State Address of the President of the Republic of Indonesia on the Occasion of the 74th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of the Republic of Indonesia Before the Joint Session of the Regional Representatives Council of the Republic of Indonesia and the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
Good Morning,
May Peace be Upon Us All,
Om Swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of Virtue,
Honorable Speaker, Vice Speakers, and Members of the Regional Representatives Council of the Republic of Indonesia;

Honorable Speaker, Vice Speakers, and Members of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia;
Honorable Chairpersons, Vice Chairpersons, and Members of State Institutions;
Distinguished Bapak BJ Habibie, the Third President of the Republic of Indonesia;
Distinguished Ibu Hajjah Megawati Soekarnoputri, the Fifth President of the Republic of Indonesia;
Distinguished Bapak Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Sixth President of the Republic of Indonesia;
Distinguished Bapak Try Sutrisno and Bapak Hamzah Haz;
Distinguished Bapak Boediono and Ibu Herawati Budiono;
Distinguished Ibu Shinta Nuriyah Abdurahman Wahid;
Distinguished Bapak K.H. Ma’ruf Amin, Vice President-elect for the period of 2019-2024;
Distinguished Bapak Prabowo Subianto and Bapak Sandiaga Uno, my best friends;
Excellencies Ambassadors of Friendly Countries and Heads of International Agencies and Organizations;
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
My Fellow Countrymen,

On this auspicious occasion, let us revive the spirit of our founding fathers that Indonesia is more than just capital Jakarta or the island of Java. In fact, Indonesia constitutes the whole regions across the country, from Sabang to Merauke, from Miangas Island to Rote Island. Therefore, development that we are undertaking continues to be Indonesia-oriented and can be enjoyed by the entire people across the archipelago.
An advanced Indonesia is not only the work of the President and the Vice President, not only the work of the executive, legislative, or judiciary. In fact, the success Indonesia has achieved is also the work of religious leaders, cultural figures, and educators. Indonesia’s success is also the work of businessmen, labors, traders, innovators, as well as farmers, fishermen, and micro, small, and medium enterprises (SMES) actors, and the work of the entire children of the nation.
Our swiftness in achieving goals of the nation is our collective role. It is a collective role of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), the Golkar Party, the National Democratic Party (NasDem), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Unity Party (Perindo), the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), the Crescent Star Party (PBB), the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI). It is also the role of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Democratic Party (Demokrat), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Berkarya Party and the Garuda Party.
It is my belief that as long as we have one vision, an Advanced Indonesia, we can make leaps of progress, leaps to achieve a faster progress than other nations. As Head of State and Head of Government, as well as President in a presidential system mandated by the Constitution, I call on everyone to remain optimistic and keep up the hard work. I will be at the forefront in our endeavors to achieve leaps of progress.

My Fellow Countrymen,

We are now in a completely different world compared to that in the previous era. Globalization continues to deepen, driven by the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Competition is getting tougher and trade war is escalating. Countries are fighting for investment. Countries are fighting for technology, market, intelligent people. Countries are fighting over remarkable talents that bring progress for their respective countries.
The world is not only changing; it is experiencing disruption. In this era of disruption, the establishment may collapse, the impossibility may prevail. Types of jobs may change at any time. Many types of job disappear but many new types of jobs emerge. Some professions are gone, some arise. Old business model suddenly gets obsolete, new and brilliant business model emerge. Some well-established skills suddenly lose relevance and new skills suddenly become sought-after.
We must capitalize on the flow of communication and interaction that are now increasingly easier and more open, while remaining vigilant at the same time. Knowledge and positive experience can be gained in a far easier way today. However, the ease in communication and interaction flows may pose its own threats: threats to our ideology Pancasila, threats to our conduct and manners, threats to our traditions, arts and cultures, as well as threats to the heritage of our local wisdoms.
In the fields of defense and security, we also must be responsive and stand ready to face cyber wars, intolerance, radicalism and terrorism as well as to face threats of other crimes, both at home and abroad, which threaten our unity and integrity as a nation.
Indonesia is not afraid of openness. In fact, we must face the openness with vigilance, be it against other ideologies that may harm ideology of the nation. Vigilance against other values and cultures that are not compatible with the wisdoms of our nation. We must stay vigilant to anything that may pose a threat to our sovereignty.
Indonesia is not afraid of competition. We must face competition with creativity, innovation, and swiftness that we have. Therefore, we have no choice but to change. We must abandon uncompetitive old ways. We must devise new strategies. We must adopt new ways. Being better than before is not enough. Instead, we must be better than others. Once again, being better than before is not enough. We must be better than others.
Amidst a fierce global competition in the fight over influence, market, and investment, we must act faster and do better than other countries. We must move faster and be better than our neighboring countries. Investment must provide new employment and benefit our nation. Step by step is not enough anymore. We need leap by leap. Slowly but sure is no longer relevant. Now we need to be fast and sure.
In a global situation full of competition, the mission to participate in building a better world order must not be ignored. We must continue our contribution to world peace. We must increase our contribution to global welfare. We must develop initiative of collaboration and cooperation to build the world. Humanity must always become the soul of Indonesian foreign policy.
The world that we live in has not always been smooth and stable. Not everything is certain and predictable. We are in the face of a volatile global economy dynamics and geopolitical changes. Economic crisis hits several parts of the world. Climate crisis presents threats to the world and environmental destructions present threats to our world.
Ring of fire that surrounds the Indonesian territory can spell unpredictable disasters. Much of Indonesia is vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, forest fires and floods. Consequently, alertness and vigilance in facing uncertainties are imperative!
We must strengthen our capacity to manage risks in the face of the volatile global economy and mitigate unpredictable natural disasters. Our development has to be sensitive to disaster risks. We must prepare infrastructure to support disaster risk mitigation. The people must be vigilant and aware of risks.

