Indonesia, 2005

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 attacks against New York City on

11 September 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 and presumed dead. The death

toll would have been higher were it not for the quick

and vigorous response of the international community

and the United Nations. For that, the Indonesian people

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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 a special summit of the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the aftermath of

the earthquake and tsunami. At that summit, world

leaders and the United Nations Secretary-General, as

well as representatives of multilateral institutions,

worked out a system of coordination and division of

labour in attending to the stricken countries. Pledges

were made of 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. Those efforts were reflected in

General Assembly resolution 59/233, initiated by

ASEAN and sponsored by more than 130 United

Nations Members.

The reconstruction and rehabilitation of Aceh got

off to 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 guarantees transparency

and accountability in the disbursement of funds.

Rehabilitation and development, however, cannot

run smoothly without peace. And for many years there

has been no peace. Before the tsunami, Aceh saw three

decades of armed conflict caused by perceived

economic injustices. Many Acehnese felt that 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. Those efforts led to the signing of a final

agreement in Helsinki last month. That was the silver

lining in the cloud 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. At 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

peacebuilding.

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, all local officials,

governors, regents and mayors are directly elected by

the people. Whereas 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 vigorous campaigns

against corruption.

We are now pursuing an economic strategy that is

pro-growth, pro-poor and pro-job. 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 in Indonesia, we

bring justice and foster dialogue and reconciliation, as

we did in Aceh.

In the same spirit of reconciliation, Indonesia and

neighbouring Timor-Leste have reached out to each

other so that both nations might 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 held in Timor-Leste in

1999. The commission started its work last August.

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The fledgling democracies of the two countries stand a

better of chance of succeeding if they work together in

a spirit of reconciliation, friendship and cooperation,

complementing the prosecutorial justice that has been

carried out in Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

With our other closest neighbours in South-East

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 within the

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 the peaceful

engagement of regional Powers with one another.

Today, ASEAN already serves as the driving force

towards 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 in place the

cornerstone for 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 the Partnership, both

continents will intensify their political solidarity,

economic cooperation and socio-cultural relations,

including technical cooperation and human resources

development.

The establishment of the Partnership was the

most meaningful way in which we could observe the

Golden Jubilee of the 1955 Asian-African Conference

held 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 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

and interdependent and that cannot be addressed

separately. We therefore need a United Nations that is

more effective and efficient and more democratic and

accountable to its Members — an Organization with a

balanced focus on those three challenges.

We need a reformed Security Council that is more

democratically representative. As the Asia-Pacific

region is home to more than half of the human race and

is the cradle of ancient civilizations and religions, we

in Indonesia feel that it should have more seats on the

Council. Moreover, we must do away with the right of

the veto.

We cannot afford to exclude global disarmament

and non-proliferation from our agenda. We are not rid

of the danger of nuclear annihilation. At the same time,

developing countries must be allowed to engage in the

peaceful use of nuclear energy to hasten their

development.

We need a Peacebuilding Commission to help

countries in conflict make the transition from war to

durable peace. The Commission must work in

coordination with the Security Council and the

Economic and Social Council, under the mandate of

the General Assembly.

With regard to the fight against terrorism, we

hope that 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 that no international law may be violated

in the fight against terrorism.

We in Indonesia believe that interfaith dialogue

and cooperation to empower moderate voices can

significantly reduce violent radicalism. That is why we

have sponsored and hosted Asia-Pacific and Asian-

European dialogues on interfaith cooperation.

We urge that the Economic and Social Council be

empowered to effectively review and coordinate

international cooperation for development.

The envisaged Human Rights Council must

uphold human rights as universal, indivisible and

interdependent. It should be free from politicization

and double standards; instead, it should promote

dialogue as well as concrete cooperation. It should be a

subsidiary body to the General Assembly.

Finally, no effort aimed at United Nations reform

can be complete unless it affirms and makes a reality

the central role of the General Assembly as the main

deliberative body of the United Nations.

It may not be realistic to hope that these reforms

will be realized this week or in the months to come. We

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the Members of the United Nations are not sufficiently

in concert to achieve an early breakthrough. But we

who desire reform must keep faith and persevere.

For three decades, armed conflict smouldered 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 at the dawning of

a more enlightened time. Above all, we must never

lose hope in the Organization’s capacity for reform, its

perfectibility. We must keep on working — even harder

than before. Then, when the moment of truth comes,

we will be ready to seize the opportunity.