Openness, Tolerance Keys for Country Development, President Jokowi Says

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 18 September 2019
Category: News
Read: 325 Views

President Jokowi in his opening remarks on multicultural event “Multicultural Cooperation for Unity and Justice,” Central Jakarta, Tuesday (18/9). (Photo by: Jay/PR)

The United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s success in transforming itself into a very prosperous and developed country with a per capita income of US$43,000 cannot be separated from the country’s openness and tolerance, President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has said.

“Forty years ago, the UAE was an undeveloped country. Literacy was low and education was limited and traditional,” President Jokowi said in Central Jakarta, Tuesday (18/9).

Quoting Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the UAE, the President said that the UAE has undergone a rapid progress because they are recruiting professional foreigners to occupy strategic positions.

In fact, if the conditions of the two countries are compared in 1960, the UAE was very far behind Indonesia, he added.

As a result, the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund has now reached US$ 700 billion, among the top three in the world. In fact, President Jokowi continued, in terms of natural resources, Indonesia is clearly richer than the Emirates.

“Sheikh Mohammed once told me that one of the main keys (to achieve the goal) is openness and tolerance,” he said.

According to the President, the UAE was brave enough to invite the world’s top talents to become CEOs, rectors and experts, who were then gradually replaced one by one by the country’s citizens. However, President Jokowi said the Government would be accused of being a foreign stooge if the plan is implemented in Indonesia.

“Even though it was just an idea,” he added.

The President further said that the issue of pluralism was not merely social or political matters, but also economic developments. “Without embracing diversity, the people will become a closed and undeveloped society,” President Jokowi said. (FID/JAY/ES)

 

 

Translated by: Galuh Wicaksono
Edited by: Muhammad Ersan Pamungkas

Latest News