Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at 49th Anniversary of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) from the State Palace (through video conference), Jakarta, January 10, 2022
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Good Morning,
May prosperity be upon us,
Shalom,
Om Swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of virtue.
Distinguished Ibu Prof. Dr. Hj. Megawati Soekarnoputri, the fifth President of the Republic of Indonesia and Chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP);
Distinguished Chairperson of the People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia (MPR RI);
Distinguished Chairperson of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI);
Distinguished Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Bapak Prof. KH. Ma’ruf Amin;
Distinguished Secretary General of the PDI Perjuangan, central, regional, and local executive boards of PDI Perjuangan and the big family of the PDI Perjuangan;
Distinguished Cabinet Ministers;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
First and foremost, I would like to wish you a happy 49th Anniversary of the PDI Perjuangan. Thank God, in its 49th anniversary, the PDI Perjuangan has succeeded in becoming the largest political party in Indonesia.
Independence!
It becomes a political party that consistently fights for the interests of the common people, consistently fights for the sovereignty and the self-sufficiency of the nation.
Mrs. Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen, and the big family of the PDI Perjuangan.
On this auspicious occasion, on behalf of the people, the nation and the state, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the support and assistance of the PDI Perjuangan in creating policies and in overcoming difficult situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alhamdulillah, thank God, we have succeeded in managing this very complex health challenge. If we look at the month of July [last year], we had a very discouraging period with 56,000 daily cases. The number of confirmed daily cases as of January 9, 2022, were 529 cases, dropped 99 percent from the peak in last July. We should be grateful for this.
We also continue to speed up our vaccination drive. Now, Indonesia is one of the top five countries with the highest number of the administered vaccine doses in the world. We have administered a total of 288 million doses of vaccine for our people. The first dose vaccination rate has reached 81 percent and the second vaccination rate has reached 56 percent. As many as 29 provinces out of a total of 34 provinces have injected the first dose reaching the target above 70 percent. We have to be grateful for this. Nevertheless, even though we managed to control the pandemic, we must stay vigilant and be ready for possible pandemic risks due to the Omicron variant as previously stated by Ibu Mega.
Mrs. Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The pandemic must not stop our efforts to improve the people’s welfare. The problem of stunting, for example, is a great challenge for our human resources, and we continue to take measures to overcome the problem. Thank God, the stunting rate in 2021 dropped to 24.4 percent from 37.2 percent in seven years ago.
We also continue to guarantee access to education, especially for low-income people. We will also continue to provide assistance for students of primary education to students of higher education. In 2021, (we distributed) Smart Indonesia Card (KIP) with a budget of Rp 11 trillion for 21 million students across the country, and KIP for higher education students with a budget of Rp. 9.4 trillion for 1.1 million recipients across the country.
We also implement “independent campus” and “freedom to learn” programs to produce excellent human resources through certified internships programs at reputable companies. Last year there were 50,000 participants [joining the program] and this year we are targeting 150,000 participants, 40 percent of which are digital talents that we need to support. After we take several measures to improve our health and education sector, thank God, our human capital index has increased from 0.52 in 2017 to 0.54 in 2020, and we will continue to improve this.
In addition to producing professional and competitive young people in the job market, character education is an important aspect that the Government pays attention to. All stakeholders must join hands to support Pancasila education which has been continuously carried out by the Agency for the Implementation of State Ideology of Pancasila (BPIP). We must promote the value of tolerance among all communities in our nation and increase our national unity and integrity, as well as improve our mutual cooperation. Our success in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic depends on one important factor, namely our mutual cooperation.
Amid globalization and information abundance, the Indonesian people should be grateful because our national character has always remained strong. We continue to strengthen the noble values from Bung Karno and other founding fathers of the nation. We must continue to maintain the noble values of Pancasila as the guidelines for our future generations.
Ibu Megawati, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me explain to you that the allocation of the Village Fund continues to increase every year, from Rp21 trillion in 2015 to Rp72 trillion in 2021. As of today, the value of Village Fund that has been disbursed from 2015 to 2021 has reached Rp400.1 trillion. This is a very large number. We hope that the Government’s measures to villages will improve services to rural communities and narrow the gap between villages and cities.
Using the Village Fund, we have built village roads, reservoirs, irrigation, bridges, village markets, boat moorings, and other facilities. Some people think that we only build big infrastructure projects; toll roads, airports, or ports. That is not the case. We also build village roads, reservoirs, clean water facilities, integrated health posts (Posyandu), wells, and drainage in villages, because the infrastructure is needed by our villages. On the other hand, big infrastructure will support civilization development, unite our country, create jobs, and create new centers of economic growth across the country.
Mrs. Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Government also continues to make its best effort to develop the nation’s self-sufficiency and strengthen Indonesia’s leadership in the international community. Downstream industry and industrialization will continue to be improved. Since the VOC era we always send our raw materials abroad and we must stop it. To generate added value and create the widest possible employment opportunities, since 2020 we have stopped exporting nickel raw materials. We have stopped exporting nickel raw materials in 2020.
This year, we will immediately stop the export of bauxite raw materials and next year we will also stop the export of copper raw materials. The impact of down-streaming industry is very significant, including creating as many job opportunities as possible for the people and create a significant added value. For example, when we stopped exporting nickel raw materials, our export value last year was around Rp 25 trillion because we exported raw materials only. Now, because we export semi-finished and finished goods, our exports have reached US$ 21 billion or almost Rp 280 trillion. This is a very big leap and we aim to do the same for our minerals, be it nickel, bauxite, copper, tin, or gold and others.
Ibu Mega, Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year, Indonesia also received an honor, namely holding the G20 Presidency. We will use the opportunity to fight for the interests of Indonesia and the interests of developing countries. Indonesia will continue to strive to develop good governance in health sector and a fairer world economic governance, which is more robust in the face of uncertainty and the increasing complexity of the world’s problems. We will take the measures and strengthen Indonesia’s leadership as what our first President Bung Karno did.
Once again, I would like to wish you a happy 49th Anniversary of PDI Perjuangan. I hope that the PDI Perjuangan will be stronger and more successful.
I thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Om santi santi santi om.
Independence!
Independence!
Independence!
(RI/LW)