USINDO Report: We are pleased to post the following
official speech of H.E. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
President of the Republic of Indonesia at a USINDO
dinner on May 25, 2005.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
BY
H.E. DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AT A DINNER TENDERED BY
USINDO
WASHINGTON DC, 25 MAY 2005
Bismillaahi rahmannirrahiim
Thank you, Senator Kitt Bond, for your kind
introduction, and thank you for your friendship for
Indonesia. If you could kindly print me a copy, of
that very generous introduction.
My first order of business is, to invite all of you,
to give a big hand to honor Ambassador Al Laporta and
Ambassador Ed Masters of USINDO, for the great work
they have done all these years, to get Indonesia and
America closer.
The best badge of honor you can proudly wear is our
great admiration and utmost respect for your
tremendous contribution, to the peoples of Indonesia
and America.
I also commend the US-ASEAN Business Council Matt
Daley, Walter Lohman, Bob Heinz and colleagues for
their dedication and tireless work, to promote
business ties between America and ASEAN.
I am pleased to see all of you here tonight. Just in
case some of you thought you came to the wrong
reception, let me confirm that my name is Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono. I feel it necessary to say my
name because a few months ago, I was introduced by
someone as President Yoko Ono.
I come from a small village called Pacitan, in East
Java. After graduating from high school, I joined the
military, got married, earned a graduate Degree in the
United States, led a peace keeping unit in Bosnia,
got my four star, became a Minister, left the
Government, joined the elections, and became
Indonesia’s sixth President last year.
(That is the short version, of course; the long
version is actually much more complicated than that)
You know, this is my second keynote address for
USINDO. I will never forget my first USINDO keynote
address in 2003. Of all the 365 days that were
available in the year for me to speak, USINDO managed
to pick the one evening, where the mighty hurricane
Isabelle shut down Washington DC. And I don’t know
how they did it, but USINDO managed to get a full hall
of people who braved hurricane Isabelle. There was a
moment when I suspected, that they dressed up hotel
staff in tuxedos to attend my keynote address.
I think USINDO is trying to make it up for me tonight,
by selecting a warm, lovely summer evening for me, to
speak before an even larger audience. And let me
tell you, Al, that it is …working!
I must admit, however, that tonight I see a force
that is much stronger, much more powerful than
hurricane Isabel. That force is the radiant spirit
of friendship and goodwill, that warms our evening
tonight .
It is with that spirit, that I come to this great
country of yours.
And it is that spirit, that force, that drives the
relations between America and Indonesia.
Today, I met with President Bush to discuss how to
strengthen our bilateral relations. We agreed that
our relations are stable and strong. I think we
emerged from that meeting with an understanding, that
this relationship is too important to be taken for
granted, and too promising to be taken lightly.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am sure you have noticed, that something has
happened to the relations between Indonesia and
America recently.
There has been an incredibly deep emotional connection
between America and Indonesia since the tsunami.
Mainstream America became visually and emotionally,
exposed to Indonesia’s tremendous agony.
President Clinton told me, that ONE THIRD of the
American households contributed to the tsunami
victims, a display of solidarity, that is perhaps
unheard of in US history.
And on the ground in Aceh, the US military and the
Indonesian military worked together, day and night, to
find the dead and bury them, while saving the
survivors. I was amazed to learn that the crews of
USS Abraham Lincoln flew 2,800 missions in Aceh and
Nias, to deliver food, medicine, water to tsunami
survivors. I was also moved to hear, the devotion of
the doctors and nurses on board USNS Mercy, who
performed over 19,000 medical procedures for tsunami
victims in Aceh and Nias.
Which is why, when the USS Lincoln and USNS Mercy
ended their humanitarian mission in Aceh and Nias,
they left behind thankful patients, tearful friends,
and a grateful nation. You should all be proud of
America has done to help the tsunami victims.
The tsunami ordeal sparked global solidarity, but it
also gave the world an insight into true face of
Indonesia.
