Pidato di Depan Parlemen Turki

SPEECH BY
H.E. DR. H. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
Before the Parliament of Turkey

Ankara, June 2010

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.

Mr. Speaker,
Madame Deputy Speaker,
Honourable and Distinguished Members of this August Chamber,

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor for me, to address the distinguished members of the Turkish Parliament this morning.

Standing here before you, I cannot but be overwhelmed by the historic significance of this institution. In Islamic history, Turkey is widely known to be the first country to adopt the Parliamentary system in 1876. The Turkish Parliament, and the elected members in it, are the backbone of your democracy, the embodiment of the people’s sovereignty. In this august forum, in this historic building,

I can feel the heartbeat of the great nation of Turkey.

I have come to Turkey to show my deepest respect to the Turkish nation, and to deepen and broaden relations between our countries.

I bring with me a large delegation of Ministers, Parliamentarians, officials, businessmen, and journalists. But more importantly, I bring with me the warm greetings, the friendship and goodwill of 235 million Indonesians.

In the short time that we have been here, we all have been enamored by the beauty of your country, the warmth of your people and the progress of your society.

Turkey and Indonesia have always been great friends. This year, we celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations, which is part of the reason that I am here today. But our relations actually date CENTURIES BEFORE the modern international system began.

It is known that the court of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had developed a relationship with the sultanate, that is now the Indonesian province of Aceh, a deep relationship that covered the politico- security, economic and socio-cultural fields.

That intensive friendship helped Aceh, then known as Samudra-Pasai, resist colonial incursion for many years. As a former general, I am thrilled by the fact that there was once an Ottoman military academy in Aceh, that produced among our people some highly skilled freedom fighters. One of them was a woman admiral, who fought a fierce naval battle against Western forces in the Strait of Malacca.

An interesting legacy of that friendship is that, in Aceh there are so many individuals with decidedly Middle Eastern features. These are the descendants of Ottoman experts, in the manufacture of cannons and other weapons. They were sent over to help fight the colonizers, then decided to stay. Thus, they became part of the Indonesian nation.

Today a mosque and a housing project in Aceh province proudly bears the Crescent and Star emblem of Turkey—for these were built with Turkish funds to help rehabilitate the communities devastated by the tsunami, that killed some 150,000 Indonesians in December 2004. We are forever grateful for all that the Turkish Government and people have done, to help Indonesia in times of natural disaster.

Turkey, therefore, has long been related to our history, our culture, our struggle for freedom, and our nation-building.

In that struggle both Turkey and Indonesia had our moments of glory and despair.

Indonesia was colonized for centuries by successive Western powers. The Ottoman Empire, once the world’s mightiest empire, suffered defeat, crumbled and broke into parts.

But in the 20th century both Indonesia and Turkey experienced a national reawakening: we discovered and embraced nationalism, and adopted modern political concepts – democracy, elections, rule of law, constitutional government, Republican-ism. The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, and the Republic of Indonesia proclaimed inde- pendence in 1945.

Today, both Turkey and Indonesia are nations transformed.

Turkey is a pivotal player in its region and a strong global player. It is a modern democracy with a dynamic economy, that is driven largely by the attitudes and skills of its people, and not just by the exploitation of its natural resources. It is an industrializing economy with a strong agricultural base—the best combination any country can have. And Turkey serves as a bridge between Asia, particularly the Middle East and Europe, between the West and the world of Islam. It enjoys the best of both worlds.

On the other hand, Indonesia is now the world’s third largest democracy, and the country with the largest Muslim population. We are the largest nation with the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Our democracy is stable, vibrant and dynamic; our people adhere to pluralism and practice tolerance, and our nation is more united than ever.

Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN, which is a dynamic Community, and widely regarded as one of the world’s most successful regional organizations.

Like Turkey, Indonesia is an active member of the G-20, the world’s premier forum for international economic decision-making.
Considering what we have become as history has made us, the question is: what now? How should Turkey and Indonesia relate to each other in the 21st century?

We must now define the shape and substance of our relationship, in the context of the critical time we live in. Our two countries must now develop relations that draw upon our wealth of assets and unique qualities, in order to meet the challenges of our time.
The power of numbers is behind us: the populations of Turkey and Indonesia combined make a total 310 million. We have a combined GDP Purchasing Power Parity of USD 1.833 trillion.

And our combined natural resources are enormous. On top of this, we have the dynamism of our peoples, and the diplomatic weight and influence that we carry in the community of nations.

With all this, there is much that we can do and achieve together. That is why our two countries have begun to cooperate closely in the politico-security field, in economic development, trade and investment, and tourism.

Today, we concluded a military and defence industry cooperation agreement.

We achieved a bilateral trade totalling USD 2 billion by the end of 2008. Today, we are targeting an annual trade value of USD 5 billion. I am confident that we will surpass that too, since it is modest target and does not reflect the true potential of our economies.

