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Joko Widodo starts his speech with slogan of Pakistan Zindabad (long live Pakistan)
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Says democracy best way to serve peoples’ interests
ISLAMABAD: President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, addressing the joint-sitting of parliament here soon after his arrival on Friday, said that conflicts and wars would benefit no one as people become its major victims and called for unity to maintain peace and stability in the region.
“Conflicts and wars will benefit no one. I repeat: conflicts and wars will benefit no one. The people, mainly women and children always become the most impacted ones in conflicts and wars,” President Widodo said.
The Indonesian president is on his first visit to Pakistan along with a delegation comprising ministers and businessmen.
The session was chaired by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and attended by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, three services chiefs, besides the parliamentarians.
President Widodo is the second president of Indonesia to address the joint sitting as first Indonesian President Dr Ahmed Soekarno had addressed the National Assembly of Pakistan on June 26, 1963.
President Widodo is the 17th foreign dignitary to address the National Assembly and Senate’s joint-sitting. The others who addressed the sitting included leaders from Iran, Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Palestine, France, China, Britain, Turkey.
The Indonesian president said besides impacting the people, the conflicts and wars also destroyed the values of humanity.
Widodo, who started his speech with the slogan of Pakistan Zindabad (Long Live Pakistan), also strongly advocated for democracy believing that “democracy is the best way to serve our peoples’ interests. Democracy provides the space for the people in decision-making process.”
President Widodo said in 1963, President Soekarno had ignited the spirit to fight against colonialism as well as the spirit of cooperation between newly independent countries.
“Fifty-five years later, the president of the Republic of Indonesia is honoured once again to speak before the parliament of Pakistan. I would like to use this opportunity to ignite cooperation for the world’s peace and prosperity,” he remarked.
He said the friendship between Indonesia and Pakistan was not a newly forged friendship as his country would always remember the support of the people of Pakistan towards Indonesia’s struggles for independence.
He told the joint sitting that as a token of appreciation, on August 17, 1995, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Indonesian Independence, Indonesia had conferred First Class Adipurna Star to Pakistan’s father of the nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah for his contributions in supporting Indonesia’s independence.
Besides having a decades-old friendship, he said, the two countries had much in common with both being the biggest Muslim populations, members of D-8, OIC, Non-Aligned Movement besides being the initiators of Asia-Africa Conference and “most importantly, we are both democratic countries.”
Widodo said both Pakistan and Palestine consistently supported the independence of Palestine.
“At this forum, I would like to call once again for us to continue supporting our brothers and sisters in Palestine. Let us continue supporting Palestine in their struggles,” he said.
Referring to the challenges of terrorism, he said no country was immune to it. “Muslims are the biggest victim of terrorism, 76 per cent of terrorist attacks took place in Muslim countries. Besides, 60 per cent of armed conflicts happened in Muslim countries and 67 per cent refugees come from Muslim countries,” Widodo explained.
He said Indonesia was the largest Muslim populated country in the world as around 87% from 260 million people in Indonesia equals to 2,262 million populations were Muslim.
He said just like Pakistan, apart from being home to Muslims, Indonesia was also home to Hindu, Catholic, Protestants, Buddhist as well as the others making it a pluralistic country.
He said despite being very plural with a large number of population and more than 17,000 islands and with 1,340 ethnicities, Indonesia was able to preserve its unity. He said Indonesian people lived their lives as a nation in a democratic manner, adding that most people understood that managing diversity was not an easy thing, neither managing democracy.
“What we need is commitment…commitment to tolerate in order to maintain plurality; commitment for mutual respects so that democracy could function well,” the Indonesian president remarked.
He said with democracy, political stability in Indonesia could be maintained, economic growth was strong enough to reach above 5% per year. He said without political stability and security, the growth of the national or regional economy was not possible as economic activities would never take place amid conflict or war.
Earlier in the day, Indonesia’s president arrived in Islamabad where he was received by his Pakistani counterpart President Mamnoon Hussain.
A 21-gun salute heralded the arrival of President Widodo as he landed at Nur Khan Airbase, accompanied by First Lady Iriana Widodo, ministers, and a business delegation.
President Hussain will hold a state banquet for the visiting dignitary.
According to Foreign Office, President Widodo’s visit will contribute towards strengthening existing fraternal ties between the two countries.
