Introductory Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at Plenary Cabinet Meeting, at the Presidential Office, Presidential Palace Compound, Jakarta, October 23, 2024

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Good afternoon,

Peace and prosperity for us all,

Shalom,

Om Swastiastu, 

Namo Buddhaya, 

Greetings of Virtue,

Rahayu rahayu.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, members of the Red and White Cabinet whom I respect ministers in attendance;
Distinguished Vice President;
Distinguished Coordinating Ministers, Chairperson of the National Economic Council, Heads of Agencies, Commander of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), Chief of Indonesian National Police, Attorney General, Head of State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

Esteemed guests,
This is such a historic moment for me. Today marks the first Plenary Cabinet Meeting under my leadership. We have agreed to name it the Red and White Cabinet to serve as a symbol for unity, kinship, and nationality.

During the past few years, I have been emphasizing the instrumental of unity to the Indonesian people, politicians, community leaders, religious leaders, and business leaders. The key to success and advancement of a country throughout human history is the cooperation and unison of the elites.

Unison means we’re in agreement about national interests that are indispensable to the survival of the state. We have our own political interest. We have our own group interest. However, when it comes to the nation and the state, we have to be united on pivotal national interests.

I strongly believe the country’s pivotal interest which we have to be agreed on is about the self-reliance and integrity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. In order to give guarantee the integrity and viability of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, we must maintain and preserve our nation’s wealth in efficient, wise, and skillful manners.

By preserving and managing it well we can provide the best services to our people. We can give them their basic necessity; we can meet all the needs of a nation, which includes, of course, ensuring the sovereignty of the nation.

I remind you to never forget the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, which contains the nation’s goals in the preamble.  Our nation’s goals were clearly defined by our state founders. The main goal is to protect the people of Indonesia and all the independence and the land that has been struggling for. Our national goals are, first, to survive. Therefore, we should determine whether investments we received align with the state defense or not.

Second, to improve people’s prosperity. I have said that people of an independence country must enjoy an independency. Don’t take pride in becoming a G20 member if many of our people are still suffering from poverty and famine.

Educate the life of the nation is a necessity. Education is our top priority. Commitment to education is reflected in budget allocated for the sector in 2025, which is among the highest throughout our history, namely 20 percent. Thus, education sector is crucial. The fourth national goal is to participate in global community and fight for the independence of other countries. For that reasons, we have to be a vigorous nation.

My fellow countrymen,

I have to underscore several points of note. I understand that we have just been inaugurated. I was only inaugurated three days ago, and you were only inaugurated for two days. I encourage you, especially the new ministers, to consolidate and organize your administration and teams in your respective ministries and institutions immediately. Forming a team is very important; a good team that can work together will make it easier for us to achieve the targets we have set.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I prioritize a team work. Therefore, I invite you to a retreat in Magelang in a near future. We will facilitate coordination in several locations in Magelang Military Academy, Central Java province.

I think the event will have more benefits for us since, according to the history, people physically fought for the independence against colonial in regions though our independence was announced in a proclamation in Jakarta. The Magelang region is a center of our resistance against colonizers hundreds years ago and it was the place where Prince Diponegoro fought the colonial. Magelang is also surrounded with five mounts. I think we will feel their bravery, heroism, and patriotism.

Esteemed guests,

There are 48 ministers and several strategic institutions in our cabinet. The number is indeed quite large than that of the previous government. I know it but we are a big nation. We cannot deny that Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world, in term of population. Our territory is as large as Western Europe, which consists of 27 countries. We are one nation. Managing Europe requires 27 ministers of finance, 27 ministers of defense, and 27 ministers of home affairs. Our territory is as vast as Europe.

We also have a democratic political system. If we have an authoritarian system, maybe we can carry out the state with small population. So you don’t need to worry. We just need to work efficiently and comply with the regulations. I call on Minister of Finance, Coordinating Ministers, all ministers to play close attention to the state budget, to learn budget implementation list (DIPA). I want all to curb ceremonial agenda, seminars, workshops, conferences, official trips overseas.

