Remarks at a Medal Presentation to President Martti Ahtisaari, Pieter Feith, Lieutenant General Nipat Thonglek, Juha Christensen

REMARKS BY
DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AT A MEDAL PRESENTATION TO
PRESIDENT MARTTI AHTISAARI, PIETER FEITH, LIEUTENANT GENERAL NIPAT THONGLEK, JUHA CHRISTENSEN
ISTANA MERDEKA, 18 AUGUST 2006


Bismillahirrahmanirahim,

Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome all of you to this special occasion of the presentation of medals to FOUR very distinguished friends of Indonesia.

President Martti Ahtisaari,
Over the last few days, you have been in my country, seeing our beautiful land, meeting with our good people. You have been warmly welcomed everywhere you went, and that is natural because the people of this country see you as a friend, a great friend.

You have visited Aceh twice in the last few days ago, and I know you were moved, as all of us were, to see that peace and hope have become reality in that province. A few days ago, on 15th August, the people of Aceh has demonstrated that they not only desire peace, but more importantly, they can make peace, and that they can make that peace last.

You, Mr. President, have played a special role in bringing this peace to Aceh. You and your colleagues at Crisis Management Initiative took on this difficult role of facilitating the peace talks between representatives of my Government and GAM. You stood by the negotiators during the difficult early rounds of the talks in Helsinki, and you worked hard to push for compromise between the two sides and to direct the talks towards a conclusive end. Throughout the whole process, you did your task with fairness, with firmness and with determination. In the end, you won the admiration of all sides. And for that, we are forever grateful. So accept, Mr. President, the gratitude of a grateful nation.

We are honored to present you with a token of our appreciation in the form of a medal: Bintang Republik Indonesia Utama. I hope you will take this medal as a symbol of a deep friendship, respect and gratitude from the Government and people of Indonesia to you for the good you have helped brought to my country.

Pieter,
What a wonderful work you have done for us, for peace, for humanity. You have been in Aceh for nearly 12 months now. Upon your shoulder, rest a huge challenge: to help ensure that this historic peace plan signed in Helsinki would hold up on the ground. For it to survive, this peace plan needed a credible and competent and dedicated international monitors. You, Pieter, provided that through your leadership of the the AMM. You were able to engage all sides objectively, kept everyone on track in terms of implementation schedule, helped resolved potential problems on the ground, and kept the momentum of the peace plan in a terrain that was difficult.

In such a short time span, you have earned the trust of the Acehnese. If the implementation of the Helsinki accord can be judged as being successful, it is because you have become an indispensable part of it.

The people of Indonesia is indebted to you, Pieter. You have performed your task with great courage and competence. We are pleased to bestow upon you a medal: the Bintang Jasa, to honor your good work for peace.

Lieutenant General Nipat Thonglek,
You have served as Principle Deputy Head of Mission of the AMM with great distinction. You have brought into the job the experience and understanding needed for the AMM to perform as well as it did. Everyone has spoken very highly of your role in AMM, and through your professionalism and sincerity as an international monitor, you have gained the respect and confidence of all, to the benefit of the peace process. We are honored to present you, General Nipat Thinglek, with a medal of Bintang Jasa, for your contribution to peace. Let it be known that one of the best sons of Thailand came to my country, worked in Aceh and became a valued peace-maker.

Juha,
You have played a special role in this peace process, first as a member of the Crisis Management Initiative who helped President Ahtisaari faciliate the peace talks, and then as a Special Advisor to the Head of Mission of the AMM. What a great achievement a man so young. And I trust that in the years ahead you will continue to do more good deeds in the name of peace and humanity. I commend you for your hard work, for your creativity, for your dedication and for your friendship for Indonesia. Please accept Indonesia’s deepest appreciation, Juha, with this medal of Bintang Jasa Pratama.

I end my remark by reminding you and all of us that this great project of peace is an enduring challenge, one that will demand our sustained dedication and continued work. We have made history by concluding this peace deal and by implementing it, but history will continue to judge our coming work, because what we promised history is not just peace, it is permanent peace.


Once again, congratulations and thank you on behalf of a grateful nation.
Thank you.


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Bureau for Press and Media Affairs
The Presidential Household