Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at Inauguration of Taruna Nusantara Senior High School in Cimahi City, West Java Province, Friday, October 30, 2026

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As our collective effort, as fellow citizens of this nation, we aspire to build a successful nation and state, one that lives up to the aspiration of our founding fathers. A modern nation, where its people live in prosperity, and one that can overcome all challenges. A nation that is independent. Independence means being free from dependence on other nations, which means providing a better life for all Indonesians.

A successful nation is one where no one goes hungry. A successful nation is one where justice prevails. A successful nation is one that lives in peace. These were the aspirations of our founding fathers. They are our aspirations, and they are the aspirations of all your parents. No parents want their children to live a life of hardship. No parents want their children to fail in life. Regardless of our religion, ethnicity, race, or background, every parent wants their children to have a good life.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

That is why nation-building, the process of building a nation, is fundamentally the key to success, the key to nation-building is education. Education begins at earliest stages of life, even before birth, with parental education, early childhood education, kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, senior high school, and beyond. Education takes both formal and informal forms. Education is the key to building a successful nation. Quality education requires substantial investment. It also requires good, outstanding teachers. Great teachers are the foundation of a great nation. Producing outstanding teachers requires significance.

Esteemed Guests,

It is a kind of circular dilemma, much like the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. We need quality education, but providing it requires substantial investment and significant funding. Therefore, the nation’s resources must be secured and protected. They must not be stolen, misappropriated, or lost to corruption. Corruption, misappropriation, and abuse of authority are, in fact, the seeds of a nation’s destruction.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The idea behind establishing a school like Taruna Nusantara stems from the realization that a successful and great nation needs exceptional leaders. Such leaders must be carefully selected, not only for their intellectual abilities but also for their physical fitness, strength of character, and integrity. An intelligent person with malicious intentions is, in fact, extremely dangerous. Such individuals bring nothing but suffering, injustice, and disaster.

Thus, SMA Taruna Nusantara was established as a means of identifying the promising leaders of tomorrow. The initial vision was to seek out the brightest young minds from across Indonesia, regardless of their social background, ethnicity, race, or religion. Furthermore, the original idea was to provide full scholarships to ensure equal opportunities, so that a brilliant child from an underprivileged family would have the same opportunities as anyone else. That was the founding vision, and it remains the principle we strive to uphold today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A school like SMA Taruna Nusantara (TN) might be perceived as elitist. In reality, however, its purpose is to identify promising individuals with exceptional potential. Think of it in terms of preparing for the Olympics. We need an institution dedicated to developing athletes. We must educate them, provide rigorous training, and ensure they have access to the best facilities and equipment. If we want to succeed as a nation, we need great engineers, great scientists, great doctors, great biologists, and great technology innovators. Where will they come from? We cannot simply wait for such talent to emerge on its own, as if it would just fall from the trees. No. We must seek them out and provide them with opportunities. The intention is that these exceptional individuals, nurtured by this institution, will go on to contribute to society, take action, and bring benefits, innovation, and prosperity to our nation. That is the goal.

Consider the first cohort of SMA TN (Taruna Nusantara High School), which was established in Magelang decades ago. How many years ago was that first class? 1990? Yes, 1990. That was thirty-six years ago. The school was established at the time by the Commander of the Armed Forces, Mr. Benny Moerdani. And now, the results speak for themselves. We have graduates from this school serving as Coordinating Ministers, two of whom, in fact, as well as generals, a Minister of State Secretary, a Cabinet Secretary, and Head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). Head of the National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) is also a graduate, as is the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN). It seems that many graduates of this school are now taking up positions in the Cabinet. I must say, and I readily acknowledge, that graduates of this institution have demonstrated strong performance and achieved commendable results. I would call their performance “good.” If I were to say “excellent,” they might lose their motivation to strive even harder, wouldn’t they? “Excellent” would be an “A,” wouldn’t it? And what does an “A” represent? A score of ninety? Perhaps ninety-three or ninety-four? After all, a perfect score of one hundred belongs only to God, doesn’t it? Am I right?

Distinguished Guests,

And so, my young friends, you who are just beginning your journey, I trust that you will strive to do your best, learn as much as you can, and embrace the values of SMA Taruna Nusantara. These values are rooted in our national identity: one homeland, one nation, and one language. Consider the Youth Pledge (Sumpah Pemuda), which was proclaimed even before our independence. Those young men and women, at such a young age, made a pledge of extraordinary significance. It was truly remarkable. It is precisely because of the Youth Pledge that we remain a united nation today. Given the sheer size and diversity of our country, there have always been various ideologies that others have sought to impose upon us.

We are fortunate that our nation’s founders, those who fought for our independence, understood and firmly believed that only through unity, through Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), and by acknowledging and respecting every ethnic group, religion, race, culture, and tradition, could we build a successful nation. Thank God, despite repeated attempts to divide us, we have remained united.

My young friends, study history. I have spoken to our Ministers of Education, and I am grateful that the Minister of Basic Education is here today. I have pointed out a recurring weakness among Indonesian leaders: they often forget history. Some are even too reluctant to study it. Those who neglect history will eventually be judged by history itself. This is a lesson that has been taught over thousands of years. While technology may evolve, human nature remains unchanged. Therefore, if we fail to study history, we are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past, including the very same mistakes made by those who came before us.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

One of the most painful lessons in Indonesia’s history is that we were once colonized by foreign powers. Why were they able to colonize us? Because we were not united. A prince would rather collaborate with a foreign power than cooperate with his own brother. This is part of our history. This is what we must learn from. For hundreds of years, even thousands of years, colonial powers have employed the strategy of divide et impera, or divide and rule. Let us not repeat the mistakes of those who came before us. Our predecessors had many admirable qualities, but we must also learn from their shortcomings.

So, distinguished guests, I would like to thank everyone who has worked hard to establish campuses in Malang, Cimahi, Pagar Alam, North Sulawesi, and IKN. Six campuses, yes. We now have six operational campuses. Thank you to everyone who has worked hard to make this possible, so that we can educate the young people who are now studying here. I ask that the values we teach continue to be upheld. The values of Pancasila, our national values, yes. This is important because there are still many groups that do not embrace Pancasila. They want to promote different ideologies. Some want to establish a religious state. Others want to establish a state based on ethnicity. Still others want to build a nation based on race. These are all potential sources of division.

We are now witnessing wars, conflicts, fighting, and bloodshed all over the world. Tens of thousands of mothers, children, and innocent people are dying every day. Why? Because their leaders have failed to remain vigilant. Why? Because of division. And there are groups in Indonesia that want to see our country break apart, groups that want to see our country disintegrate. But believe me, the Republic of Indonesia is strong. We are now vigilant, and we will address all these challenges properly. Those who harbor ill intentions will certainly be exposed.

And I want to remind those who are not loyal to Pancasila or the Republic of Indonesia, as well as those who are greedy and have a mafia mentality, whose sole purpose is to plunder the nation’s wealth: they will ultimately fail. That is the lesson of thousands of years of human civilization. Those who do evil will ultimately lose. There is no doubt about that. We must not hesitate, all right?

Esteemed Guests,

I think that is all I wish to convey. Study hard. Teachers, please guide these students well, all right? Guide them to the best of your ability and lead them in the right direction for the good of the nation and the state. That is what I wish to convey.

Thank you for your attention, brothers and sisters. Do continue to instill the values of patriotism and integrity. Rather than having hundreds of intelligent people, what our country needs is young people who are honest, pure of heart, and deeply devoted to their country. With such young people, we will succeed as a nation and a state.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

(SA/MUR)