STATE ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA K.H. ABDURRAHMAN WAHID BEFORE THE SESSION OF THE HOUSE OF PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVES 16TH AUGUST 2000

STATE ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA K.H. ABDURRAHMAN WAHID
BEFORE THE SESSION OF THE HOUSE OF PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVES 16TH AUGUST 2000




Honourable Speaker, Vice Speakers, and Members of the House of Representatives,
Distinguished Guests, and
My beloved fellow countrymen all over Indonesia,
Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
God be praised, today, we are again heralding the anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia’s Independence Day, which we will commemorate tomorrow on 17th August 2000. The long-standing state convention in which the President regularly delivers a state address on 16th August before the Plenary Session of the House of Representatives is indeed an exemplary exercise. We can jointly use this opportunity to reflect on the journey we have embarked upon as a nation. Tomorrow, our independence day will reach its fifty-fifth year. The Indonesian nationalism is however far older than its independence.
The Indonesian nationalism was born and went through a process reaching its maturity in this archipelago long before the independence was proclaimed. The process of the birth of the nationalism had started since our founding fathers formed a political community, which vehemently denied the presence of other nations colonising the Indonesian people and territory. It is this ever-growing internalisation process that has in turn formed our collective awareness as a nation. It is therefore proven from this starting point that nationalism is not formed and born naturally, but is a product of a social and intellectual development of a society in a given course of its history.
The founding fathers of this republic agreed to lay a foundation for the Indonesian nationalistic bonds based on common destiny and ideals. With a common destiny, there grew an emotional bond and a strong morality, which can be referred to as national brotherhood. With the same ideals, there emerged a feeling of solidarity which in turn mobilised the forces toward achieving progress, establishing a state, forming a government, upholding the law, and to nurturing lives in various fields.
We interpret the proclamation itself as the pinnacle of the Indonesian people’s agreement to embody its common life through the formation of a nation-state, which is free, sovereign, and democratic. The founding fathers of this state had from the very beginning come to an agreement that the democratic Indonesian nation-state does not belong to a group of people, not even the majority — either in terms of ethnicity, religion, social class or social stratum. This Republic belongs to all Indonesian people.
Honourable Speaker, Vice-Speakers, Members of the House, and Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today it is indeed more than fitting for all of us to proudly speak about the values of nationalism, freedom, and democracy, for those norms will always safeguard our journey into the future. These three parameters have solidly and inter-wovenly amalgamated. It is indeed impossible to nurture democracy and to give meaning to the independence outside the nationalism’s framework. Democracy, which legitimises the people’s sovereignty, cannot be effectively expressed beyond the formation of nationalism. These two values --nationalism and democracy-- would not be able to perfectly live on their own, for they are inseparable. Nationalism without democracy would also lose its life’s dynamics, and democracy without nationalism would instil wilderness.
Through our own historical experience, it is indeed crystal-clear that only with these spirit and nationalism sentiments can this nation lead to its independence, through which we have an opportunity to build a democratic political system. Today, I purposely touch upon these bonds of values in order to call upon all Indonesian people to fully comprehend that the existing political freedom that we are now enjoying is an integral part and parcel of our national commitment laid down by the founding fathers of this republic. During the last two years, the Indonesian nation has indeed regained its democratic rights. This is clearly apparent for they are free to express their opinions both in oral as well as in written forms. The mushrooming of various institutions, associations, and organisations outside the state’s formation for the last two years, has been a good sign, especially if their performance is geared toward forming a self-sustaining society, which is capable of overcoming its own problems, namely an economically and intellectually self-supporting society, commonly known as a civil society.
However, as I have earlier touched upon, as is the case with nationalism, democracy is also not a God-given phenomenon. Our sophistication in developing democracy will not only determine its quality, but also its sustainability. Should in the name of democracy --consciously or unconsciously-- we agree to give a nod to or let violent acts occur in the
society; to use hatred and vengeance as an instrument to sideline political opponents; or, to exploit the previous government’s mistakes and loopholes as a pretext to justify separatist movements, it could be assured that the true meaning of democracy as a rational process to deal with the prevailing conflicts would be difficult to materialise. All of these can happen, if a spirit of nationalism does not frame the practice of democracy, which is an agreed value to morally and emotionally unite us and to engender a feeling of unison.