My Fellow Countrymen,

We need science and technology to enable us to make a leap of progress and to be ahead of other nations. We need breakthroughs, shortcuts that are smart, easy and fast. We also need excellent human capital with Indonesian souls who uphold Pancasila principles. We need excellent human capital who show tolerance and possess a noble deed. We need excellent human capital eager to learn, to work hard, to be highly-dedicated.
We need disruptive innovations that turn impossibility into opportunities; innovations that turn weaknesses into strength and excellence; innovations that turn limitations into abundance; innovations that turn deficiencies into ability; innovations that turn something with zero value into something valuable for the sake of our people and our nation.
We must be dare to escape the curses of natural resources. Our country is indeed rich in bauxite, coal, palm oil, fish, and other natural resources. However, they are not enough. If we develop downstream industries, we will be able to make leaps of progress. We are building bauxite-processing industries so alumina imports is no longer needed. We are developing downstream coal industry into dimethyl ether (DME), so we can slash imports of millions of tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) annually. We are developing nickel downstream industries to process it into ferronickel so our value added nickel will rise four times higher.
We must be dare to begin now. We have achieved leaps of progress. We have begun with B20 program and will begin B30 program, which mixes diesel with 30 percent of biodiesel. Nonetheless, we can do more. We can upgrade it to B100 program. We have produced jet fuel so there is no need to import jet fuel. Nevertheless, we can do even more. We can even export jet fuel. We also aim to produce jet fuel made of palm oil. We have also paved the way to develop electric vehicles. However, we want to do more. We want to build our electric vehicle industry.
We must muster the courage to expand our market, not only in the domestic market. Our products must be able to flood both regional and global markets. That is what we must achieve. Our businessmen and state-owned enterprises must have the courage to become world-class players. That is what we must do. Our talents must be internationally reputable and acclaimed. That is what we must prepare. Once again, we must expand more, from local to global.
If we, all of us, immediately and seriously work hand in hand to collectively carry out reforms, I believe we will be able to make significant leaps of progress. The momentum is now, between 2020 and 2024, when we reach the highest point of our demographic bonus period. If we are more focused on adopting new ways, I believe the demographic bonus becomes a bonus of development leaps.
Our educational institutions and training centers must also receive full supports for massive overhaul. The increasingly intensifying global competition needs human capital with the right characters. Disruption in various fields need agile human capital, who can seize the opportunities of the emerging business, who can take emerging jobs, who can master the emerging skills.
Our education must be responsive and open to global changes. We relentlessly lend our support to early childhood and family education. We are improving the quality of elementary, secondary, and higher education. We prioritize vocational education. We must continue to improve capacity of our educators. We must safeguard the large budget allocation on education and ensure that it is well-targeted. All of which must be supported with education digitalization.
Competitive Indonesian people should not only be smart but also healthy and strong. We must reduce stunting cases so our children will grow into a generation of excellence. We must widen access to health services through the adoption of technology and basic infrastructure development in all regions across the country. We must improve health quality through the development of innovation and by promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am fully aware that those strategies need favorable political, legal, and social ecosystems. We need to continue deregulation, simplify regulations, and maintain consistency of regulations. We must continue de-bureaucratization, simplify working procedures, and simplify processes that are oriented to services. We must continue to prevent corruption without disrupting the courage to innovate. We must make the most of technology, which turns difficulty into ease and which turn complicated matters into simple matters.
We must massively carry out legislative reforms. I invite all of us, the Government, the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council and the People’s Consultative Assembly, as well as regional governments and Regional Legislative Council to take new steps. We must not be trapped in the regulations which are rigid, replete with formalities, complex, complicated, full of lip service which will in fact, hurt and bring difficulties to the public and business sector. We must stop all of these.
We cannot let regulations trap us, scare us, and hinder us to innovate. Such regulations must be eliminated to the roots. Regulations that are not compatible with the recent development must be removed. Inconsistent and overlapping regulations must also be synchronized, simplified and trimmed.
