By Rachel Shisei – EM TV News, Madang
The Indonesian government is encouraging trade with Papua New Guinea’s, given the fact that the two countries share the same border.
This eventuated after the Director of Momase Governor’s Secretariat, Andrew Ada, whose office is based in Madang, initiated a Bahasa Indonesian Language Speaking Training Program in Madang.
The Indonesian National News Attaché, Dr. Eddie Malatunam, on behalf of the Indonesian government has pledged to support the Bahasa speaking program in Madang, and has don’ted a laptop, a projector and English to Bahasa and Bahasa to English dictionaries to help students who are currently attending the Bahasa classes.
The students consist of adult locals, mostly women, who are interested in learning the language to be able to communicate with the Indonesian people, and gain knowledge on their manufacturing skills. This is so that they can turn food like sago and other vegetables into noodles, flour and many others.
The students’ task now is to learn Bahasa by heart and have their passports ready before August, to attend a Trade Fair in Indonesia.
“We’ve started the visa free border access but there are certain cases where you cannot cross over to Indonesia without visas. Therefore I’d advice you all to get your passports ready,” Dr Malatunam said.
The Deputy Provincial Administrator, Paul Adam, who’s also a Bahasa student, is making an open invitation to the Madang public as a way forward in the national government’s Small Medium Enterprise program.
“As the Deputy Provincial Administrator, I am extending an open invitation to interested persons from the Madang public, to come and attend the Bahasa classes,” Adam said.
Dr. Eddie Malatunam, the Indonesian National News Attaché also mentioned in his visit to Madang, that the Tusbab Secondary School and the Holy Spirit High Schools in Madang have expressed their interest in including Bahasa classes in their curriculum.
“Jakarta will send a teacher/trainer here for four months. I have planned that the teacher/trainer will be placed here to teach the local people that we will hire in PNG, to continue teaching Bahasa Indonesia in these two schools,” said Malatunam.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=SISyxvVDotM%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
