Embassy of Finland

Embassy of Finland
Jakarta

The Finnish National Day Supplement in the Jakarta Post, December
12, 2002

Message from the Ambassador of Finland:

Dear readers,

The Independence Day of Finland is every year the 6th of
December. This time it coincided precisely with the date of Idul
Fitri in Indonesia and the Islamic world overall. For this reason
we decided to defer our celebrations in Indonesia until today,
the 12th of December. I hope this is convenient for all our
nationals and friends.

I should have wanted to greet you this year in a more optimistic
and cheerful mood. I cannot honestly do just that. Any greetings
at the end of this year are bound to reflect the reality: sorrow
and grief over the events of the recent past, but at the same
time faith and confidence in a better future. We must find new
strength to face the challenges ahead of us, all the doubts and
frustrations notwithstanding. I have been encouraged to note that
such a spirit exists in Indonesia, and I remain convinced that it
will prevail in the coming years, despite all the hardships in
sight. The terrorist attack in Bali was an attack against
Indonesia and against the international community. It cannot be
condoned under any pretext. Facing unpleasant facts is never a
nice and easy experience, and in this case the Indonesian society
has to do just that. The revelation of evil in our midst creates
an uneasy feeling. "We did not know" has been a popular way of
dealing with shocking revelations throughout human history, but
not terribly credible or true. The Indonesian authorities deserve
our congratulations for the effective and skilful investigations
of the incident. Hopefully all its ramifications will be searched
with the same fervour and energy.

As a member of the European Union and as an active participant
in the international donor community Finland has continued to
support Indonesia also this year, and we intend to do so also in
the future. The focus of our support has been twofold: programmes
promoting good governance and support to the building of civil
society, i.e. support to NGO's. Building, developing and
defending democracy is not always easy, and the rewards for
courage and honesty may not be immediately discernible in the
polls for next elections. But it is worth the effort. I hope that
this message can be brought to the Indonesian people all over
this large and beautiful country. If the international donor
community can help to achieve this, I am sure we would all be
happy to be part of the effort.

The Finnish-Indonesian relations have in the past focused heavily
on forestry. We have an active working group in our mixed
economic commission, and also rather regular meetings at the
ministerial level. One of our leading forestry companies has made
a sizeable plantation investment in West-Kalimantan. During the
90's, when the bulk of the Indonesian pulp and paper industry
was built or modernized, the machinery and know-how came largely
from Finland. Consequently the service and maintenance activities
in this sector bring a constant flow of Finnish experts to
Indonesia also today. This sectoral cooperation will certainly
continue also in the future, its emphasis probably shifting more
towards environmental protection and conservation, not forgetting
that best technology is most often also the best friend of the
environment. Finland has the world's most effective forestry
industry and the cleanest environment, so we know.

Today probably everybody in Indonesia knows Nokia. Quite a few
seem to know also that Nokia is originally from Finland, and
still has its head office there. Nokia is a prime example of the
new wave of Finnish industry and economy: truly international and
multilateral, but preserving the best of the Finnish society also
in its overseas operations. Nokia has gained market shares and
reputation, but also a very interesting and important note from
our notoriously critical NGO's: a perfectly clean record on human
rights and social conditions in the overseas operations. The same
could be said of other Finnish companies active in Indonesia.
This is also a part of coming from Finland.

The last couple of years Finland has come to the very top in two
interesting international listings: we have been the world's most
competitive nation last year and number two (after only the US)
this year, and we have been consistently the least corrupt
country in the world both of these years. There seems to be a
strong negative correlation between competitivity and corruption,
and we are of course happy to serve as an example of that. Over
the years we have also learned that the investment climate is
affected by the same factors, and that it takes time and effort
to improve it. Foreign direct investment tends to come with a
certain delay, when the other conditions have been met. I may of
course be tempted to exaggerate this factor, simply because we
Finns had a couple of other delaying problems to cope with: a
harsh climate, a less than fertile ground, long distances and
lack of natural resources. But we have made it so far, and we are
looking forward to an even better future.

Finland has now been a member of the European Union for seven
years. We also joined the economic and monetary union (EMU) from
the very beginning. From the beginning of this year also ordinary
citizens have been using the common European currency EuroFor a
number of Finns - just like other Europeans - this was a big
step. Own national currency was seen as an essential part of
nationhood. Now we have learned that paying in Euros is no more
difficult than paying in Finnish markka. But it will take quite a
few years, until we stop mentally converting every figure also to
the old currency. Change takes its time.

I wish all the readers and also the journalists of Jakarta Post a
happy end of 2002 and a most successful year of 2003, Season's
Greetings to all of you!

Matti Pullinen
Ambassador of Finland