Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia on 67th Anniversary of Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung City, West Java Province, January 17, 2022
Good afternoon,
Shalom,
Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Om Swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of virtue.
Distinguished Ministers of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet;
Distinguished members of the Supreme Audit Agency;
Distinguished Governor of West Java province and Mayor of Bandung city;
Distinguished Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Parahyangan Catholic University Foundation;
Distinguished Chancellor of Parahyangan University Mr. Mangadar Situmorang Ph.D. and the Vice Chancellors.
Distinguished professors, educators, staffs, students, alumni leaders, alumni and partners;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
First of all, I would like to wish a happy 67th Anniversary to the entire academic community of Parahyangan Catholic University. The Government also expresses its deepest gratitude to Parahyangan University that has made a major contribution to the nation’s history in the form of thoughts, human capital and real works for the progress of Indonesia.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today is a really difficult time, a difficult time for all countries, including Indonesia. And we know that the Industrial Revolution 4.0, technological disruption, followed by a pandemic have given rise to global uncertainty.
Leaders are in doubts in taking decisions. It can change every day, every week, or every month since the situation is uncertain. Also, the complexity of the problems which we have not previously calculated by any country keep arising. Everything came up due to the pandemic and due to the disruption of technology.
Energy scarcity that we have never calculated appears in many countries, food scarcity has started to appear in several countries, container scarcity that has also never been calculated has disrupted logistics distribution in all countries, and also increased inflation that we never expected to appear in all countries. All countries are afraid of the rising inflation. There is also an increase in producer prices as prices of all raw materials increase. There will be an increase in producer prices which will eventually lead to an increase in consumer prices.
Things like this that cause the complexity of the problem to constantly appear. So, we need a global leadership to bring back certainty. This is not easy. And now we are chairman of the G20 countries, countries with the largest GDP in the world. This is what I said earlier, a situation that is not easy.
But we should be grateful that the spike of COVID-19 cases in May, mid-July, which caused horror everywhere at that time, hospitals were full of patients, they even be treated in the hallways, especially in Java and Bali, has passed. I remember at that time we had 56,000 daily cases. We should be grateful that today our daily cases is at 855, from 56,000 to 855. We even had reached 100-200 daily cases few days ago.
How could we drastically drop the daily cases from 56,000 to 100? That’s because we have the spirit of gotong royong. We have Pancasila values, something that big countries don’t have. People in the villages, in the neighborhood unit (RT), in the community unit (RW) are willing to lend their houses as quarantine facilities. They were even willing to give staple food to those impacted by the pandemic. The implementation of Pancasila values exists, our mutual cooperation is still very strong. That’s what other countries don’t have.
Many are surprised as to why Indonesia’s daily cases has dropped from 56,000 to only around 100. The key is to involving everyone – be it the Central Government, regional governments, the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and the National Police (Polri), people’s organizations, and our apparatus at the grassroots level.
Currently, thirty provinces have met the target of vaccination of above 70 percent. Vaccination coverage has reached 297.5 million doses. It is a big number. West Java province is already above 70 percent—83 percent as reported by the Governor.
297 million is not easily achieved for a country as big as ours. Injecting 297 million doses to people in 17,000 islands, 514 regencies and cities, 34 provinces, is not an easy thing. Some have to take a boat, some have to ride a motorbike to go up the mountain, it’s not an easy thing.
I really appreciate the TNI and the Polri who provide full support in the vaccination program. Our vaccination rate is the fourth in the world after China, Brazil, and the United States.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
COVID-19 pandemic must not stop the massive transformation that we are undertaking. We must continue to carry out the big transformation that we are doing.
First, we are accelerating the economic transformation towards an economy that has high added value. For hundreds of years, we export our raw materials, mainly to Europe. Since the VOC era, we always send raw materials.
Therefore, since 2020 I ordered to stop! We stop exporting nickel, stop exporting nickel raw materials, must be produced in our own country, either into finished goods or semi-finished goods, but not raw materials, not raw materials. At the end of this year it will be the same, bauxite will stop, there will be no more exports of bauxite raw materials. Next year, there will be a stop, which is called the export of copper raw materials, no longer exists.
We want the added value to exist in the country so that apart from providing greater state revenue in the form of taxes, royalties, and non-tax state revenues, we can also create as many job opportunities as possible for our people.
I cite an example of nickel. Seven years ago when we exported it in the form of raw materials, we can only generated US$1 billion, or around Rp14-15 trillion because we exported it in the form of raw materials. Now, when we stop exporting raw materials and process it here, our export value for nickel rises to US$20.8 billion (Rp 300 trillion). From Rp15 trillion to Rp300 trillion plus create enormous job opportunities.
Yet we don’t just have nickel. We have copper, bauxite, tin, gold, it’s all here. Do not export it in the form of raw material again. Stop. In the beginning, we were complained by other countries. It doesn’t matter. This issue then brought to the WTO. It doesn’t matter. We also have an argument that we want to open up as many job opportunities as possible for our people. I don’t know the decision yet, as the lawsuit is still ongoing at the WTO. We hope to win, however it is clear that we will not stop it even if it is sued at the WTO. The bauxite export moratorium will continue. So does the copper. This is called added value and we must take advantage of science and the latest technology.