We must set a good example. Our focus is to develop the people’s economy from the inside. Don’t make pointless programs, for example, going abroad only to make a comparative study about scouts. Make it more efficient.

If you pay attention to the Government I have formed, I have strengthened the Presidential Chief of Staff. I have reinforced it. I have also formed a new agency, the Development Control and Special Investigation Agency. Their task is to monitor all the programs and projects that we will implement. I have also established a new agency, the Acceleration Agency for Poverty Alleviation which will study and oversee all social protection programs and assistance programs for those in need.

My intention is not meddling in ministries’ works but to assist them instead. We will eliminate bottlenecks and resolve problems.

Let’s be honest and admit that bureaucracy in our country is known to be complex and slow. In fact, people keep talking how the bureaucracy hampers their needs, rather than facilitate them. Some say “why make it easy when you can make it difficult?”.

I order ministers to be more bold, do not hesitate to provide the best services to our people. If your subordinates do not perform well, report it and they will be replaced. There are many people lining up to devote themselves to the country. No one is untouchable. I give you the authority to remove those who do not comply, or who do not work hard for the nation, the country, and the people immediately. They’d better stay home than to make things difficult for us.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In a near future you will establish work programs, respectively. Prepare for it immediately and I will invite you for coordination periodically. Before this cabinet meeting, I had coordinated with a number of ministers, Attorney General, and the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) which will be carried on tomorrow.

I will give you directives. Minister/(Head) of National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), do ensure all programs and agenda in all ministries/institutions have significant contribution, well-calculated, and  create synergy. Review all projects again; there should be no vanity projects. Everything should be directed towards what I have outlined in my speech before the People’s Consultative Assembly on my inauguration day.

We must achieve food self-sufficiency. This is the key to facing global challenge since war can break out anytime. We should be confident that we have the capacity to feed our people.

Energy self-sufficiency is a must. We are grateful to have abundant natural resources that we must utilize it to the greatest benefit without hesitation. Downstream processing is the key to prosperity.

To that end, I order related ministers, Minister of Investment and Downstream Industry, Minister/(Head) of Bappenas. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, and some other ministers to immediately inventory the important projects within our downstream processing program, with assistance from Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and the Chairperson of the National Economic Council. Formulate downstream processing of 26 commodity projects immediately. Make a list and seek the funding so we can start the downstreaming as soon as possible.

In addition, I order Head of the National Nutrition Agency and all ministries/institutions to prepare a program for nutritious food immediately, quickly, precisely, and measurably, but do not be afraid of difficulties. I still hear doubts from several sides about my ability to implement the program. I am not saying to complete the program in one, two weeks, or three months. No one has the staff of Prophet Solomon. Nevertheless, we can calculate, manage, allocate funds, and we can mobilize resources to achieve the targets.

I strongly believe, and I stake my leadership on this that nutritious food for children and pregnant women is strategic. Those who do not support this are welcome to leave the Government I lead. We must share the same belief as one team. This is part of the plan for the revival of the Indonesian nation.

The next program is education. Education is essential. I had met with Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology and Minister of Primary and Secondary Education and we already have the big picture to provide education to all of our children. We will utilize technology to speed up and provide education to children.

Health sector is also instrumental. The fastest form of democratization that the people can feel is through education and health. If we can provide the best education for our children and adequate health care for all our citizens, that is the true democracy.

Minister of Health, please continue the health reform and address the shortage of doctors and health workers. We have a specific program for this, which we will discuss separately.

The programs must be supported with strong defense and strict law enforcement. I order the Attorney General, National Police Chief, BPKP, and BIN to remain focused on serious threats to the country, namely online gambling, illicit drugs, smuggling, embezzlement, corruption, and leaks. We can mitigate all of these issues if we have strict law enforcement, good intelligence, and strong evidence.

That concludes my remarks, perhaps the media can return to their previous position, as we will further discuss more detailed instructions.

(RAS/MUR)