SPEECH OF THE AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIATO THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 72nd INDONESIA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY

17 August 2017

Distinguished Senior Citizens and members of the Indonesian community in the Netherlands,Dear Veteranen, Friends of Indonesia, Media colleagues and all my loved ones.

Assalamualaikum Wr. Wb.Good morning and best wishes to all of us.

May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon us all as we are all gathered under the grounds of the School of Indonesia to commemorate the 72nd Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

This year’s Indonesia's independence anniversary bears a logo of the “72 Years of Indonesia Working Together”, and a striking slogan "Working Together”: A theme that emphasizes the spirit of togetherness and mutual cooperation in building a better Indonesia.

This theme reminds us that unity amongst people underpins Indonesia's journey as a nation in spite of its diversity in ethnicity, religion, race and culture.

That Indonesia is a nation guided by the spirit of “gotong-royong” (an act of communal unity to work towards a common goal) and harmony.

That the triumph of a nation can only be achieved through devotedness of hard work and self-driven.

That the independence must signify the unity of the Indonesian people to pursue a much more prosperous, dignified, and driven country.

In this end, allow me to cite a remark by President Joko Widodo delivered during the annual session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) on 16 August 2017 ahead of the 72nd

Indonesia’s Independence Day, as follows:

Indonesia is a great nation, not just because of the fact that the country is populated with more than 250 million people, 17 thousand islands, and abundant natural resource but also the greatness of Indonesia is tested by history.

In its 72nd Anniversary, Indonesia remains firmly united. While we witness communal adversities out of hatred and deep divisions amongst tribes, religious groups in some countries, we remain fortunate to stand together under a renewed sense of unity in diversity perpetuating the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). Even today, we are

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proud that Indonesia is being chosen as one of the best examples by many countries in maintaining and strengthening unity.

Indonesia is a nation who struggled to achieve independence by its own. We seize independence, thanks to the struggle of our heroes, our scholars, students, leaders of our religions, and fighters from all corners of the archipelago.

All of these should make us more proud of Indonesia, a country we all hold dear, and should make us more confident in facing the future. We must move forward from the legacies of a colonial past, which unfortunately propagated to our nation a slave mentality, inferior, defeated and pessimistic.

As a large nation with the largest Muslim population in the world and hundreds of ethnics and thousands of islands, the Indonesian nation must be confident to achieve progress, catching up with its deficiencies and to reach its triumph.

We must believe in the power of our own nation and there are plenty to show that we are capable of achieving that end for which we have young generation with tremendous talents.

However, all those above - mentioned fineness must not make us fall out and self-complacent. We still have much work to do and many promises to fulfill. We must swiftly resolve our problems and have a firm line. We must never hesitate to safeguard our sovereignty, our oceans, our boundaries, and our natural resources. There must no obstacle for us to be firm because we hold strong the principles of Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and unity in diversity (Bhineka Tunggal Ika). We must be assertive because we have Pancasila as the basic principles of the country, the ideology of our nation and our souls.

In the past three years, the Government has been focusing in combating poverty, curbing inequality and reducing unemployment. As a result, the number of Indonesians living under the poverty line fell from 28.6 million in March 2015 to 27.8 million in March this year. Similarly, according to the Gini Ratio Index of Indonesia, which measures the level of economic inequality, Indonesia continues to improve and reached 0.393 in March 2017, lower than the figure of September 2014, which reached 0.414.

Our inflation rate is also under control at 2.60 percent from January to July 2017. In May 2017, before the fasting month, our inflation stood at only 0.39 percent.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We must remember that developing a country is developing its people. Alhamdulillah, the Government’s efforts to improve the quality of Indonesian human development came up with encouraging outcomes. Indonesia's Human Development Index (HDI) is moving up from medium high development to high human development category, with HDI rising from 68.90 in 2014 to 70.18 in 2016.

Development of human resources is amongst our priorities. The government is not just concentrating on reducing chronic malnutrition, stunting rates, but also preparing qualified young people, skilled and ready to compete. To that end, the Government has initiated programs to increase the level of competence of workers, among others, through education and vocational training. We continue to multiply and strengthen the standards of vocational schools and polytechnic educations, connected to the industrial world. We have done many to prepare reliable and competitive human resources.

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While we look forward to Indonesia’s competitiveness, we must also anticipate that things change quickly under today’s digitalized world. We must continue to improve efficiency, national competitiveness with digital breakthroughs in bureaucratic work, public services, advancement of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), national economy, and delivery of social assistance and non-cash subsidies.

Through the 15th Economic Policy Package that has been placed since 2015, the Government has trimmed down long-term regulatory and bureaucratic tapes that have so far hinders the Indonesian economy.

The policy has resulted in increasing international confidence in Indonesia's economic resilience. In the ease of doing business, Indonesia’s rankings, for instance, has increased from 106th position in 2016 to 91st position in 2017. Indonesia has also gained an investment grade from three credible international rating agencies, namely Standard and Poor's, Fitch Ratings, and Moody's. Even in the business survey conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Indonesia has been named the 4th place as a prospective investment destination country.

