| Statement by
I wish to congratulate you on your election as President of the 61st UN General Assembly. It signals the increasing role of women, especially women from the Muslim world, in international affairs—which is a very welcome and positive development. May I also thank and commend H.E. Jan Elliason for his able stewardship of the 60th Session. Let me now join Colleagues in paying tribute to the outstanding service of H.E. Kofi Annan, whose ten-year term of office as UN Secretary-General is about to conclude. Among the valuable services he has rendered is to give the world community a way of firmly grasping the fundamental challenges of our time: the challenge of security, the challenge of underdevelopment and the challenge of human rights and the rule of law. We have contemplated on these challenges well enough to know the answers to them. We know that long term security can be achieved only through a durable and just peace, not one that is imposed on the weak by those who are strong. We can overcome the challenge of poverty only through a global partnership for development that will equitably distribute the benefits of globalization. The challenge of human rights and the rule of law can only be met by governments that rule by the consent of the governed, governments that are elected by and accountable to the people. In a word, democracy. Peace, development and democracy are inseparable. Development is paralyzed and democracy is meaningless in a situation of violent and bloody conflict. Nowhere is this more poignantly true than in the Middle East. Over the years Lebanon rebuilt its civil war-ravaged economy, only to be bombed to ground recently by Israel. Hundreds of innocent civilians were killed in those military strikes—many of them women and children. The carnage stopped with the passing of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, but this came only after such a long process that meanwhile the Lebanese people had to undergo so much unnecessary suffering and loss. The frustration and inability to take immediate action is radicalizing many people in the Muslim world. This proves the importance of reforming the UN Security Council—in its composition as well as the way it works so that it can take effective action when action is a matter of life and death to thousands of people—as happened recently in Lebanon. Deeply committed to be part of the solution to this crisis, Indonesia is sending an 850-strong mechanized infantry battalion to form part of the UN International Force in Lebanon, as mandated by Resolution 1701. It has become an Indonesian tradition to contribute troops to UN peacekeeping forces. The first contingent was deployed as part of UNEF I in Suez in 1957. Madam President, In this regard, we encourage the formation of a Palestinian Government of National Unity, as it will open a window of opportunity for resumption of dialogue and for the revival of the Roadmap to peace by the Quartet. We appeal to the UN Security Council to act on this issue with dispatch—for Muslims everywhere have a strong emotional reaction to what they perceive to be the oppression and humiliation of their Palestinian, Iraqi and Afghan co-religionists. Terrorists operating as far away from the Middle East as Southeast Asia justify their heinous crimes as retaliation to what they consider as aggression against Islam. Thus today we are witnessing the error of some Western circles attributing to Islam a propensity for violence, matched by the error of terrorist groups claiming that violent means are sanctified by Islam. The only way to liberate the human mind from these errors is through intensive and extensive dialogue. That is why Indonesia has been actively promoting interfaith and intercultural dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region and within the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). It is our way of debasing the ideology of the terrorists, and at the same time empowering the moderates and strengthening the voice of moderation. Earlier this month, we collaborated with Norway in holding the first Global Intermedia Dialogue attended by leading mass media practitioners from five continents. For while the media can be a force for good, they can also do a great deal of harm as shown by the recent cartoon controversy. Through this dialogue, we aimed at promoting mass media sensitivity to other cultures and faiths, while upholding freedom of expression. As in the case of the interfaith dialogue, the intermedia dialogue has also become institutionalized and will be carried out annually. Madam President, There is also a great need for dialogue to address the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Asia. While the threat of nuclear weapons has subsided in other regions, a new nuclear theatre may be developing throughout West and East Asia. It is therefore important that we find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue of Iran and that of North Korea. The Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the cornerstone of disarmament must be strengthened. And, in fact, all weapons of mass destruction should be abolished. Indeed, we must work for peace in a relentless day-to-day struggle. And even when the guns are silent, that is not enough for the long-term survival of humankind. There must also be development. There must be an end to poverty as a basic problem of the human condition, or else social grievances will be a constant threat to peace. We in the international community have the resources and the skills to conquer poverty. For that goal to be attainable, however, the developed and developing world must be able to faithfully carry out a contract of partnership that stipulate for each side a set of obligations. We do not need to negotiate that contract. It already exists. For the past decade and a half, the international