Sambutan Presiden Republik Indonesia pada Jamuan Santap Siang Kenegaraan di Raffles Hotel, Singapura Senin, 16 Juni 2025

Your Excellency President Tharman Shanmugaratnam;
Distinguished Leaders of Singapore;
Ministers, Officials of the Singaporean and Indonesian Delegations and ASEAN;
Distinguished Ambassadors;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good afternoon.

First of all, I would like to express our deepest appreciation to you, Mr. President, and your government for welcoming me and my delegation with such a warm reception.

As you know, I’m not a newcomer to Singapore. As a young boy, I grew up in Singapore actually. So, I know the early days of Singapore.

I was in Singapore when Singapore was still a British colony, and I was in Singapore when PAP and Lee Kuan Yew won the first general election. So, yes the relationship between the leaders of Indonesia and the leaders of Singapore has gone a long way. The relations of course, as you mentioned, Mr. President, have been historic throughout the ages.

And, I’m very proud to be here today as President of the Republic of Indonesia. And, I would like also to reiterate my political thinking, that I am convinced that the interests of Indonesia and Singapore are intertwined.

We have our ups and downs. We did have our suspicions. We do have differences in backgrounds. We have issues that we must resolve. But, the fact of the geopolitics of the world today emphasizes that only collaboration and partnership can benefit neighbors.

And, we must be thankful and we must be proud that our leaders decided upon this route of cooperation. Our leaders formed ASEAN. And with ASEAN, we proved that we could have a zone of peace, and prosperity, and growth for more than half a century. I think, if you look at the world, maybe now we are one of the few regions that have achieved this era of stability, era of peace, era of growth.

We have our problems, yes, and we have to resolve them. We have our brother, member of ASEAN, which has internal problems, and we would like to help to resolve it in the ASEAN’ way.

But on the whole, Indonesia and Singapore have proven that, with collaboration and partnership, we can achieve the best interest of our people. I’m happy to learn that last year, 2024, Singapore has proven to be perhaps the largest foreign direct investor in Indonesia, with the increase of Singapore investment in Indonesia of 50%, 50% within two years. I think this is a show of confidence in Indonesia.

And, I’d like to reiterate, we value this partnership. I’m committed to enhance this partnership. I’ve announced in the meeting with the Prime Minister and the cabinet, that it is my political decision to enhance the best possible cooperation and partnership with Singapore. I believe sincerely that it is Indonesia’s national interest and Singapore’s national interest to be close partners, not only friends, but partners, friendship in a time of unstability or instability. My English is a bit rusty.

Friendship has a unique value, but partnership, I think, is much more important. So, thank you very much, Mr. President, for your continued support. I’m very touched today by your Singapore’s Orchid Diplomacy, and I’m going to copy that.

We are allowed to copy best practices. In school we’re not allowed to copy. But, I asked permission from President of Singapore, “Sir, can I copy your diplomacy?”

But anyway, I’m touched because, when I was asked to nominate a name, of course I remembered, who else, my mother, right? We are here because of our mothers. So, I nominated her name.

And now it is official, there is a hybrid orchid with the name of my mother. So, this is a great honor for me.

And, I think this is a symbol of the spirit of friendship, mutual respect, and partnership.