OPENING REMARKS PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA AT THE PRESIDENTIAL LECTURE
OPENING REMARKS
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AT THE PRESIDENTIAL LECTURE
BY
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
 3 NOVEMBER 2008
Bismillahirahmanirrahim
Assalaamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh
Peace be upon us,
Your Royal Highness The Prince of Wales,
Your Excellency Vice President,
Ministers,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great honor to extend a very warm welcome a very distinguished guest and a good and long-time friend of Indonesia, Your Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales. I am delighted that Your Royal Highness has agreed to my invitation to deliver a Presidential Lecture.
Your Royal Highness, this Presidential Lecture Forum is designed to give world leaders an opportunity to share their views and vision with Indonesian leaders. In the past, we have had the pleasure to hear from great thinkers, such as Jeffery Sachs, Sir Nicholas Stern, Syaukat Aziz, Muhammad Yunus, Bill Gates, Kishore Mahbubani. Today, we are again fortunate to be able to listen to Your Royal Highness who will speak about a very important subject to us all, the environment, especially the cause of the forests.
But before that, let me say that the Prince of Wales’ visit to Indonesia highlights the very strong bilateral relations that we have been enjoying between Indonesia and the United Kingdom. This relationship is vibrant across the board, diplomatically, in trade and investment, in education, in technology, in environmental cooperation, in tourism, and so on. Our relations were also strengthened with the joint statement signed during the visit of Prime Minister Tony Blair to Jakarta in 2006.
This year, we have had two British Royalties visit Indonesia. The first was Prince Andrew who visited us in March. He was here to promote strengthening of our trade and investment relations. And now, the Prince of Wales is visiting us, and he has brought his passion on two subjects that are also near and dear to our hearts in Indonesia, forestry and interfaith cooperation.
At this Presidential Lecture, the Prince of Wales will talk more about forestry and climate change. But, let me first say a few words on interfaith cooperation. Indonesian nationalism is all about respecting diversity which include respect religious freedom. This is what makes Indonesia whole, vibrant, and united as a nation.
Externally, we strongly believe that tolerance and moderation is the key to achieving international peace in a world where ethnic and religious conflicts still exist. We do not believe in the inevitability of a clash of civilizations – and neither do Huntington – but I do believe in the imperative of the Muslim world and the west and other civilizations reaching out tirelessly to one another. This is why Indonesia has been actively working with other countries to convene interfaith, intercivilization, and intermedia dialogues.
In this context, I very appreciate Your Royal Highness’ important role and constant efforts to reach out, and also his keen interest in Islamic history and heritage. A few days ago, I was honored to receive a wonderful book about the recreation of the Minbar of Saladin, a project which Your Royal Highness was intimately involved in, in cooperation with the King of Jordan. I am therefore glad that the Prince of Wales will have the opportunity here in Indonesia to meet with our Islamic scholars and leaders. I hope this will enrich the already strong cooperation between Indonesia and the United Kingdom on Islamic affairs where we have formed the UK – Indonesia Islamic Advisory Group.
I am also delighted to learn that Your Royal Highness has been a keen interest in the protection of rainforests for nearly 40 years. In this too, we share a similar passion. We are both concerned that, as scientists estimate, 25% of the world’s global carbon emissions are caused by deforestation. Due to the rapid deforestation in developed countries in the last 200 years, the rainforests have become ever more critical to the survival of our planet and of humankind due to their importance in controlling the climate change process.
Indonesia is taking steps to address this issue both globally and domestically. Domestically, we are actively protecting our forests, by preventing forest fires, fighting ilegal loggers and by implementing a long-term plan to preserve and expand our forest cover. The First Lady and I have also launched a nation-wide campaign for citizens across the nation to plant and nurture trees – some 79 million trees were planted last year alone. We will continue to do so annually, Your Highness.
Internationally, we are making sure that REDD will become an integral part of the new post – 2012 climate change framework that is being formulated now within the context of the UNFCC. Additionally, last year Indonesia took the initiative to convene a meeting of 11 rainforest nations – from Asia, Africa, and the Americas – in the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The purpose was to get the rainforest nations to find a more constructive common ground and give a significant contribution in climate change process. Rainforest nations should be part of the solution, and not just part of the problem. Our trees and our forests are the only things that can absorb carbon dioxide gases from the air. Until now, no machine has been created to do just that.
Ministers and senior officials from these F-11 countries have been meeting regularly since then but there is still a lot of work to be done. The countries that are in the F-11 group are still developing countries where rainforests are a source of income for majority of their people. It has been a challenge for these governments to protect the forests while also improving the welfare of the local people whose livelihood have long been dependent on its forests. We must find a middle ground that is mutually beneficial for all parties. Protecting our rainforests is in the interest of everyone in the world. Thus, partnerships must be formed between public and private sectors, between government and the people, between developing and developed countries. To make Governments and people with rainforests genuine stakeholders, they must be effectively incentivized to protect their forests. This is also an area where the private sector can do much to contribute creatively.
The Prince has an idea of such partnership called the Prince’s Rainforest Project. I am interested to hear more about this project and so I will let Your Highness elaborate further. One thing for sure is that for any projects to work efficiently, a partnership must first be generated and its sustainability must be nurtured.
I look forward to what will be, I am sure, a very fruitful and rewarding presentation by the Prince of Wales.
Thank you very much.