We are strengthening our cooperation in the field of education. I look forward to intensive technical cooperation to increase both countries’ competitiveness. This will include training programmes on market access and standards conformance, and exchanges of lecturers, trainers and students.

We appreciate very much the plan of the Turkish Government to establish a regional office of the Turkish International Cooperation Agency in Jakarta. This is just the right time to do that: Indonesia has just opened its doors wider to international development cooperation. And we intend to initiate a process to establish a Consulate in Istambul.

Our respective ministers are working hard, to strengthen our investment cooperation in the fields of manufacturing, infrastructures building, mining, energy— especially renewable energy—and services.

Indonesia holds 40 percent of the world’s geothermal resources, and we are using only 4.2 percent of what we have. This is an investment opportunity for Turkey, which has the technology for harnessing this form of energy.

I have instructed my relevant ministers to explore further cooperation with Turkey in the mining sector. Their task is to make a match-up between our mineral resources and the industrial needs of Turkey.

And with the signing of an MoU on programme exchange between our state television stations, we are hoping for a productive collaboration in the social education of our peoples. We in Indonesia know that Turkish television has become a tremendous cultural influence, in the entire Middle East and parts of southern Europe. Since our own screenwriters are also giving a modern treatment to Muslim storylines and themes, both sides can learn from each other.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On the whole, our bilateral cooperation has made a great beginning. But I also know that we can do much better than we are doing now. I look forward to rapid and significant growth in our cooperation. This includes cooperation in addressing the global challenges of our time, that Turkey and Indonesia must help resolve.

Let me highlight five areas where the partnership between Turkey and Indonesia need to be expanded and synergized. These are: reforming the world economy, advancing harmony among civilizations, promoting democracy, resolving conflicts, and dealing with pressing global issues.

Let us start with the world economy : we know that its centre of gravity is shifting—from the developed to the developing world. That is why the G-20 had to be established. The G-7 can no longer save themselves, least of all the rest of humankind, from the global economic and financial crisis. The developing world, particularly the emerging economies, must be called upon to be part of the solution, and therefore must be given greater say in the world economic decision-making.

We must now get used to living in the G-20 world. It is a new era, a different era. Turkey and Indonesia have new responsibilities and a new role to play.

Thus I had the privilege of working with Prime Minister Erdogan, at the latest G-20 Summit in Toronto. In that meeting, the world’s largest economies decided on measures to firm up the recovery, from the economic and financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. In doing so, we struck a balance between the need of some countries for fiscal consolidation, and the need of others for more fiscal stimulus.

Turkey and Indonesia are playing a constructive role in the G-20: we are pushing for the reform of the international financial institutions. We have success-fully advocated for a judicious balance, between financial consolidation and sustaining the economic stimulus, so that the global economic recovery will be more durable. We have seen to it that financial flows for development to the least developed countries are maintained.

We must help sustain the momentum for the cause of reform and development within the G-20. We must see to it that nations keep their commitment to open trade and not revert to protectionism. We must keep on enhancing multilateral institutions, that play a vital role in development and in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. We must help see to it that all the constructive measures we agreed upon in Toronto are reported as fulfilled, when we meet again Seoul next November.
In the recent global financial crisis, some of the emerging economies proved their resilience by bouncing back quicker than most others, and became the engine of global recovery.

Indonesia was fortunate to register economic growth of four and a half percent in 2009, the third highest in Asia after China and India.

Our challenge here is, to ensure that the G-20 world will be able to deliver the benefits that we have always sought, in a manner that is equitable and inclusive.

This means the G20 world must be able to spread prosperity and economic democracy throughout the world. It must be able to narrow the development gap, between the advanced countries and the developing and least developing countries. It must be able to help the community of nations reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and beyond. And hopefully, it will enable humanity to reach a situation of zero poverty, by the end of the 21st Century.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The second area where Indonesia and Turkey can work together is in the promotion of democracy.

One of the most significant developments in the 20th century is, the spread of democracy throughout the world. In 1974 there were 40 democracies. In 2009, there were 119. The world has never seen so many democracies. Turkey and Indonesia have been part of that global trend.

Turkey is a pioneer in democratization, having elected the first parliament about a century and a half ago. Indonesia is the last country to join the Third Wave of democracies in the 20th century, doing so in 1999.

Both Turkey and Indonesia have developed our own homegrown democracies, driven by our own circumstances, through a difficult process of trial and error. But in the end, we each evolved a vibrant democracy where the people have full ownership: no one can say that our democracy is imposed from the outside.

Both Turkey and Indonesia have a stake in promoting democracy around the world. I believe, however, that we are NOT in the business of exporting democracy . What we can do is to lead by the power of our example—by proving that democracy can bring about good governance, and that democracy can deliver the benefits of socio- economic development. Our strongest message for democracy can be conveyed only by our performance.