Look, I know that Indonesia has suffered from an image
problem in the last few years. The financial crises,
capital flight, political instability, ethnic
conflict, the East Timor mayhem in 1999, separatist
rebellions, the Bali bomb, the Marriot bomb, forest
fires. All these events shaped international
perception towards Indonesia.
But they no longer paint an accurate picture of what
the PRESENT Indonesia is all about.
I have come tonight to present you with a sketch of
Indonesia’s PROFILES, as I see them from my office.
These profiles, I think, reflect the real portrait
of today’s Indonesia.
The first of these is what I call the profile of
courage.
These days, you see it all around the country, as we
embrace and sweat for change.
But I saw it most clearly during the despair of the
tsunami, when the whole of Indonesia wept, and came
together.
The rich, the poor, children, students, housewives,
artists--everyone got into the act of caring and
contributing. No other event, has brought the whole
country together like this.
And in Aceh, courage was the common currency. I saw
the ultimate sacrifice in our soldiers who drowned
while trying to save the people. And I saw
courage in the eyes of the soldiers I met at Meulaboh,
who remained in their post to rescue the people , even
as they found out that their family had perished. I
saw the undying spirit in a young girl I met in Nias,
who lost her entire family but told me the only thing
she wanted to do was, to go back to school so she can
be children again. I saw compassion in the thousands
of volunteers who went to Aceh and Nias to bury the
dead, risking infectious diseases.
And I saw an incredible will to survive in an Acehnese
kid named Martunis, only 7 years old, who survived the
tsunami after being adrift for 21 days in the open
sea. He taught himself to eat instant noodles, and
survived on just a few bottles of mineral water, that
floated by him in the water. He was found on January
15th. Because Martunis was wearing a replica of
famous soccer player Rui Costa, the Portuguese
national players are now looking after his
rehabilitation.
In short, the tsunami has produced thousands of
nameless heroes. It reaffirms the dictum, that
Indonesia is always at its best in the moment of our
greatest despair.
This profile of courage, compassion and solidarity is
what I want you to remember, about the true face of
Indonesia.
Then there is the profile of a democratic Indonesia.
Last year, we held one of the most ambitious, and most
complex elections anywhere in the world. Over a
period of 9 months, 3 rounds of elections were held:
one Parliamentary round, and two Presidential rounds.
What I find to be remarkable is that, it seemed like
Indonesians cannot get enough of elections: in each of
the three elections, voters turned out exceeded 110
million, making it a total of over 350 million voters
for the whole year. Forgive me for saying this, but
that is a larger voting turn-out than in the US.
We held the free and fair elections in our terms, in
our own way, in our own resources. No one can dispute
that, the Indonesian people have full ownership of our
democracy.
I think the 2004 elections changed Indonesia for good.
It showed that Indonesians were not afraid of change.
It brought about new style and new standard of
campaigning, which by consequence modernized
Indonesian politics. It showed that Indonesia can
pass through the second free and fair multi-party
elections and secured a peaceful transfer of
Government, which is a benchmark for democratic
maturity.
It changed political landscape, for the first time
installing a President with a strong popular mandate,
chosen not by political party but directly by the
voters.
And most importantly, it produced widespread hope
among Indonesians.
And those of you with business plans in Indonesia will
be pleased to know, that the overall result of the
2004 elections is a political order with greater
stability, durability and predictability.
THAT is the face of democratic Indonesia.
And that is why, the relations between Indonesia and
America today is different than before. Ours is now a
unique relationship between two democracies, between
the world’s two largest democracies, between the
world’s oldest democracy and a younger democracy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to tell you another face of Indonesia.
I call it the profile of CHANGE. My good friend
Adam Schwarz, who came into my office a few weeks ago,
called it a “new energy” in Indonesia.
Whatever you call it, many would tell you that
Indonesia FEELS differently now.
A heat of change is upon us.
There are so many anecdotes that tell this story of
change.
