Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia During The Inauguration of the Central Board of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) for the 2022-2025 Period, Hotel Kempinski, Central Jakarta, February 20, 2023

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Good afternoon,

May prosperity be upon us all,

Om swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of virtue.

Honorable Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly who is here with us, Bapak Bambang Soesatyo along with Vice Speaker of the Regional Representative Council Bapak Sultan Najamudin,

Honorable Ministers of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet who are here along with founder and pioneers of HIPMI Bapak Abdul Latief, who always look bright, look young. There have been a few changes of the Chairperson of HIPMI. He shows up every time and remains unchanged, still young. I have to ask what kind of herbal drink he takes,

Honorable former chairpersons of HIPMI present who I am not able to mention one by one,

Honorable Chairperson of the Central Board of HIPMI Bapak Akbar Himawan Buchari along with the board members and all Chairpersons of the Regional Board of HIPMI from all over Indonesia, present from every province in the country,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When I attend a forum, the first thing I do is usually checking attendance of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Normally, I do this one by one; which candidate arrives. However, since this is an economic forum, I do not want to check attendance, even though I know that Bapak Prabowo, Bapak Airlangga, and Bapak Erick are present. Normally, I take attendance one by one.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have all experienced and felt the hardship of the COVID-19 pandemic. We all felt it for three years, not just in our country but also the world that is affected and made helpless. No one was prepared, neither big nor small countries. At that time, we remember that almost 70 countries implemented lockdowns, but Indonesia did not.

This is why our economy survives until now and remains in good condition. Even though almost 80% of the ministers at the Cabinet Meeting at that time proposed and suggested that we implement lockdown, we made the decision not to.

During the three years of pandemic, we should have learned lessons from it. We should not let the pandemic end without learning from it. We must learn from it, not only for the world, for countries, but also for ourselves so that after this pandemic, we can fix, improve, and strengthen what needs to be fixed, improved, and strengthened. The most important thing, in my opinion, is that we must reinforce collaboration among ourselves. This is key to why we could solve the pandemic well.

I remember that the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian National Police and all business organizations joined hands. Kadin and Bapak Arsjad, Chairperson of Kadin went to the regions together with HIPMI to provide vaccinations. The solid cooperation like that brought great results for our country.

Up to now, we have injected more than 450 million doses of vaccines, which is not a small number. You can imagine how we injected 450 million vaccines to our people scattered throughout Indonesia. This is what we need post-pandemic: collaboration and cooperation.

I highly appreciate HIPMI during the election of the chairperson in Solo. It was a bit noisy, as usual with young people, but after that, everyone got united again. This is very good. Bagas was accommodated. Angga was accommodated. Everyone was accommodated because HIPMI is an organization that deals with economics and I see that the inauguration stage is not enough.

I also appreciate the 239 officials. This is not a big number considering our population of 282 million. Hence, if there are only 239 officials, it is normal. Earlier, Chairperson Akbar told me, “Sir, there are so many officials, 239.” That’s normal. From Sabang to Merauke, everyone can be accommodated, and they are all part of HIPMI’s current management. I am happy that Rainaldo is also from West Papua, and there are people from Aceh. I do not know who they are, but they are all happy. This is our country. It is a big country, once again, a big country. So, if there are only 239 officials, it is still reasonable.

What makes me happy, usually, when there is an open conflict, it is difficult to unite. However, Chairperson Akbar can unite, and that’s very… very…, Earlier, the Minister shouted, the next president, the next president, the Chairperson Akbar is the minister. I agree, I agree.

And as a young entrepreneur, I think we all have become accustomed to facing challenges, obstacles, and difficulties in our daily lives so it is important to have a tough and adaptable personality and to be accustomed to learning by doing. And these are the moments we need because now there are no standards, no benchmarks, none at all. Everything is disrupted. So what is important is street smart, not book smart, and that is what HIPMI does.

Field experience, street experience, that’s what’s in HIPMI. Just ask Pak Bahlil. His experience is from what he is now, Minister of Investment, but earlier it seemed that the Minister was alluding to the fact that the benefits for HIPMI were not yet to be found. I cannot understand what he meant, but I think the Minister knows. The most important thing is how to build our business ecosystem to make it better.

The Job Creation Law will also be completed soon, which will simplify everything and provide opportunities for all of us to create as many jobs as possible.

Industrial downstreaming, albeit challenging, will continue to be pursued. We will not stop, even if we are sued, we will not stop. Once again, we will not stop, we will continue and I ask all HIPMI members who have good mines, whether it is nickel, bauxite, copper, tin, gold, to be prepared because I guarantee that we will stop everything, we will stop, we will stop, we will stop because what we want is added value. What we want is added value, even though we are currently in the process of being sued by the WTO, we will go on. Do not ever turn back. Do not be afraid because the added value is truly enormous.

The EV battery ecosystem is complete, entering into a larger ecosystem, the automotive industry, which is electric for EV. If this runs well, it can go anywhere because the supporting industry to help the industry will produce millions of medium and small economies that give great benefits for our country.

Secondly, I also need to remind about buying domestic products. Last year, we pushed for it, and the figure that reached Rp762 trillion in the State Budget, regional budgets, and SOEs has been spent on domestic products. It’s huge. And this is an opportunity for those of you who have good quality products.

Perhaps you already know that America implemented the use of domestic products in January 2023, and we are already a year ahead, so we are now becoming trendsetters, not followers.

And also, thanks to the efforts of Minister of Investment, 53 percent of investments are now outside Java, in which previously 70 percent was previously concentrated in Java. What does that mean? Big businessmen do not have to be in Jakarta because investment outside Java is already big. Their offices should also be outside Java. Do not centralize everything in Java because the economic GDP in Java is already too large, 58 percent of the total national GDP, so there will be a redistribution.

And that concludes my remarks on this auspicious opportunity.

Let me also congratulate all the newly appointed executives. Once again, HIPMI must be an arena for young Indonesian entrepreneurs to seize existing opportunities and to become the engine of the nation’s economy.

I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

(AS/EP)