors of Pakaradyan 2019 Festival at Tagum City, Davao del Norte province, the Philippines. This was stated by Principal of the school, Agus, which was quoted in press release of Indonesian Consulate General in Davao received in Jakarta on Wednesday (23/10). The promotion of Indonesian culture has become one of missions of Davao Indonesia school. Agus’ statement has been proven with various events which were participated in by Davao Indonesian school to introduce Indonesian culture throughout South Philippines. The participation of Indonesian Consulate General in Davao in Pakaradyan Festival is expected to give more understanding on Indonesia to the Filipinos and also to be able to strengthen relations which have been established so far.

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.