Introductory Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Plenary Cabinet Meeting, in the Cabinet Meeting Room, Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu’alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

Good afternoon,

May prosperity be upon all of us,

Shalom,

Salve,

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of Virtue.

Distinguished Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Brother Gibran Rakabuming Raka;

Distinguished Coordinating Ministers of the Red and White Cabinet, Ministers, Heads of Agencies, Attorney General, Head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency, Chief of the Indonesian National Police, Army Chief of Staff representing the Commander of the Indonesian Defense Forces who is on duty abroad, as well as all Deputy Ministers and members of the Red and White Cabinet whom I am proud of.

Today, I invite the entire cabinet to attend this Plenary Cabinet Meeting. As a matter of fact, this is our meeting after we have officially held office for three months, after I was inaugurated on October 20 [2024] and then you [the Ministers] were inaugurated the next day on October 21 [2024] and the Deputy Ministers [were inaugurated] in the afternoon of the same day. So, we have officially taken office and carried out the mandate from the people for three months.

For that reason, although I have never worked with a target of hundreds of days or months, nevertheless it is a milestone, a stage that we have completed. And for that reason, I think we can objectively be proud that we have shown a result that leads us to achieve our targets.

I would like to express my appreciation for the work of all of you. I feel and I think that our cabinet is now working as a team, I feel that we have managed to build solidarity and good cooperation. If we still find shortcomings here and there that we have to correct, that’s understandable, right? But what I feel is that all ministers, all deputy ministers have a very strong desire to deliver good results to the people. That’s what I feel. And, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you. That is what our people expect, we are on the right trajectory.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This morning I had the chance to meet Prof. Emil Salim, our senior, 94 years old, who has previously served as a minister many times. He communicated his messages, expressed his hopes, and stated what he used as his guide. The most important point that I learn from him is that he reminded me that a minister is a state official, meaning that the orientation of his devotion is towards the state.

Based on our political system, our politics is constitutional one which is run through political parties, the sovereignty of the people is exercised through political parties, through representatives. And, it is true that our constitutional system is apparently a mixed one, the president is elected directly from the people, the president has presidential powers, but the parliament (the House of Representatives) has supervisory authority and very big budget authority. Thus, we have exercised our statecraft, we have run our state step by step, year by year through experience, through trials and obstacles. But step by step we have made progress and have resolved the problems of our nation and our state.

Thus Ladies and Gentlemen, as our seniors have expressed their hopes earlier, we are reminded that as state officials our first orientation is towards our country. Some of us come from political parties, some from community organizations and so on, some from the academic world, the world of scientists, some from NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). But once we have been sworn in, once we have served as state officials, our orientation is towards our country. And for that reason, I would like to extend my gratitude because, as I feel now, even though there are so many figures coming from various backgrounds, our orientation is towards the interests of our country, the interests of its people and I think our people also feel the same.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Referring to our interim results, we feel that our government is effective. At the end of 2024, the Christmas and New Year holidays went smoothly, safely. For that reason, I would like to extend my gratitude to all related officials and their staff who have worked hard. Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, all Coordinating Ministers, Chief of the Indonesian National Police, Commander of the Indonesian National Defense Forces who have worked hard to ensure public security and safety, Minister of Transportation, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, and all other ministers whom I observed go down to the field to monitor developments.

We also prove that our government is effective, our government can run the state administration reliably.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a matter of fact, those critical months are usually marked by many traffic accidents, marked by problems related to the availability of food [and] basic necessities that are prone to price fluctuations and so on. This time we have succeeded in maintaining the stable, calm, cool situation. Although many parts of the world are hit by conflict, tension, crisis, even war, we are able to maintain coolness, calm, peace in our country.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would also like to extend my gratitude to you because in those three months, we have presented good evidence to the people. Our policies are on the side of the people and on the side of the interests of our country.

First, of course I would like to express my appreciation to Minister of Finance and all of her team who have prepared the State Budget well, carefully, with hard work, because as I keep monitoring, I continue to demand savings and efficiency. I demand the courage to eliminate non-essential things. I emphasize that the first criterion for the budget that we will implement is that it must be able to create jobs. I have said it many times.

Second, it must increase productivity. This productivity must be measurable with quantification. How much foreign exchange is generated? How much foreign exchange is saved? Then, the next criterion is that it must lead to food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency. We must be able to feed all Indonesian people, with no more import.

And, I would like to extend my gratitude to the ministers who have reported to me that in 2025 we will no longer import rice, corn, and salt. This means that we can achieve the target that I have given to my cabinet stipulating that Indonesia must be self-sufficient in food within four years. Thank God, we can achieve the target by the end of 2025, or at the latest by early 2026. So, maybe three years earlier than the target we set. This means that with good intentions, with hard work, with an orientation towards our country and nation, reasonable policies will produce quick results, we must believe this.

Then, the next criterion is that it must be able to provide technological breakthroughs.

