Directives of President of the Republic of Indonesia during the Opening of the 2022 Leaders Meeting of TNI-Polri, at TNI Headquarters in Cilangkap, Jakarta, March 1, 2022

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Good morning,
May peace be upon us all,
Om Swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of Virtue.

Distinguished Chairperson of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Bambang Soesatyo,

Distinguished Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Puan Maharani,

Distinguished Ministers of the Indonesia Cabinet Onward, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Minister of Defense, Cabinet Secretary,

Distinguished Commander of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), who is represented by Chief of Naval Staff because he has COVID-19,

Distinguished Chief of the National Police (Polri),

Distinguished the chiefs of staff of the TNI and member of the TNI and Police,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my appreciation, my deepest gratitude to all ranks of the TNI and the police for their sincerity in performing their duties and obligations, including in carrying out humanitarian tasks, both helping in handling disasters and in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. I also would like to express my appreciation for your hard work and assistance in accelerating the vaccination program.

We are aware that the challenges ahead are not getting easier, even full of uncertainty. Previously, the uncertainty was due to technological disruption, the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Now it is added by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Those issues have added to the global uncertainty in countries anywhere in the world. What we never calculated before have now emerged.

Scarcity of containers. It used to be normal – all countries could send their logistics anywhere, the containers were enough. But now everything is disrupted due to unequal trade among existing countries so container prices are rising. If the price of containers increases, the freight cost increases. What does it mean? Prices of goods will rise as well. What does it mean if prices increase? Consumers will buy goods at a higher cost than usual. Be careful with this. It is only the container issue.

Another unexpected issue is food scarcity. In some countries, this has happened and today in all countries food prices have surged. Food prices of several commodities in big countries are rising by above 30 percent. Be careful with this. This is from the food business.

Next is rising inflation. What happens if inflation rises? That means prices will all increase. What does that mean? The burden of society to buy goods is also increasing in all countries today. Be careful. In America, inflation has never been more than 1 percent, now it is above 7 percent. In some countries, it is already above 50 percent or above 30 percent. Do not take things like this lightly. What does it mean? The people who want to buy goods must pay more. This is where challenges of uncertainties appear.

Next, energy scarcity. Before the war, the price has already increased due to scarcity. Now the price rises again due to the war. Now the price per barrel is already above US$100. Before, it only costs US$50-60. Every country is experiencing fuel price increase, LPG price increase. Be careful with this.

For that reason, since all commodity prices have increased, it leads to an increase in producer prices. The factory wants to produce something since the price of raw materials, other materials, and fuel price increase. What does it mean? The cost of production increases, factory prices become higher, and in the markets, consumer prices will also rise. This is a chain effect. Global uncertainties will cause uneasy challenges. Therefore, our current task is not only handling the macro scale. It’s impossible to solve only the macro problem. We must handle both macro and micro scale.

Therefore, we must transform our economy. Do not just focus on our growth of 56-58 percent, on consumption sector. The growth of 56-58 percent relies on consumption. This is what we want to transform. Economic transformation means that we will change from consumption to production. Our foundation will shift from consumption sector to production sector. What else does it mean? We have to do industrial downstreaming. We have to carry out industrialization.

Since the VOC era 400 years ago, we have sent raw materials abroad. Now we need to stop it. We cannot let this continue. Indeed, we get money from the sale of raw materials, including nickel, copper, agricultural materials, agricultural commodities, and plantation commodities. But we need to generate more money. We have to get added values.

Therefore, in 2020 I stopped nickel export. It is no longer allowed to export nickel, nickel ore, nickel raw materials. Materials that are exported must be at least in the form of semi-finished goods. Later it must be in the form of finished goods, so that there is added value. What is the added value? The big job opportunities in Indonesia as the tax is paid in Indonesia and foreign companies pay their operation in Indonesia, VAT (Value Added Tax) is paid in Indonesia, the PNBP (Non-Tax State Revenue) is in Indonesia. We can all get it here.

We did not have the courage to do that for more than 400 years old. This is called economic transformation. Nickel is banned although we are still being sued to the WTO and being sued by the European Union. It is OK. If we do not dare to try, we will only send raw materials and we will not get anything forever. There used to be an oil boom. We exported crude oil. We have exported logs. But we will no longer send plantation agricultural commodities.

I call on the TNI and the police to overview industries that have high added value such as nickel industry, coal industry, copper industry, and gold industry. That is our collective job. We stopped nickel export in 2020. This year we will stop bauxite export. We can only export bauxite in the form of alumina. Next year, we will ban copper export. Copper should be mixed with nickel to form lithium batteries or sodium ions, to be exported in the form of semi-finished goods or finished goods. So once again the added value is in the country. This is what economic transformation is all about.

Next is green economy. In the future, green products will be our strength. Therefore, the foundation must be built from now. What is green economy? Goods produced from a factory that uses green energy that are environmentally friendly.