It’s okay if we still don’t have the technology. We can team up with other countries, as long as the industry and the factory are located in our country. Because once again, now we will not sell raw materials, we have to downstream the industry, we have to maximize the added value of our natural wealth. Imagine if nickel turned into iron and steel, the value could jump to Rp300 trillion. Today, maybe we can only produce one or two derivative goods, but later if the derivative goods can vary up to 10-11 types, we can get more added values. Likewise bauxite, I have calculated of the state revenue that we can generate from our exports.
Second, we will soon transform into a green economy, green products that have high added value, because the demand of green products will be increasing in the global market. Environmentally friendly, which has become a new culture supported by green ecosystems in the world. From now on in Europe, when you buy a product, you are asked, “Is this produced from green energy production?”. And we actually have resources here, we have huge resources to produce green products, because we have the green energy.
Our new renewable energy potential is 418 gigawatts, which means 418,000 megawatts, which is huge. We have rivers, 4,400 rivers, this could be a resource for hydropower. We have underwater currents, 2/3 of our archipelago are oceans. We have 29,000 megawatts of geothermal and only 2,000 megawatts that have been used, meaning that there are still remaining 27,000 megawatts. We have winds that we have tried in Jeneponto, in Sidrap, in Sulawesi, in Sukabumi. We have a lot of green energy besides fossil energy, coal and oil.
I give an example of a river for hydropower. We have 4,400 rivers throughout the country. The Mamberamo River in Papua province can produce approximately 23,000 megawatts, from only one river. The Kayan River in North Kalimantan province can produce approximately 11,000 megawatts. With just two rivers. And we have 4,400 rivers in total. We can imagine how big our resources to be able to produce green products.
And currently a green industrial area is being built in North Kalimantan province. If this is successful, this industrial area of 16,000 (hectares) will be a gateway for the new Indonesia, which is to become a large industrial country and should be reckoned by the world. The gateway will be there, a green industrial area in North Kalimantan province. And I hope that within 4-5 years it can be completed for the first stage.
The third is related to strengthening our digital economy, transforming our digital economy, building a digital society, building a digital governance. We also have great potential in this digital economy sector. The digital market in Indonesia is growing very rapidly compared to that of other ASEAN countries. We predict that in 2025 our digital market will increase to US$146 billion. This means that the potential is Rp2,100 trillion. This is the opportunity for the young people, don’t be taken by other countries.
Indonesia has made a significant contribution to the digital economy in Southeast Asia. We contribute 40 percent of our digital economy in Southeast Asia. We have eight unicorns, this is the most in Southeast Asia. They are Traveloka, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, what else? And one of our decacorns, namely Gojek. The owner is here.
The Government continues to build the infrastructure that will support our digital transformation. In 2021 the construction process of the Satria-1 multifunction satellite has begun. Then the construction of BTS (Base Transceiver Station) which began to be carried out in 12,500 villages and sub-districts that do not yet have 4G access. Farming and re-farming of the radio frequency spectrum has been carried out to optimize the quality of 4G network services and develop 5G networks and to run the Analog Switch Off program.
But the most important thing is human resources. This is a big responsibility for the Ministry of Education and Culture to prepare this, as well as other ministries. Because without good human resources, I doubt our digital economy will be able to jump and take the opportunity.
Therefore, I ask higher education to facilitate students to develop their talents. Do not restricted by study programs in the faculties. Instead, we must provide them with the opportunities to learn from anyone and anywhere, including from industrial sector or banking industry. Minister of Education and Culture said that students from Parahyangan University have joined the MRT. This is very good. Learning outside the campus will be very good and in accordance with Minister of Education and Culture often says about the Independent Campus and also the Freedom of Learning programs.
We must really be able to create a superior human resource, because later everything will be hybrid, in terms of both knowledge and skills. So that all students in the future must master mathematics, statistics, computer science, and language. Not only English language. Coding language will be more important later. Therefore, students must be prepared to always be ready to learn, because changes will appear every day, changes will appear every week, changes will appear every month, this world will continue to change.
I conclude my remarks.
And lastly, I want to emphasize about the new capital city. Our new capital city is part of the massive transformation we want to carry out. The construction of the new capital city is not merely a physical move of government offices. The main goal is to build a smart new city, a new city that is competitive at the global level, to build a new locomotive for the transformation of our country, Indonesia, towards an innovation-based and technology-based country with a green economy. Because this is where we will start.
Physically, the construction of the new capital city in East Kalimantan province should be used as a momentum to build a healthy city, an efficient city, a productive city, which was designed from the start. And its residents will be close everywhere, they can ride bicycles everywhere, they can walk everywhere, because of zero emission. The city will provide world-class security and health services as well as education. That is the grand design.
So once again, the new capital is not just a city that contains government offices, but we want to build a new smart metropolis that can become a magnet, become a global talent magnet, and become a center of innovation.
And I expect the contribution of the Parahyangan University family and universities throughout Indonesia to contribute to the transformation of Indonesia, contributing through superior human resources, through scientific and technological innovation, through real works for the progress of Indonesia.
Once again happy 67th anniversary to Parahyangan Catholic University. Continue to innovate for the advance of our nation.
Happy anniversary Parahyangan University!
I thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
God bless us.
I will show you the design of our new capital.
Thank you.
(EST/MMB)