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Mr.
President,
We
live in an age of unpredictable threats, against
which there may be no airtight security measures.
Tragedy
could strike in the form of a deadly epidemic.
It could be the handiwork of terrorists like
the 9-11 attacks against New York City in 2001
or the Bali bombings of 2002. It could be a
convulsion of nature like the tsunami that demolished
the Indonesian province of Aceh and nearby Indian
Ocean Rim areas, or the storm tide that drowned
New Orleans and much of Louisiana recently.
On
the tragedy of New Orleans, we extend our deepest
condolences to the American people.
We
Indonesians know too well the enormous suffering
that a natural catastrophe can bring. In Aceh
alone, the tsunami of 26 December 2004 killed
outright some 130,000 individuals. It destroyed
220,000 homes and displaced 572,000 individuals.
Some 100,000 persons are still missing.
The
death toll could have been higher if it were
not for the quick and vigorous response of the
international community and the United Nations.
For this the Indonesian people are deeply grateful.
The outpouring of sympathy and solidarity as
well as humanitarian assistance from all over
the world deeply touched us.
Eleven
days after the tragedy, we hosted in Jakarta
the ASEAN Special Summit on aftermath of earthquake
and tsunami. In that Summit, world leaders and
the UN Secretary General, as well as representatives
of multilateral institutions, worked out a system
of coordination and division of labor in attending
to the stricken countries. Pledges were made
for urgently needed assistance. A decision was
reached to develop a multi nodal early warning
system covering the Indian Ocean rim countries.
Within ASEAN, an agreement to establish stand-by
arrangements to mitigate natural disasters was
concluded last July.
The
reconstruction and rehabilitation of Aceh had
an early start as the emergency relief phase
was completed ahead of schedule. A master plan
for reconstruction and rehabilitation was then
devised. An Agency for the Reconstruction and
Rehabilitation of Aceh was established and given
broad powers. Through the World Bank's multi-donor
trust fund and bilateral mechanisms with donors,
we have instituted a strict system that guaranteed
transparency and accountability in the disbursement
of funds.
Rehabilitation
and development, however, cannot run smooth
without peace. And for many years there had
been no peace. Before the tsunami, Aceh saw
three decades of armed conflict between government
forces and a separatist movement caused by perceived
economic injustices. Many Acehnese felt they
were not being given a fair deal by the central
government. As the conflict raged and took a
heavy toll on human life, a vicious cycle was
at work: violence impoverished the people, and
in their poverty many resorted to violence.
In
the spirit of reform and in a democratic environment,
efforts to address the problem of Aceh through
dialogue and reconciliation were initiated in
2000. These efforts led to the signing of a
final agreement in Helsinki last month. That
was the silver lining to the tragedy of 26
December: it opened the eyes of both sides to
the hopelessness of the situation without peace.
It helps that there is international support
for the peace process. On our invitation, the
European Union and ASEAN contributing countries
have provided monitors for the implementation
of the peace agreement. In a way, it has created
a precedent for the collaboration of two regional
organizations in peace-building.
The
decommissioning and destruction of rebel weapons
are working according to the peace agreement.
The former rebels are back in the fold of the
Unitary Republic of Indonesia and are fighting
on the same side as the government in the struggle
against poverty.
Peace
and development in Aceh are the fruits of reform
and democratization, which are pervading all
of Indonesia. Starting this year, local officials
governors, regents and mayors are directly
elected by the people. Where the former rebel
leaders once sought power through the bullet,
they can now seek their legitimate aspirations
through the ballot.
Since
1998, we have enhanced our political institutions
through constitutional amendments. We have overhauled
our legal system, and we are adopting high standards
of good governance in the corporate and public
sector. We have pursued a vigorous campaign
against corruption. We are now pursuing an economic
strategy that is pro-growth and pro-poor. We
are strengthening the export sector, promoting
investments to create jobs, and speeding up
rural economic development. In a few weeks,
we will put in place a social safety net that
will cushion the impact of high oil prices on
the poor. We are on target with our Millennium
Development Goals on poverty reduction.
Wherever
there is social unrest anywhere in Indonesia,
we bring justice and foster dialogue and reconciliation
as we did in Aceh. In the same spirit of reconciliation,
Indonesia and neighboring Timor-Leste have reached
out to each other so that both nations may together
close a painful chapter in our shared history.