We are currently preparing the construction of Green Industrial Park in North Kalimantan province. That is our gateway to Indonesia’s green economy whose energy is obtained from a hydropower plant on the Kayan river, which will produce approximately 11,000 to 12,000 megawatts of electricity. There will be an industrial area, supplied from green energy so that the products that produced are green products. This is the strength of our country because we have 4,400 rivers. That is our power. We have 29,000 geothermal. Earlier the Kayan river was 11,000 megawatts, then the Mamberamo was 23,000 megawatts. We also have wind energy, underwater currents, sea surface heat. Everything can be transformed into green energy. There is solar power. These are the power of our country that other countries do not have. Therefore, the foundation must be started as soon as possible.

And it is your job, ladies and gentlemen, to maintain that. We can really build this foundation. We are aware that other countries are not happy with our policies. Trust me. They will do anything. Because they are disturbed, they will shut down their factories because we do not export the material. Be careful with this. We do not know what else they can do but we must stay strong.

Another issue is digitalization. We need to carry out digital transformation and nurture digital talents. The TNI-Polri must have digital talents in this digital era as it is characterized by artificial intelligence technology, cloud computing, digital design, blockchain, digital marketing. You should master this. We must adopt digitalization in our daily life. If the police do not master those things, how can we tackle the digital crime which has started to happen today? Crime will shift from conventional ones to the digital ones and they already started to happen.

So once again, the TNI-Polri must have digital talents, master artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital design, digital marketing, blockchain, coding, programming, all of which must start from learning, seeking for digital talents because our future battle is technology.

Related the Nusantara new capital (IKN). Why does the Government execute this idea? This great idea was originally initiated by President Soekarno in 1957, but because of the upheaval, President Soekarno put off the idea. In 1957, we decided to relocate our capital to Palangkaraya. During President Soeharto era, the capital was also slated to move to West Java—in Jonggol. The idea then was canceled due to the political riot in 1997-1998. So, the study of the new capital has been carried out from a long time ago. If we do not execute the study, it will never happen. It does take courage. There are risks indeed, but we know that we want equality. [We do not want to be] Java-centric, but Indonesia-centric.

Equality. What is equality? 58 percent of economic the GDP, money circulation, economic turnover is in Java island. Even though we have 17,000 islands, 58 percent of economic activity is in Java. So the magnets are all in Java. People who want to work will move to Java. Everyone wants to live in Java, especially capital Jakarta because the economic magnet is here.

That’s what I said earlier about equal distribution, not just moving buildings from Jakarta. That is not the vision. The economic magnet will be both in Jakarta and Nusantara. There will be two magnets. You can visit both cities. The economic center is not only in Java.

In addition, 56 percent of Indonesia’s population is in the island of Java. 56 percent or 156 million people are living in Java island. This is also the background for the relocation of the capital. Thus, to avoid economic inequality, infrastructure inequality, population inequality, we decided to build a new capital called Nusantara. It has been politically and constitutionally approved by eight out of the nine factions in the House of Representatives.

As an illustration, our new capital will be 70 percent green area, 80 percent (of the population) will use public transportation, 80 percent (of the population) will use new and renewable energy with a concept of ‘10-minute city’— it will only take 10 minutes from one place to another because we design the best concept from the beginning. So those who are given priority in the city are; first, pedestrians, second, those who ride bicycles, three, those who take public transportation, not those who drive private cars.

I’ll play the video for a while for you to see so you will get the idea.

We really have to dream big to make this happen. A capital that other countries do not have.

In a bid to achieve this, national discipline is needed. This is what we are currently lack: national discipline. Therefore, I ask all ranks of the TNI and police to be able to set an example to the public in enforcing national discipline. In the TNI itself, it is also necessary to start improving the discipline of the personnel, which is different from that of the civil society. The army and police personnel cannot participate in the political affairs of democracy. There is no democracy in the forces. There is no difference between the subordinate and the superior. Democracy does not exist in the TNI and Polri. So, things like this have to be improved so that the public can see it and follow the direction of national discipline.

This does not only apply to them who work at the office, but also to those who stay at home. The discipline of the spouses who stay at home is the same. The spouses cannot do their own way in the name of democracy. Once again, in the TNI and the Polri, it cannot be like that. It must be coordinated by the unit. The unit must coordinate everything from the smallest things. Like I said earlier, the macro and the micro, we have to take care of the micro as well. Be careful if you invite preachers who teach radical teachings. Although it is a small matter, it still has to be disciplined. Moreover, in the WhatsApp group. Even if it is our own fellow who start an issue, do be careful as it may escalate once it is allowed and continued.

For example, when talking about new capital. “I don’t agree with the new capital”. It has been decided by the Government and has been approved by the House. In the discipline of the TNI and Polri, it is no longer debatable. It’s OK if the civilians debate about it. Especially in the WhatsApp group, it is easy to read, I know. Be careful with this. Starting from small things, it will grow and we will lose discipline in the TNI and in the police because military discipline and police discipline are different from that of the civilians and are limited by a rule by the leader.

I need to remind you about this. All army and police in the world have its own rules called the Army Disciplinary Code. The point is, if we look at the core of the book, the main point is upright loyalty. Upright loyalty.

That concludes my remarks.

I thank you.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

(EST/EP)