In the field of technology, Indonesia is progressing rapidly. To mention one is the N219 aircraft, which is locally produced making it one of the great products of the ingenuity of Indonesian young generations, and to which it has successfully conducted its maiden flight yesterday at Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At this point, allow me to cite the achievements and progress of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as part of our accountability to the people of Indonesia.

To date, we are currently enjoying a constructive relationship and cooperation between the two countries, as enshrined under the principles of Indonesia – Netherlands Comprehensive Partnership.

We have witnessed the close relationship and mutually beneficial cooperation, marked by the visits of the Heads of Governments of both countries in 2016. Both visits gave rise to number of agreements and cooperation arrangements in various fields.

In 2017, it is the time that we enhance our work together to realize all the agreements between leaders of both countries.

This strong bilateral relation is also characterized by various mutually supportive agreements between the two countries in international fora, including mutual support in the nomination of Indonesia and the Netherlands as a Non-Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the economic field, there is a growth in trade between the countries in the period of January - May 2017, where trade value grew by more than 35% over the period of last year, with a value of USD 2.06 billion.

In the field of investment, the Netherlands, for several years in a row, is still the largest benefactor of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Europe to Indonesia. As recorded in 2016, the realization of FDI from the Netherlands has reached USD 1.47 billion.

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This positive trend also takes place in the tourism sector whose Dutch tourist arrivals to Indonesia have grown about 3%. In 2016, the number of Dutch tourists to Indonesia has reached at around 195,000 and it is expected to reach more than 300,000 tourists by 2019.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the field of information, social and culture, relations between communities of both nations have been going well. The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia will continue to promote New Indonesia, especially a modern, positive and advanced Indonesia through Culinary Diplomacy, Fashion Diplomacy, Indonesian Film Festival, Gebyar Budaya Indonesia, Fashion Show Wastra Nusantara and Indonesia Jazz Night.

The Embassy also actively sends selected Dutch youngsters through the Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship (BSBI) and Dharmasiswa, to directly learn the Indonesia’s cultural diversities. To date, the Embassy has 13 BSBI alumni and 12 Dharmasiswa alumni from the Netherlands.

The mutual trust and closeness of both nations also remains evident from the interfaith dialogue forum. This year, the Netherlands will host the Fifth Interfaith Dialogue, which will further enhance understanding among religious believers as well as advance the cooperation among them.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Currently, there are more than 1,600 Indonesians studying in various universities in the Netherlands. This number proves the Netherlands as one of the favored academic destinations for young Indonesians. This significant number also makes the education and cultural activities of the Embassy more dynamic, where Indonesian students are partners in promoting bilateral relations between the two countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The close connection between the two countries also contributes to the dynamics of consular and public service provided by the Embassy. Protecting and serving 14,390 Indonesian citizens in the Netherlands with a population of 1.7 million Indonesian diaspora make the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague home to them. In 2017, the Embassy will advance the programs for the protection and service of the Indonesian citizens, through the refinement of our Reporting Applications System (ALDITA), purported, among others, to make the application be integral part of the Safe Travel application under the Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On the occasion of commemorating Indonesia's anniversary today, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia has decided to also grant a special award to the Indonesian/diaspora which has made Indonesia eminent in the eyes of the international forum, namely Dr. Ir. Dwi Hartanto, who has completed his doctoral studies in the TU-Delft aerospace field. It is not long ago that Mr. Dwi Hartanto pursued an incredible achievement in the prestigious event of technology research competition between Space Agency from around the world in Cologne, Germany. Dwi Hartanto won the Spacecraft Technology research competition with the category titled “Lethal Weapon in the Sky”.

Furthermore, the Embassy is also proud to present the award of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the community/group of partners of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in

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Den Haag who has been supporting the Indonesian citizens’ protection program in the Netherlands, namely the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union Netherlands (IMWU NL).

We also wish to express our highest appreciation to a member of our locally recruited staff who has served the nation and country, and has become a great family of the Embassy.

This year, the family of the Embassy has experienced a big loss of one of our staff, namely Ibu Farina Dina Bergsma-Lomboan (Ibu Rina). She was one of our best staffs and passed away while on duty in Jakarta on 6 August 2017. May she rest in peace and all the abandoned family be given strength.

For her outstanding work, loyalty and dedication, the Embassy of the Republic of Hague has decided to posthumously grant a special appreciation to Ibu Farina Dina Bergsma-Lomboan.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me quote the words of President Joko Widodo:The Indonesian nation is a great nation,A fighting nation!

A nation that struggles with its own power to seize its independence. Indonesian people must be confident to progress, catching up with its deficiencies and to reach its triumph.

And remember what President Soekarno said:We are a great nation. We are not a nation of ‘Tempe’!A nation that does not believe in its power will not stand as an independent nation.Only a fighting nation can become a great nation.

Dirgahayu Republik Indonesia!Dirgahayu Negeri Pancasila!

I thank you.Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

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