Therefore, the efforts to redefine, reorient, and reproduce our national and democratic values are indeed urgently needed. The leadership of political elite to awaken the society’s awareness and comprehension on these values of democracy and nationalism is also urgently required. This is in order that the meaning of independence as a truly mental-and-physical liberating force from all inhumane practices is better able to don our daily life, encompassing economic, political, and socio-cultural spheres.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed ironical that during this auspicious event, there are many citizens of our nation still engulfed in a miserable condition because they are not as yet free from fear over the fate and safety of their family members as well as of their own. The refugees from several conflict-torn regions are suffering from this disgraceful situation on a daily basis. The urban poor people are also not yet completely free from being sidelined and chased away from their own dwelling places, although perhaps from a legal and social viewpoint they do not have the rights to defend them. Freedom from a protracted suffering has not yet been enjoyed by some of our fellow citizens who are still engulfed by the structural poverty.
We are fully aware that the development program has so far not been able to deliver a just welfare for all segments of the society. We are also unable to uproot the poverty and suffering which are still manifest in the midst of our society. This is inter alia due to a multidimensional phenomenon that has to be approached holistically, requiring the involvement of all parties in its handling and requiring a longer time to overcome its presence. These efforts encompass the creation of as widest as possible job opportunities, the improvement of access to health and education services, and the opening access to appropriate and attainable public basic infrastructures.
The challenge that we confront in handling the problem of people’s welfare is indeed formidable. The efforts to empower those needy people have to be designed so as to allow them to be better able to solve their own problems. There is therefore a need for us to open information access, to let them freely organise themselves, and to also give them the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process involving their own self-being.
It is the transformation from dependence to independence that we should jointly facilitate. The experience in facing the economic crisis for the last three years has made us realise how too highly dependent on the government has crippled the creative potentials of the people to stand up to overcome the crisis by themselves.
The government is therefore highly committed to lessening its dominant role. The government will not redo what the society has been able to do, and all governmental apparatuses need to improve their capability to assume their facilitating role. We should all be aware that it is indeed of paramount importance to build a society which has its own capability, initiative and inner strength.
In various circles of the people’s culture and in their day-to-day life, the people actually still possess a number of sagacities, resolves, and perseverences in their efforts to confront the challenges. In their midst, we are still able to find a real fighting spirit which can guarantee the continuation of our beloved nation-state’s existence. Therefore, it is indeed saddening to learn the fact that after more than fifty years of independence, we are still unsuccessful in managing the relations among and between various groups, ethnicities, races, and religious followers. It is to be deplored that blood still sheds, vengeance and hatred loom large in the hearts of some of our supposedly independence guardians, despite the fact that our nationalism is being seriously engulfed by the world globalisation.
Our tasks ahead are therefore to rebuild the inter-group relations in a more creative and humane format. We need to formulate a national agenda to be used as a forum for reconciliations, dialogues, and communications in an attempt to restore the relations among and between the components of the society in various regions. We also need to encourage the emergence of a cultural response against the breakdown of political communication in our society in several areas.
Albeit the fact that social disharmony is still rampant, especially in the Moluccas and the North Moluccas, we should not lose hope. Our cultural values which are full of wisdom of respecting others or other groups are still intact. The differences in religion, race, or group used to be seen by us as inherent in our pluralistic society. Many of us consider that these occurring conflicts are not genuine within us. They are obviously a product of those dirty-hands who maliciously manipulate the society’s ignorance of its own cultural values, as a result of an acute conflict of interests in the interaction of relations of the local people in the economic and socio-political fields. So, if a new attitude and relation --that is based on the spirit of brotherhood as a nation-- can be restored in which every group or individual can enjoy its rights and dignities, there is a hope that these conflicts can be solved.
At the same time, we also need courage to comprehensively review our previous common mistakes. Only through this can we, as members of this nation-state, move forward to jointly start constructing a new future. I am confident that only the cultural morality of this kind will save us from the threat of national disintegration.