Of course, sincere dialogue and exchange of experiences will greatly help. That is why Indonesia organized in 2008 the Bali Democracy Forum—the only intergovernmental forum for exchange of expe- riences and best practices on political development in the Asian region. In this process, there is no finger pointing or criticizing. Nobody plays the role of teacher or preacher. But we do learn from one another’s successes and acknowledged mistakes. And if what we learn is applicable to our individual situations, then the process has made a valuable contribution.

In this regard, we in Turkey and Indonesia have put to rest the theory that democracy and development are not compatible. There was once a notion that developing countries must chose, either to have high economic growth but with less democracy, or more democracy but with less economic growth. In our experience, it turned out that we do not have to choose between democracy and development. Indeed, Indonesia’s democratic transition in the last 12 years has demonstrated that we can achieve BOTH democracy and economic growth – and more importantly, we achieve both at the same time.

The third area where we can make a difference is in promoting harmony among civilizations. Humankind had never experienced a time, when all civilizations coexisted in peace. However, the clash of civilizations of the past need not be our future. I believe that the 21st century CAN be an era marked by a confluence of civilizations, particularly as we witness the emergence of a global conscience and the growing trends of multiculturalism across the world.

Turkey and Indonesia can do much to foster this trend. We can do this because we are both nations of peacefull, tolerance and dynamic Muslims, that value openness, pluralism and tolerance. We both can play a bridging role between the world of Islam and the West. And we both can serve as counterfoil to extremism all over the world.

In the case of Indonesia, we have always been a great believer in dialogue. The only way we can manage our own diversity of faiths and ethnic cultures, is through a process of consultation toward consensus.

Hence, we have organized interfaith and intercultural dialogues, in tandem with other governments, international organizations, civil society and the mass media.

We are actively involved in the dialogue within the Alliance of Civilizations under the aegis of the United Nations, a worthy undertaking, of which Turkey was an initiator. I look forward to Turkey and Indonesia collaborating to organize an inter-regional dialogue among faiths and civilizations. And I look forward to the involvement of all the members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in such a dialogue—in the spirit of the Makkah Declaration.

The fourth area of our cooperation is in conflict resolution. It is true that the number of conflicts around the world has been reduced—but there are still too many of them. Most persistent is the conflict in Palestine, which has led to a humanitarian tragedy. This is a powder keg, that can explode any time and engulf the region in bloody conflict.

The recent attack against the Mavi Marmara is illustrative of this danger. We grieve with Turkey for 12 of its citizens who died in the course of an Israeli military attack, on the humanitarian vessel Mavi Marmara.

There were 12 Indonesians on board that vessel during the attack. This shows, how deep is the sympathy of Indonesia for the plight of the Palestinian people. And how much we support Turkey’s efforts, to help a long-oppressed neighbour.

These 12 Indonesians are now safe even- though two of them are badly wounded, and some of them have made their way back to their loved ones in Indonesia. We are thankful for what Turkey has done to ensure their well-being.

We condemn this criminal act of aggression by Israel. In the interest of justice, there must be an impartial and transparent investigation of that attack. And Israel must be prevailed upon to lift its illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip and other occupied territories, which has triggered a humanitarian crisis. It must cease violating international law and UN Security Council resolutions. It must stop building illegal settlements in Palestine.

We support Palestine’s position on the proximity talks, and all efforts to make the talks possible. These include reconciliation among the Palestinian factions. The process must lead to a two-state solution, with Palestine living in peace side by side with Israel, within internationally guaranteed borders.

We will sustain our efforts to organize and offer capacity-building programmes for Palestinian officials and citizens—in preparation for the day when Palestine finally exercises its right to sovereignty and independence. By 2013, we shall have trained some 1,000 Palestinian citizens and officials.

Finally, a 21st century relations between Indonesia and Turkey compel us to work together address global challenges : nuclear disarmament, natural disasters, terrorism, infectious diseases, and others. The most urgent among these global challenges is climate change.

Like Turkey, Indonesia is doing all it can, to help the international community achieve a climate regime that is compatible with sustainable development. I hope that will happen in the Cancun Conference at the end of the year.

I applaud Turkey’s reform in the use of energy, and wish every success for its new national strategy on climate change. For Indonesia’s part, we are committed to a 26 percent reduction of our carbon emissions by 2020 based on our own resources. With international support, we can commit to a 41 percent reduction of emissions.

I am sure that in our advocacies and initiatives—in the G-20, in the United Nations and other forums—we will be joined by others, who share the same vision of a better world.

And the best way to pursue these initiatives is through the exercise of soft power. If the 20th century was a century of hard power – with two World Wars and millions of deaths resulting from conflicts - we can make the 21st century a century of soft power. A century in which nations avoid conflict and live in harmony with one another. A century in which connectivity, cooperation and goodwill prevail, and nations harness their diversity. Thus humankind will reach new heights of achievement, including the conquest of poverty and prejudice.

And, finally, whatever we accomplish together—much or little—will make a difference for this and future generations of humankind.
Let us join hands, to make that difference.

I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.