Together we have established a Commission of
Truth and Friendship tasked to bring about exposure
of the truth and acknowledgement of responsibility
for the human rights violations committed prior
to and immediately after the popular consultations
in Timor Leste in 1999. The Commission started
working last August. The fledgling democracies
of the two countries stand a better of chance
of succeeding if they work together in the spirit
of reconciliation, friendship and cooperation
complementing prosecutorial justice that has
been carried out in Indonesia and Timor Leste.
Mr.
President,
With
our other closest neighbors in Southeast Asia,
we are striving hard to become an ASEAN Community
that is at peace with itself and all others,
a prosperous ASEAN living in harmony in a community
of caring societies that we have long envisioned.
We hope to see ASEAN play a pivotal role in
the evolution of a new equilibrium in the Asia-Pacific
region that will consolidate peaceful engagement
of the regional powers with one another. Today
ASEAN already serves as the driving force toward
the development of an East Asian economic community.
We
Indonesians love to build bridges. Last April
we served as host to the representatives of
106 Asian and African countries, many of them
heads of state or government for the Asian-African
Summit of 2005. During that historic summit,
we put the cornerstone to a bridge of cooperation
across the Indian Ocean the New Asian-African
Strategic Partnership on behalf of the 4.6
billion people of the two continents. Through
that partnership, both continents will intensify
their political solidarity, economic cooperation
and socio-cultural relations, including technical
cooperation and human resources development.
The establishment of that Partnership was the
most meaningful way we could observe the golden
jubilee of the Asian-African Conference of 1955
in Bandung which heralded the emergence of
many new sovereign nations from the shadow of
colonialism.
In
those formative years of ours, we sought to
reform international relations through the United
Nations. Today we feel called upon to seek the
reform of the United Nations itself. For we
are faced with the formidable challenges of
development, security and human rights three
challenges that are interlinked, interdependent
and cannot be addressed separately. We therefore
need a United Nations that has become more effective
and efficient, more democratic and accountable
to its members and with a balanced focus on
these three challenges. We need a reformed UN
Security Council that has become more democratically
representative. As the Asia-Pacific region is
home to more than half of the human race and
the cradle of ancient civilizations and religions,
we in Indonesia feel that it should have more
seats on the Council. We must do away with the
right to veto.
We
cannot afford to leave out global disarmament
and non-proliferation from our agenda. We are
not out of danger of nuclear annihilation. At
the same time, developing countries must be
allowed peaceful use of nuclear energy to hasten
their development. We need a Peace-building
Commission to help conflicted countries make
the transition from war to durable peace. This
Commission must work in coordination with the
Security Council and the ECOSOC under mandate
of the General Assembly.
On
the fight against terrorism, we hope a comprehensive
convention can be concluded soon. International
cooperation to address this problem should include
efforts to deal with its root causes. We also
hold that no human right may be sacrificed and
no international law may be violated in the
fight against terrorism. We in Indonesia believe
that interfaith dialogue and cooperation to
empower the moderates can significantly reduce
violent radicalism. That is why we have sponsored
and hosted Asia-Pacific and Asia-Europe dialogues
on cooperation among the faiths.
We
urge that the Economic and Social Council be
empowered so that it can effectively review
and coordinate international cooperation in
development. The projected Human Rights Council
must uphold human rights as universal, indivisible
and interdependent. It should be free from the
politicization and double standards and instead
it should promote dialogue as well as concrete
cooperation. It should be a subsidiary body
to the General Assembly.
Finally,
no effort at UN reform is complete unless it
affirms and brings into reality the central
role of the General Assembly as the main deliberative
body of the United Nations.
Mr.
President,
We
may not have a realistic hope that these reforms
will be realized this week or in the months
to come. We the UN members are not sufficiently
in concert to make an early breakthrough. But
we who desire reform must keep faith and persevere.
For
three decades, armed conflict smoldered in Aceh,
until it became clear to both sides that the
only way out of a tragic situation was the way
of peace. For more than three decades, Indonesian
reformists struggled against the crushing weight
of an authoritarian regime until it became
clear that our only way out of the Asian crisis
was through democratic reform.
We
do not know when the moment of truth will come
for the United Nations. We hope that it will
come not in the wake of a crisis but in the
dawning of a more enlightened time. Above all,
we must never lose hope in its capacity to reform,
in its perfectibility. We must keep on working
even harder than we ever did.
Thus,
when the moment of truth comes, we will be ready
to seize it.
Thank
you.
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