You see in the corruption investigations of one of
Indonesia’s largest state-owned Bank, Bank Mandiri, or
in the investigation of the Electoral Commission’s
shady procurement practice. You see it in
declining smuggling activities at our ports. You see
in the fact that, for the first time, over 400 hundred
people from many different elements have been detained
for illegal logging. You see in it the fact that 37
officials—including Governors, mayors, regents and
members of Parliament are under investigation or being
tried for corruption. You see it in the way we
investigate the suspicious death of human rights
activist, Munir .
My favourite story is of a provincial Government
official who immediately cancelled his order of 9
expensive Mercedes Benz after I was sworn-in as
President—a wise move, I must say.
Daily and weekly, you read stories in the media that
tell you that Indonesia is back on its feet that we
ARE trying to do the right things.
We are undergoing a sweeping process of change and
creative deconstruction. Some of them are relatively
easy, others are painful.
And if you go by the numbers, I think we are on the
right track. The rupiah is stable. The economy grew
by (6,4 %) in the last quarter, despite the tsunami.
We have one of the lowest budget deficits in Asia.
Our stock market peaked to over 1.000. And for the
first time, we are seeing net capital inflows. If you
don’t believe me, ask the rating agencies—S&P, Moody,
Fitch who have given Indonesia higher marks recently.
Finally, there is the profile of internationalism.
It means that Indonesia is preoccupied with domestic
affairs, and the cliché about Indonesia being
inward-looking no longer applies to us.
Indonesia is now an outward-looking country very much
eager to shape regional and international order, and
intent on having our voice heard.
It is a sign of our new internationalism that for the
first in Indonesia’s history, my Presidential
inauguration in October last year, was attended by
foreign leaders and special envoys, from Australia,
Brunei Darussalam, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore,
Timor Leste, Thailand .
In the last 6 months, we have actively projected
Indonesia’s new internationalism. At the ASEAN
Summit, we strongly pushed for the ASEAN Security
Community, and we are now at the forefront of the
efforts to convene the “East Asia Summit”.
After the tsunami, we called for global solidarity to
help the tsunami victims around the Indian Ocean, and
in early January, we held a tsunami summit in Jakarta
attended by ASEAN leaders, leaders of tsunami-hit
countries and donor countries, the UN
Secretary-General, President of the World Bank.
And a few weeks ago, we hosted the Asian-African
Summit in Jakarta attended by 108 countries, where a
New Strategic Partnership was declared between Asian
and African countries, to work for peace and
prosperity.
The point is clear: internationalism will be very much
part of Indonesia’s dynamism in the next 5 years.
So these are the faces of Indonesia\, which I see and
hope you will remember. It is a profile courage in
facing the wrath of tsunami. It is profile of a
vibrant democracy. It is the profile of change. And
it is a profile of internationalism, in the pursuit of
our independent and active foreign policy.
The total sum is a country in transformation. Not
just a changing—but transforming.
You know, in 2001, my favorite columnist, Thomas
Friedman, called Indonesia (along with Russia), “a
messy state, too big to fail, too messy to work”.
Well, if Thomas Friedman were to revisit Indonesia
today, I would show him that Indonesia now is NOT
“messy state”, but a “fully-functioning democracy”.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,
I have come here to America, to strengthen our
bilateral relations, but also because I believe that
Indonesia and America have a very good opportunity to
work together, to promote international peace and
prosperity. Indonesia’s independent and active
foreign policy requires us to have a stable, strong,
constructive and broad-based engagement with America.
I should like to share a few thoughts on A question,
that many of my American friends have asked me: what
should be America’s role in the world? How should
America engage the world?
Well, let me say this. The United States wields
enormous power and influence in world affairs. It is
referred to as the only remaining superpower in the
world, the only country able to project its power
anywhere around the globe. The United States has the
world’s largest economy, has the world’s largest
defense budget, has world’s largest spending on
intelligence, and has the world’s largest diplomatic
machinery. It also has nuclear weapons and is a
permanent member of the UN Security Council. And its
sense of nationalism today, particularly since 9-11,
is highest than it has ever been.