Nevertheless, we also must respond to new threats that are not yet regulated in laws and regulations. We must regulate, in a measurable way, the adoption of technology that inflict damage to the civilization of our nation and endangers unity and democracy.
We must stand ready to face the threats posed by cybercrimes, including the crime of data misuse. Data is a new type of resources for the nation. Data is now more precious than oil. Therefore, data sovereignty must be upheld. Rights of the citizens for personal data must be protected. The regulations must be immediately formulated. No compromise!
Once again, the core of regulations is to protect the interests of the people and to protect the interests of the state and the nation. Regulations must make it easier for people to achieve their goals. Regulations must provide a sense of security. Regulations must provide ease for the people to do good and also push everyone to innovate towards an Advanced Indonesia.
Therefore, performance measurement for the legislators must be changed, not to be measured by the numbers of laws, government regulations, ministerial regulations, regional regulations that are drafted, but from the extent those regulations can protect the interests of the people, the state and the nation. I call on all the executive rank to work with greater efficiency. Why do we must go abroad for comparative study if we can access all the information we need through our smartphone?
Likewise, performance indicators for legal and human rights enforcers must be changed, including that of corruption eradication officers. Strict law enforcement must be encouraged. Firm human rights enforcement must be appreciated. However, the success of law enforcers is not only measured by the number of cases investigated or the number of people sent to penitentiaries. In fact, it must be measured by the number of potential violations of laws and human rights that can be prevented and the amount of state loss potential that could be prevented. We need to highlight this. Therefore, it is management, governance, and system that must be developed. Once again, it is management, governance, and system that must be developed.
The same applies to measure the performance of supervisory apparatus and executive bureaucrats. Good governance is not measured by a lengthy and complex procedure. Instead, good governance is reflected in a fast and simple procedure that provides room for breakthroughs that promotes leaps of progress. Works of the Government, works of executive bureaucrats, works of supervisory bureaucrats must be result-oriented. Once again, they must be result-oriented.
Budget realization is not measured by the amount of budget disbursed but by the quality of service provided for the people and the extent it can provide ease for the people. Measuring government accountability must not be seen from the number of forms that are filled and reported but by the quality of products that are produced. State budget must be fully dedicated to the people.
The adoption of the latest technology has opened up opportunities to ease matters that used to be complicated, to lower the price of things that used to be costly, and to expedite matters that used to be slow and long.
Simplifying procedures and adoption of the latest technology at works must also be coupled with simplification of organizations. Organizations with overlapping functions must be merged. Administrative works that can be done with computers and Artificial Intelligence must be initiated. Therefore, the number of organizations and the number of inefficient and irrelevant apparatus must be cut.
Indeed, quality and culture of our apparatus, starting from state apparatus, bureaucrats, personnel of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and personnel of the Indonesian National Police, and high-ranking officials of state-owned enterprises (SOE) must immediately improve. Immediately! There is no compromise with apparatus that betray Pancasila. There is no compromise with apparatus who do not serve the people, who do not go to the fields and meet the people. Instead, we must find and extend appreciation to apparatus who always spread optimism, who always find smart shortcuts, and who whole-heartedly serve the people.

My Fellow Countrymen,

In this historic occasion, while asking for the blessings and grace of Allah subhanahu wa’taala and blessings and supports from the distinguished members of the House of Representatives and members of the Regional Representatives Council, our national leaders, our national figures, and especially the whole Indonesian people, allow me to relocate our capital to the island of Kalimantan. A capital not only is a symbol of national identity but also represents the advancement of the nation. This move aims to create economic justice and equitability. This move aims to achieve the vision of an Advanced Indonesia – Indonesia that lasts forever.

Long Live Republic of Indonesia!
Long Live the Land of Pancasila!
Excellent Human Capital, Advanced Indonesia!
Merdeka! (Independence)
Thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om,
Namo Buddhaya.