community, within the framework of the United Nations, has produced a substantial body of documents to which we have formally committed ourselves. These form our contract for the conquest of poverty and its attendant maladies. It is not just a contract between and among states. It is also our contract with our peoples. Our contract with our future generations. Hence, it is appropriate that the theme of our 61st Session is “Implementing the Global Partnership for Development.” As President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pointed out recently, all we need to do is to bind ourselves to this contract, and carry it out according to its letter and spirit. This means political will, which is often lacking. And a streak of sincerity which is very rare in our time. The developed nations have four basic obligations under this contract. The first is to tear down the walls of protectionism and open up their markets to the products of the developing world. They must salvage the Doha Development Round. Their second obligation is to relieve their developing counterparts of some of the burdens of the debt crisis. Developing countries are often unable to fund their development programmes because they have to make huge debt payments. For their third obligation, the developed countries must ensure sufficient volumes of financial flows to developing countries—especially in the form of foreign direct investments. Many developing countries are simply too poor to muster the capital they need to get them out of their poverty. Another essential requirement of development is technology. Hence, it is the fourth obligation of developed countries to share their technology with the developing world, striking a balance between their social responsibility and their respect for intellectual property rights. Madam President, The obligations of developed countries must be matched by those of the developing countries—otherwise the partnership would not be equitable. The first obligation of developing countries is to practice good governance. We must therefore wage a relentless battle against all forms of corruption. The only form of capital that is abundant in the developing world is human capital. It is therefore the second obligation of the developing countries to protect and enhance that capital through education, human resources development, and health care. Third: it is the obligation of the developing countries to provide a climate that is friendly to foreign capital—particularly foreign direct investments. This normally means a package of incentives. It also means a level playing field and a reputation for good governance. And fourth: it is our particular obligation to make use of our natural resources with wisdom so that we meet the needs of today without robbing our future generations of their legacy. These obligations are not easy to fulfill, but they must be carried out if the global partnership for development is to work. In the case of Indonesia, we carried out the first obligation as a matter of survival: it was the only way we could climb our way out of the limbo to which the Asian financial crisis relegated us almost a decade ago. We had to make our transition to a more fully democratic system of government, becoming in the process a full-fledged democracy. We instituted reform in every aspect of our national life. Our economic recovery is a product of reform. And our new drive for economic growth is driven by reform. In the spirit of reform and dialogue, we were able to forge a peace agreement with the separatist Free Aceh Movement. The peace has been holding for more than a year and promises to be durable. As to our human resources, our Constitution mandates that 20 percent of our budget be allocated to education. Striving for universal education, we are awarding free education to some 60 million primary to high school students. To alleviate poverty, we continue to extend direct cash subsidy to some 19.1 million households. Last year, one-fourth of our total population 220 million benefited from the medical services of community health centres. We recently reduced the price of generic medicines by 30 to 50 percent. With regard to foreign investments, Indonesia is sending out some very positive signals: we are legislating a new package of investment incentives, including a law on tax reform, a law that rationalizes the labour market and regulations to streamline customs procedures. We are establishing especial economic zones. The response of foreign direct investors was to pour some $6 billion into Indonesia last year. To ensure the sustainability of our environment, we have launched a national programme called “Towards a Green Indonesia” aimed at building the capacity of local governments to conserve natural resources and control environmental degradation. Madam President, In sum, Indonesia is ready for partnership—to be an active participant in that global partnership for development that will enable the developing world to reach its Millennium Development Goals. I do believe that many other developing countries are just as ready for that partnership. And if they feel they are not ready at the moment, it takes nothing more but nothing less than political will to get themselves in a proper state of preparedness. And that also goes for the countries of the developed North: they must also have the political will to fulfill the obligations of the partnership, otherwise that partnership will not be worth the paper on which so many Summit documents were printed. Given that development, peace and human dignity are inseparable, the stake in this partnership is the destiny of the human race as a whole. A partnership for development is also a partnership for peace. And also a partnership for the dignity of the human being. I thank you.
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