Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Inauguration of the Industropolis Batang Special Economic Zone, Central Java Province, Thursday, March 20, 2025
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Good afternoon,
May peace be upon us.
Shalom,
Salve,
Om swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of Virtue,
Distinguished Coordinating Ministers, Ministers, and Deputy Ministers, all Red and White Cabinet members attending here today:
Chairperson of the National Economic Council General TNI Ret. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, Minister of Investment and Downstream and Head of Danantara Rosan Perkasa Roeslani, Minister of Transportation Dudy Purwagandhi, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Nusron Wahid, Minister of Manpower Prof. Yassierli, Minister of Population and Family Development Wihaji, Regent of Batang 2017-2022 who greatly assisted the development of the area, Minister of the Environment Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, Minister of Tourism Widiyanti Putri, Minister of Public Works Dody Hanggodo, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, Deputy Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Deputy Minister of SOEs, Deputy Minister of Industry, and Deputy Minister of Environment who are here;
Distinguished Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo, Governor of Central Java Commissioner Gen. Pol. Ret. Ahmad Luthfi, along with the Commander of the Diponegoro Military Command, the Chief of the Central Java Police, the Central Java High Prosecutor’s Office, the Regent of Batang, I have already greeted, Head of the SEZ Development and Management Agency Ngurah Wirawan;
Honorable Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Indonesia, His Excellency Wang Lutong, along with twenty entrepreneurs from China, heads of state-owned enterprises, leaders of private companies, media colleagues, and respected guests.
As God’s creation, let us never stop offering praise and gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, the Almighty God who owns all the universe. We pray to Him only, and we ask for help only to Him. We are grateful that we are still given strength and health to gather today for this very important event, namely the inauguration of the Batang Industropolis Special Economic Zone. Let me express my highest gratitude and appreciation to all ministries and related institutions that have worked hard so that today we can jointly inaugurate the Batang Industropolis Special Economic Zone.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Such an area is undoubtedly the result of hard work from many parties. On this occasion, once again, I would like to express my appreciation to my predecessor, the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, for his leadership and his Ministers. A strong foundation and all preparations have been built so that today, Indonesia has an area that we hope can be the Shenzhen of Indonesia, inshallah.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have reiterated to everyone that nation-building is a long job. It is a long, difficult, and far march. All the results that we see and enjoy are the result of the hard work of our predecessors, starting from the founders of our nation, the freedom fighters who sacrificed for a prosperous Indonesia. They did not benefit from the results that we see now, but this is their ideal.
Today, I am greatly honored to inaugurate this zone as just one of our great efforts to carry out national development through industrialization and downstream. Prosperity can only be achieved through hard work, strong determination, firm leadership, and cooperation with everybody. Once again, we can only build welfare and prosperity for Indonesian people through collaboration, hard work, and cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Once again, today is a proud, exciting milestone because we are building dozens of other SEZs, and we must dare to catch up with what our neighboring countries have done. We must not be ashamed to learn from successful examples since we aim to bring prosperity for all Indonesians. We must eliminate poverty from Indonesia. That is our goal. We are developing industrialization, downstreaming, and pioneering initiatives upstream to build a bright future for our people.
Therefore, I support all efforts, initiatives, and innovations from everyone, be it from private companies or friends from within or outside the country. Indonesia is open and needs participation, investment, and sound and mutually beneficial cooperation. Therefore, we must encourage initiatives like this. I have obtained an agreement through my direct meetings with President Xi Jinping of China several times. All of them are to enhance cooperation between China and Indonesia.
We live and interact in the same region, and our future will be good with cooperation and good relations. I reiterate that my administration has a view, that is friendly politics with all countries. We want to be good neighbors: the good neighbor policy. A thousand friends are too few, but one enemy is too many. Indonesia is firm in this regard, and this is what leads us to a better future.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We will see very promising future plans. Tens of thousands of jobs will be realized. In fact, I just led a planning meeting in the Red and White Cabinet; the investments that we will realize starting this year will bear fruit in the form of downstream so that all Indonesian people can enjoy the added value of all our raw materials. Also, in our calculations, jobs in the next five years will reach 8 million jobs; bringing optimism to all of us as our future is bright and shining.
Although there are some attempts from somewhere to dampen the spirit and hope of our youth continuously, I emphasize here that it is not valid. We will move forward. No matter what they say, we will move forward and build a bright future. I am proud to have succeeded today to see this extraordinary work.
Once again, I thank everyone. I am also here to invite everyone to thank our predecessors, all the Presidents and their cabinets who have worked hard, especially my predecessors, whom I actually invited; maybe they were unable to. In such an event, it would be better if the previous Presidents were also invited to see what they planted now have results.
Thank You. Good luck with the Batang Industrial Special Economic Zone. May the Almighty always give goodness to all of us.
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
May peace be upon us,
Shalom,
Salve,
Om shanti shanti shanti om,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of Virtue.
I thank you.
(GWH/EP)