From our priorities, the first one is that we must create jobs and increase productivity, food self-sufficiency, energy self-sufficiency. With food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency, we are safe. I have emphasized many times that we must not depend on foreign sources. In the world crisis, no country will allow food to leave its territory, this is the law of history. And the next criterion, we must be able to produce technological breakthroughs, meaning that spending and investment in human resources, education, science, and technology becomes something vital and something that we must realize.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I emphasize again that we do not allocate our budget for non-essential things such as for ceremonies, anniversary celebrations, commemorations. If you need to celebrate any historical events or any anniversaries, do it simply in your offices or in your rooms, and if necessary, the attendees are limited to only 15 people while the rest can join the celebration via a video conference. I reduce the number of official travels to the half of the previous one. With the 50% reduction, we can save more than Rp20 trillion. With the Rp20 trillion, let’s calculate how many tens of thousands of schools and school buildings we can repair.

So I really say that I am very serious about this. I demand that all ministers and all heads of agencies comply with this. And, I would like to thank the finance team who have conducted a very detailed review of our budget. If I’m not mistaken, their review covers up to the ninth unit. Maybe this is the first time in history that the President of the Republic of Indonesia checked up to the ninth unit. So, you may not know about the details of the budget because like many Indonesians, we have taken it for granted for a long time. But, I think this is something we must be proud of. Thus we can work very quickly.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our nutritious food program is running, thank God. We launched it on January 6 and until now it has successfully served 650 thousand of our children in 31 provinces, thanks to the hard work of many parties, [among them] the Head of the Nutrition Agency and his staff, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, the Minister of National Development Planning, the Minister of Villages and Regional Development, the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, the Minister of Health, the Commander of the Indonesian National Defense Forces, the Chief of the Indonesian National Police, the School Principals, the Governors, the Regents, and of course the Minister of Finance. And, from January to April 2025, the program targets 3 million children, from April to August 2025 it will reach 6 million children, in September we hope it will reach 15 million children, and by the end of 2025 our target is that all Indonesian children can get nutritious food.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for this cooperation. All ministries and institutions are involved in securing and making this program a success. We will synergize with local governments, governors, regents, mayors, and all regional officials.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is a strategic issue. We are strengthening Indonesia’s future. Indonesian children must be strong, must be smart, must be enthusiastic, must pursue their studies well. I believe that in not too distant future we will see an increase in our children’s academic abilities. I am also determined to take intervention steps to all schools in Indonesia, including elementary schools, junior and senior high schools, and all schools fostered by Islamic organizations. We will introduce technology to all schools. With technology, we want to accelerate the learning process in all our schools.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would also like to thank the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and the economic team who have initiated and formulated concepts that have been realized into products and policies that are pro-people, debt relief for farmers and fishermen who have had difficulty in paying their debts for decades, and then also various direct assistance and various assistance to reduce obligations especially for people in the lowest and weakest groups. I think maybe later the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and the Minister of Finance can also explain to the public how many policies we have implemented.

In the near future, we will also require all companies that receive credit from government banks to place the proceeds from their export sales in banks in Indonesia. I think this is reasonable and makes sense. They are running their businesses with funds sourced from the Indonesian people. After they have run their businesses and made sales, it is reasonable if they should place the proceeds from their sales in banks in Indonesia. I think this policy will come out soon and will be effective one month later. So, this is something logical and makes sense.

Then, I have also given instructions to the law enforcement officials, namely: the Attorney General, the Head of the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), the Chief of the Indonesian National Police, and the Commander of the Indonesian Defense Forces to enforce the law and regulations, especially on companies that violate land and forestry provisions. Our rules must be obeyed, no one gets special treatment. Against those who have been given the opportunity many times to fulfill their obligations but have not yet done so, the Government will certainly carry out its obligations: revoke their permits and reclaim the lands, especially if the lands are protected forests and so on. So, these are also the steps that we will take.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would also like to extend my deep grateful to many staff members. Just last Monday, I had the honor of inaugurating 37 strategic national electricity projects, covering 26 power plants with a total capacity of 3.2 gigawatts and 11 transmission networks and substations in 18 provinces. Most of these power plants produce clean energy, renewable energy. I think if checked later, this might be the biggest inauguration in one day. This shows our ability, we can do it, and I must say that this is the result of the hard work of our previous governments.

So, let us always respect all parties, all those who have worked hard, our predecessors. We did not make all of these achievements in just a moment, we made them through a long journey. A nation’s development does not take only one year, five years, ten years. A nation’s development takes decades. What Bung Karno (Indonesia’s first president) pioneered, we are enjoying now. What Pak Harto (Indonesia’s second president) continued, we are continuing and enjoying now. So, president after president, Pak Habibie, Gus Dur, Ibu Mega, Pak Jokowi, all of them maintain the continuity of our development. So, for example, in the three months I have been in office, I have inaugurated projects that have been undertaken since 2015, as you can see. So this is what I entrust to you to keep the sustainability of our nation. We are continuing a long march, a long journey, and after continuing relay after relay, then later we will achieve our ideals. I am very optimistic that we will get there.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

That concludes my remarks. I think the media crew here have already got quite a lot of materials, right? Now I will reveal issues that you don’t need to hear yet. Is that so? I think the media crew here are still young, therefore, when the elders talk to each other, the young ones and children usually wait outside, right?

I thank you.

(TM/LW)