In the Front of Lemhanas Participants, President Jokowi Emphasizes the Need of Mental Revolution

President Jokowi speaks in the front of Lemhanas participants at State Palace, Jakarta.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that as a country with abundant natural recourses, Indonesia had lost its golden opportunities twice to build economic foundation toward prosperity. First opportunity was in the 70’s when oil booming occurred. And the second one was in the 80’s when massive exploitation of the forest occurred.

 “We have been leapfrogged by Singapore which has no natural resources but on the other hand very much concern on its human resources. Now Singapore speeds away leaving us behind,” President Jokowi said as he briefed the participants of the 51^st and 52^nd Regular Education Program of National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) of 2014 at State Palace, Jakarta, on Tuesday (18/11).

President Jokowi added, likewise China which was very rapidly advanced, from a close Bamboo Curtain communist country, suddenly opened itself and sped away into a country with economic growth reaching 11-12 percent. “Every city in China now is developing remarkably,” he said.

President Jokowi recounted   his meeting with Vice Chairman  of  Chinese’s  Communist Party. “I asked him, aren’t you afraid that all economic and investment controls given to foreign country? He said, not at all, because the objects are in China, harbor, toll road,” he said.

According to President Jokowi, foreign direct investment was one of fund sources for development and very beneficial for our country.

 “Such mindset should be applied in Indonesia, reversing state ideology relying all on State Enterprises. And now Chinese foreign exchange reserves reach an unconceivable amount of tens of thousands of trillion. All goods circulating in world markets are from China,” President Jokowi said.

Meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping when President Jokowi attended APEC Summit in Beijing, he asked President Xi to share just three key factors of the country he was leading.

These were the requirements towards successful country:

“Unite big parties. This will become the state’s power. Then, formulate great ideas, long term plan, not only 1 or 2 days, but also 100 years,” he said. So, whoever the President is, the program will be continued in line with the same programs according to the ideas.

And the third, President Jokowi said, pursue infrastructure development for the sake of connectivity of inter-city, inter-province, and inter-island. “This is what moves people’s economy. It is useless that people are asked to plant agriculture commodity, but the yields cannot reach market in the city,” he said.

According to President Jokowi, we could take such thinking where it is possible to adopt. Indonesia needed mindset revolution. “In global change, we impossibly think monotonically. Revolutionize the system.. Revolutionize the regulation. Do not dwell on politic every day, taunt and insult each other. We will run out of energy and we will not be able to focus on realizing great ideas,” Jokowi said. (WID/Humas Setkab/ES)