Your Excellency, Mr. Komori Takuo, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan, representing the Government of Japan;
Honourable members of my delegation;
Distinguished Indonesian and Japanese business leaders;
Mr. Norihiko Ishiguro, Chairman and CEO of JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization);
Mr. Ken Kobayashi, Chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI);
Mr. Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Kadin Indonesia; and
Mr. Anindya N. Bakrie, Chairman of Kadin Indonesia.
Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen,
Konnichiwa.
Japan is a very important partner for Indonesia. Our economic relationship has been built over many decades, with very strong participation from Japanese companies across many sectors of our economy. Japan has consistently supported Indonesian economic development. Many of you in this room have been part of that journey. You have been in Indonesia for a long time. You know Indonesia well, our people, our market, our culture, and our potential. And, you must know also that Indonesia today is not the same Indonesia you knew maybe 20 or 25 years ago.
We are moving faster than ever before. We are trying to be more competitive, and we are determined to push and enter a new phase of growth. I’m here not only to support our continuing partnership. I want to push it to a higher level. I want to push it faster. The world has become smaller. There is no other way but close cooperation in all fields. I believe strong economic ties and partnerships result in enduring peace and friendship. If we have joint and common interests, we will protect the present and the future.
Distinguished leaders of business and the economy,
Japan has long been one of Indonesia’s most trusted economic partners. Trade between us remains strong. Japanese investment has played a major role in our industrial development. Japanese companies bring quality in its investment, discipline, technology, and long-term commitment. That’s why Japanese investment is respected, not only in Indonesia but around the world. And I personally highly value this relationship.
Today, of course, we live in a different global environment, full of risk, full of uncertainty. To maintain rational economic relationship is of the vital importance. Indonesia, as you know, we are open to the world. Our geography, historically, has meant that Indonesia is an open economy. We rely on trade. We rely on close economic partnership. That’s why our foreign policy has always been that of non-alignment.
Our philosophy is one thousand friends, too few; one enemy too many. Indonesia is in the comfortable position that we don’t have any enemies. Many people do not think this is important. But the current geopolitical situation in the world is proof and testimony that those countries that maintain good relations with all their neighbours, and not only the near neighbours, but the great powers of the world, those countries are actually carrying out a rational and a wise policy in this world that grows smaller.
Therefore, in this context, we value the relationship with Japan. We want to go on with this relationship. But we want also our partners to know that Indonesia is determined to carry out real reforms. We want to create a modern, rational society. A modern society, but rational. We want to enforce the rule of law and we will enforce the rule of law. Our people demand good governance, clean governance, efficient governance. And I am determined to continue what I have started when I received the mandate from my people. Complete strategic transformation, which also includes economic transformation.
We must move up the value chain. Indonesia wants to industrialise. We want to have good quality for our people. We want to eradicate poverty. We want to eradicate hunger. We know that this is our problem. We know that this is our challenge. But we want our partners to know that this is what we want to do. This is what we have to do. This is what our people demand from us. I am determined, in my administration, to do whatever we can to eradicate poverty and hunger. And for that, we must move up the value chain. We must protect our resources. We must secure the highest economic value for our resources.
We can no longer be satisfied with exporting raw materials without added value. Our critical minerals are strategic assets. Our minerals must be protected for the future generations of our people. Our forests must be protected. The forests that have been destroyed, we must carry out massive reforestation. Not only for the good of Indonesia, but also for the good of the world. Because many people say that we are the lungs of the planet. So, let us protect these lungs of the planet. And, that is why we are going in a big way to transform our energy towards green, renewable energy. We want to move very fast to use electricity from solar energy.
We have a plan and we are determined to go as soon as possible. Within three years, we want to reach 100 gigawatts of solar energy. For us, this is more urgent because of the situation that we see, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. This strategic uncertainty for the security of our energy. Therefore, we are determined to enhance whatever we have and to secure a renewable and green energy.
We are very fortunate that we have real reserves of renewable energy. We have one of the largest reserves of geothermal energy. We have significant numbers of other forms of energy. We are going in a big way to biofuel. We will produce, this year, diesel oil from palm oil. And now, we are increasing from 40 percent to 50 percent of our diesel from palm oil. And also gasoline, we will produce also from ethanol and also from bio, from cassava, from sugar, and from corn.
With these efforts, we will be in a secure position to meet whatever uncertainty there is. We are considering all forms of clean and renewable energy. Although we still have a very large reserve of coal, which will be our, let us say, reserve of last resort. We want to expand all efforts in these sectors, and that is why, I think we are going in a big way towards electric vehicles and electric motorcycles. We have now around 140 million motorcycles, but still using gasoline. This is one aspect that we want to change very fast.
With the transformation towards electric vehicles, we feel that we will have strong defense against global uncertainty of supply. We also want to advance our manufacturing. And, of course, we have to go now into the digital economy.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
In this strategic transformation, our approach is very practical and pragmatic. All our projects must be viable, must be bankable, must deliver real benefits, real return on investment. That’s why, we are very open to Japanese active participation, Japanese technology, Japanese experience, Japanese methods. We believe that combined with our resources, our growth, and our scale, this relationship can be mutually beneficial to both sides. We can be complementary. There could be a relationship, symbiotic relationship between Japanese technology, Japanese finance, Japanese methods, and Indonesian scale and Indonesian growth.