Honourable Speaker, Vice-Speakers, Members of the House, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In accordance with the spirit of restructuring our national life and of renewing our commitments in the economic field, we are facing the challenge to rebuild the national economic order. The crisis that has swept all of us has inflicted many damages on the important elements of our national economy. As a result, many segments of our society have been left untouched for them to enjoy the fruit of the development and, worse still, are suffering more and more because of the crisis. In order to rearrange and rebuild the economy in the post-crisis period we are resolved to consistently set it up upon the principle of economic democracy, which is a road towards welfare for all. Therefore, not only will it aim at recuperating economic performance through the attainment of a high growth rate, but also, more importantly, it will aim at creating a feeling of solidarity and genuine participation by the people in the development process. Only through this method can then we bring about justice and open up a wider opportunity for the society at large to enjoy the prosperity we are yearning for.
The recovery of our economy is aimed at creating a balance between the growth and the justice, the efficiency and the empowerment, and between the effectiveness and the quality of life. At the same time, the crisis that is entering its third year has obliged us to undertake various recovery policies which often cause weighty impacts on the social and economic lives and which are politically sensitive. We shall carry out the four pillars of the economic programs that I expounded in the august Annual Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly last week, namely: first, the maintenance of the macrostability; second, the strengthening and the rebuilding of the economic institutions; third, the continuation of the policy and structural adjustments; and, fourth, the protection of the poor and the empowerment of the impuissant economy.
The basis of the economic democracy, which is simply interpreted as welfare for all, has two important elements, namely, welfare and opportunity for the public at large to enjoy them. It has to be noted, however, that welfare that is achieved merely through a high growth rate would not be sustainable. Our experience during the crisis proved only too well. For the economic growth holding up the pursuit of the welfare has turned out to be ineffective and has crumbled together along with its supporting elements due to the shaking macrostability, the crumbling of institutions caused by poor governance, distorted structural policies, and battered human resources emanating from the poverty and restriction of access to education, technology, information and health.
It is true indeed that in order to create prosperity an economic growth is inevitably needed. Yet, such a growth that we are determined to regain should be based upon new foundations encompassing clean and credible public institutions, well-managed and healthy economic institutions such as banking and business circles, and rules and order and law enforcement ensuring a just and effective market mechanism. To that end, our endeavours in recovering and restructuring the economy that have been conducted within
the past ten months will continue to be carried out in a high discipline and consistent manner.
The second element in the economic democracy is the equal opportunities for all people from all walks of life to fully partake in the creation and enjoyment of the prosperity. This certainly has to do with the concept of the economic justice. In the past, the full participation of the public at large in the process of producing the prosperity and enjoying the fruit of the development was very limited due to the highly centralised decision-making process and power sharing that were entailed by the KKN (corruption, collusion, and nepotism) practices. The rectification to these evil practices should be urgently undertaken. The implementation of the decentralisation of power and the transference of authority to make decisions to the provinces is expected to solve the prevailing crucial problems in justice, namely the realisation of an equal economic opportunity for all citizens irrespective of their strata, groups or regions.
The quantity and quality of the various instruments to carry out the goal of the economic justice will be continuously improved. One of these is that the state budget favouring the poor people and the feeble economic groups will be regularly increased. This advocation can evidently be seen from the allocation and improvement of the human resources through training, education and health quality betterment, including the environmental redress and the social safety net. Of no less importance to those efforts, the government will render its utmost to consistently carry out the restructuring and the development of infrastructures, enabling thereby the mobilisation of the production factors to better function smoothly and safely.
The other instrument is the policy on channelling credits and the policy on investments. The re-capitalised banks are requested to channel their credits to the feeble economic groups. Those two instruments will be consistently developed without disregarding the principle of prudence in the state budget as well as in the banking regulations. Eventually, the attempts for the empowerment and advocation will only materialise if the society’s participation is designed to be constantly open as widely and justly as possible for them in the management of the economic activities. Therefore, the legal foundation and the law certainty have to be prepared in order for the ideal design of the policy to unfold. The most important element in instilling the certainty of law which to date has been felt to be inadequate. By the same token, it will have to become an important part and parcel of the program for the realisation of justice for the people. It is imperative that we together start and finish the tasks, both in improving the legislation, and rehabilitating the judiciary institutions and system and in an endeavour towards eradicating crimes and other legal deviations.
The aspiration of the people that more governmental tasks and functions be relegated to the regions, along with its financial implications, will serve as an important theme in the management of the statehood from now and beyond. The decentralisation of the authority and financial management to the provinces will in turn position the government closer to the people whom it serves. This process needs the improved capacity and the public accountability and will consequently inject into the community at large the sense of
belonging and the spirit of responsibility in the conduct of the government in the respective regions. Hence, in order to prevent the misconducts from recurring, we are creating, and will continue creating, objective parameters needed in that regard. This is extremely important not only for the protection of the people’s interests, but also for the accomplishment of the public accountability.