The usage of America’s enormous power, therefore, is
a matter of great interest to the rest of the world .
The present and future world order will be determined
by how America uses that enormous power at her
disposal, and, more importantly, how she SHARES and
allocate her resources to promote peace and prosperity
.
America’s enormous power is a source of security to
some, and insecurity for others. That is why, I think
it is important for the US to project and emphasize
more of its SOFT POWER. The US has no shortage of
soft power: in terms of culture, values, sports,
entertainment, business, education, science and
technology, living standard, media, the US has
tremendous appeal to the international community.
Remember: the use of soft power charms and disarms.
Hard power, on the other hand, if it is used
incorrectly, provokes resistance and, sometimes,
resentment.
America’s engagement with the world has strongly
emphasized democracy, but perhaps there is a more
important theme: GOVERNANCE. Governance, in my
view, is the ideology of the 21st century.
With governance, democracy thrives; without it,
democracy fails. If the world is to change for the
better, it will require MORE than the expansion of
democracies, it requires the greater employment of
governance.
America’s engagement with the world should also stress
on TOLERANCE-- not just freedom, but also tolerance.
I would venture to say that in some cases, tolerance
is more important than freedom. It is tolerance that
sets us free. It is through tolerance that we can
attain genuine peace. It is tolerance that protects
freedom, harness diversity and delivers progress. It
is tolerance that makes openness manageable. In fact,
I would even venture to say, that in the affairs
between states and within state, the real division is
those who embrace tolerance and inclusion, and those
who do not.
And when it comes to tolerance, no one has a monopoly.
Whether you are big, medium or small, we all can
learn from one another.
We in Indonesia would also like to see the flowering
of MULTILATERALISM on the international scene—so that
we may see the grandeur of American leadership. For a
leader does not work alone. A leader works with and
through others. We would like to see America leading
a multilateral global partnership, for peace and
development.
In particular, the international community expects
America to lead in the efforts, to meet the Millenium
Development Goals, which includes the goal to half the
number of people living in poverty by 2015. The
Millenium Development Goals has a unique uniting
value, because it is not determined individually by a
particular power, rather it is set collectively and
democratically, by the community of nations.
I think, I also speak for the international
community in expressing the hope, that the United
States will remain open to students from all over the
world.
I know, it is the natural instinct of Americans to
want to change the world. What I would like to tell
you is, that the best way for America to change the
world is to share your knowledge with the world.
Remember: this is coming from a President, who
graduated from Webster University in St. Louis.
The United States is still the number one choice for
Indonesian students, who want to study abroad. And I
am glad that today President Bush affirmed his desire,
to see more Indonesian students studying in America.
My final advise to America relates to something that
my father taught me and a well-known virtue of Asian
cultures. It is called: patience.
Everything about the American culture is super
fast—just like globalization, just like the ATM
machine. But the world is a big supermarket, where
everyone runs on different speed. The world also has
different clocks.
In such a world, patience, combined with perseverance,
can be just the key to unlock the many problems of our
world.
So be brave, America, but also be patient.
So these are my two-cents worth of advise to America.
If they are worth anything, it is because they come
from the heart, and they come from a friend.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have now come to the end of my remarks. Or perhaps
more accurately, I have now completely run out of
things to say to you.
I appreciate seeing all of you here tonight, and I
speak on behalf of my people to thank you all, for
your friendship and goodwill for Indonesia.
Have a good evening, and God bless you all.
Thank you.
_____________________________________________________
Berhenti/mengganti konfigurasi keanggotaan anda, silahkan ke:
http://rantaunet.org/palanta-setting
------------------------------------------------------------
Tata Tertib Palanta RantauNet:
http://rantaunet.org/palanta-tatatertib
____________________________________________________