We are offering opportunities, but not only opportunities. We also want to offer partnerships. We want to be partners, real partners. I have formed a sovereign wealth fund, consolidating nearly all of Indonesian state-owned enterprises, nearly all our assets now under management, under one management. We want rational management, best practices. We want to root out corruption and malfeasance. And, the results are very promising. Only in the first year of operations of our sovereign wealth fund, we are seeing significant improvement in the results, some resulting in nearly 300 percent improvement in the return on assets. This is very encouraging, but we know that we still have a long way to go. But we are optimistic on our trajectory.
Therefore, now we have the capacity to actually partner with all investors. This will give, I think, assurance. This will give security, sense of security, that we are serious and that we will protect all investors. And I think our reputation is very clear. This reputation is not 5, 10, 15 years old. It is, I think, already many, many decades. Indonesia has the reputation, as you know, we have never defaulted on any of our debts. Not once in the history of the Republic of Indonesia have we ever defaulted.
We have suffered, yes. We are ready to suffer. But our tradition is we respect all the commitments entered into by all our governments. Even if the governments come from different backgrounds, maybe opposing backgrounds, but history is the proof that all Indonesian governments, all Indonesian administrations, respect and will honour all the commitments of the previous governments and the previous presidents. I think this is important. In this present age, we see many, many big economies defaulting not once, not twice, but many times. So, Indonesia, for all our shortcomings, I think we have proven to be rather honourable. Once again, we offer opportunities, but now we offer real partnership. We are looking for partners who are ready to join us to build industries, transfer technology, and grow together.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
As I mentioned, the world has gone smaller because of technology. In this smaller world, close economic relations based on equal respect and equal strength, can help us, can maintain for us, a climate of stability and of peace. With interconnection, with mutually beneficial economic relationships, there will be stability. No government with rationality will want to risk the welfare of their people. Every government must work for the good of their people and the beneficial result of good economic relations will end in the good of all the peoples. That’s my conviction. If there’s a real partnership between Japanese economy, Japanese industry and Indonesia, both our peoples will benefit. When both our peoples benefit, this will be a pillar of peace and stability.
There will be obstacles. There are obstacles. We are trying to improve investment climate. We are trying to deregulate, to get rid of regulations that sometimes are irrational. This is not easy, but we are determined to simplify processes. We are using technology to achieve this. We have set up a special task force, what we call de-bottlenecking task force. Task force for de-bottlenecking. Any company in Indonesia that is active in Indonesia, foreign or domestic, that feels they are facing delays, facing administrative hurdles, etc., etc., or are being exploited or are being harassed, can go directly to this de-bottlenecking task force. And, this task force has proved effective. We have resolved many problems because it goes direct. And also, as you know, I’m a hands-on manager.
My ministers accuse me of being a micromanager. Yes, I admit, I’m a micromanager. I will phone my ministers 2 o’clock at night or 5 o’clock in the morning and I will ask them the price of eggs today. And now, I feel a bit sorry because several of my ministers have fainted in public. And, sometimes I get reports, some of my senior officials are in hospital. Why? Heart problem. So, I feel guilty. Maybe it’s because their boss is a bit too micromanager. Especially, if I have coffee in front of me. Sorry. Ini ada [perwakilan perusahaan kopi] “Kapal Api”, ada di sini? Mana, angkat tangan? “Kapal Api”, ada? Kemarin saya ketemu. Mana? Oh, [dari perusahaan kopi] “Kapal Api”? Very good. I like your coffee, but I am your brand ambassador. Remember me when I retire, okay? I’m a strong brand ambassador for Indonesian coffee. We have the best coffee in the world. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, President Lula, you’re my friend, but my coffee is better than your coffee.
There might be obstacles we want to resolve. So please, as a micromanager, you know, sometimes you don’t believe it, but if you have any problems, you can directly complain to me. You can directly complain to me, through your ambassador, through your representatives, through MITI (The Ministry of Trade and Industry) or JETRO or whatever, Keidanren, I’m willing to receive complaints. Yes, because in my opinion, a modern day president actually, he is a CEO of the country. He must be able to know problems very fast and resolve problems very fast.
So, we are open. I think all my ministers have this open-door policy. We have to capitalise what we have, but they know what I want. I want to have achievements fast. There are several categories. You can have good results, you can have best results, but very difficult to get best results, fast, yes. You can get best results, but maybe in five years. In this modern world, it’s too long. Technology improves maybe every four or five months.
Competition is so difficult. We must be reactive. We must move with the times. We can get everything. What I learnt in this life, we can look for everything. Maybe we can buy anything, but we cannot buy time. We cannot buy time. We cannot negotiate with time. We cannot bargain with time. We can only make use of time efficiently. What we want now is to get the best results, fast. And, there is a way. If there is good teamwork, if the best brains combine, work together, we will achieve best results, fast. So, Japan-Indonesia partnership, get the best brains from both sides, work together, we can achieve good things very fast.
I believe that we must work together. We have worked together. The upgrading of our Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) will open new opportunities. This is the right moment to deepen our cooperation. We are ready and we want to move forward. We are ready to work fast and we welcome you. If you want to come to Indonesia, we are ready to work with you.
Thank you very much. Arigatou. Terima kasih.