The rebuilding of our economy aimed at achieving the ideal of the independence will be carried out within the ever-changing global environment. The economic globalisation requires the implementation of the universal principles such as the good governance, the implementation of, and the respect for, human rights, and the protection and preservation of the environment. In this regard, the economic management has also to be based on the just, firm, and positive rules aiming to safeguard the interests of the workers, the consumers, and the environment. These interests are weighted to, and in line with, the interests of the government. At the same time, they have to be measured in a balanced manner with the interests of the investors and business society at large.
Honourable Speaker, Vice-Speakers, Members of the House, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The government, indeed, shoulders a heavy burden. On the shoulders of every single leader at the national as well as regional levels are the burdens to forestall the occurrence and the continuation of the process of the national disintegration due mostly to the separatist movements and the lingering social conflicts. It is therefore my expectation that those government leaders do comprehend the very aspiration of the society, watch any changes taking place within their environment, and maintain the communication with the people at large. All of us are supposed to be good at building the spiritual bond with the community and at consulting others in solving any problem arising. If all peaceful endeavours to reconcile conflicts fail to materialise it is incumbent upon the government to assign state’s apparatus to take stringent actions in accordance with the prevailing regulations.
Besides these political burdens destined for preventing the disintegration, the government is aware of its responsibility as promptly as possible to bring the nation, and its people, exit from these prolonged economic and financial crises. The government, too, is not ignoring its becoming-more-needed role to refresh the nation’s new entrance into the international arena respectfully, meaning also therefore to prepare the nation’s ability in grasping the fruits of globalisation. This simply means that the attention to the development of the human resources by way of education and the development of science and technology as well as through the improvement of health conditions have to be further enhanced.
Within this context, I have designed a governmental restructuring policy aimed at sharpening the focus and priority of the national policies in various fields. Apart from being a response to the implementation of the regional autonomy, which will be fully operational in January 2001, this restructuring also serves as a precise step to simplify the
decision-making and to determine policy. Some governmental sectors that used to be separated, although their functions and competence are overlapping, will be placed under the same roof. This restructuring is also expected to put an end to policy duplication practices, which have long been difficult to avoid because of the existence of two or more departments or institutions exploring the same soil. The very essence of this restructuring is the administrative efficiency, the professionalism in the formulation of various policies, and the administration efficiency in overcoming various problems. The government is basically aware of the fact that with the implementation of the regional autonomy, not only will the government’s authority be subtracted, the budget allocation it receives will also diminish compared to the previous years. This reality has required the carrying out of the organisation and bureaucratic restructuring and the adjustment of the budget allocation and its disbursement priorities. The process of this restructuring and trimming down will be meticulously carried out with a view to preventing the emergence of a new and unnecessary problem. The realisation of the fore-mentioned plan requires well-qualified ministers and high-ranking officials as well as the changes of the tasks of the government’s leadership which is more proportionate and effective. God willing, in the near future, the new, restructured government will be present alongside all of us.
Despite the goodwill to develop a proficient government that underscore the presence of a new cabinet I am fully confident that the performance and quality of their services will also greatly depend on the strong support provided by the people’s representatives in the House as the partner of the government, and on the wide acceptance of the public to every step undertaken by the government.
I will apportion to this new government a responsibility to solve political, economic, and social problems that I have earlier expounded. The government does expect from each and every minister his or her moral commitments to render the best services for the sake of rescuing the nation’s life in every field and to chart a substantial meaning of the independence that we won with difficulty and the lost of many lives.
Honourable Speaker, Vice-Speakers, Members of the House, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Those are the important points that I wish to share with this august session. May we, with the spirit of nationalism, freedom and democracy embracing our presence at this building, be able to construct new concords in optimising our services to the beloved nation and state of Indonesia. I wish the Republic of Indonesia a happy anniversary. May God the Almighty be always with us. Amen.
Thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.


PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
K.H. ABDURRAHMAN WAHID




Sumber: http://www.ri.go.id/istana/speech/eng/16agustus00.htm
Koleksi: Perpustakaan Nasional RI, 2006