Now is the time for action: Susilo

Now is the time for action: Susilo

The following is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's speech,
which he delivered at the State Palace after his inauguration on
Wednesday at the People's Consultative Assembly:

Today, we are grateful indeed to God Almighty. Having gone
through a long election process, today, before the members of the
People's Consultative Assembly, I, and Pak Jusuf Kalla, took our
oaths as the President and Vice President of the Republic of
Indonesia for the period of 2004-2009. Our inauguration today
marked the beginning of a new government, which received a
mandate directly from the people. Let me take this opportunity to
express my deepest gratitude to the Indonesian people, for your
participation, support and trust.

Allow me -- personally, and on behalf of the Vice President
Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, as well as on behalf of the entire nation
-- to express our deepest gratitude and highest appreciation to
Ibu Megawati Soekarnoputri and Pak Hamzah Haz, for their great
efforts in upholding the Constitution, leading the government,
and guiding the nation successfully during their tenure as the
president and vice president between 2001 and 2004.

Indeed, the entire nation shall remember and cherish all the
great deeds of president Megawati and vice president Hamzah Haz.
In the spirit of our nation's time-honored tradition, I, as the
President of the Republic of Indonesia, pledge to always preserve
my ties of brotherhood with Ibu Megawati Soekarnoputri and Pak
Hamzah Haz, as our two national figures.

All of us must remember the wisdom of our great founding
father, the former president Sukarno, who once reminded us:
"United we stand, divided we fall."

Today, we have, remarkably, passed one of the most important
tests of our history.

First, our nation has successfully undertaken national
elections in a democratic, fair, orderly, and peaceful manner.
This year's elections were, by all means, the most ambitious,
most difficult, and most complicated electoral marathon in the
world, and yet, we successfully orchestrated them.

Indeed, we are all proud of our General Elections Commission
(KPU), which managed to undertake this difficult task
independently, professionally and responsibly.

Second, as we have just witnessed in today's solemn ceremony,
our nation has accomplished the process of power transfer
constitutionally, democratically, orderly and peacefully. Thank
God, our nation is now more mature in democracy, and able to
build a more mature political culture.

With such a great success, not only are we successful in
taking this step as a big democracy, but we have also become a
model for the world's democracies.

Our great nation has undertaken two elections since reformasi:
In 1999 and in 2004. In the democratic transition of any country,
the second election is normally regarded as the critical one, the
litmus test for the maturity of democracy.

With the formidable success of our elections this year, we
have indeed taken one step forward in realizing the modernization
of Indonesian politics.

And, through our legislative election this year, we are one
step ahead in achieving political regeneration in Indonesia, as
we can clearly witness through the new and fresh faces in our
honorable Assembly.

Thank God, the 2004 elections are now over. It is time for us
to walk together, toward our future. We have passed our moment of
competition, now it is time for unity. Our days of words and
promises are over, as it is time to do real deeds and works. It
is our time to unite in creation.

It is time for us to consolidate our spirit of determination,
thoughts and attention, to overcome the various challenges and
problems that we are now facing. We must overcome these problems
together. Indeed, the government that I lead cannot possibly
overcome them without the support and participation of our
people, and all national components.

As we all know, for the founding fathers of this nation, their
biggest challenge was to establish our nation and free our people
from colonialists. For the subsequent generations, including
ours, the greatest challenge is to free our people from poverty,
ignorance, backwardness, and all problems that prevent the growth
of our people's abilities. More specifically, the challenge of
our era is to consolidate our democracy and accomplish our agenda
of reform.

A consolidated democracy that is continually developing will
provide us with solid ground for the life of our nationhood and
statecraft. Within such a democratic life, we can manage to
successfully implement our national agenda, including the
accomplishment of various agendas of reform.

With our perseverance, belief and hard work, God willing, our
nation and beloved country will continue to grow -- people will
be more prosperous within a safer and just life. And, with all
these convictions, I am confident that our nation will become a
respected nation, and respected by other nations in the world.

Today's mood of happiness is engulfed by huge optimism.
However, we must remember that the journey may be difficult and
we face a huge challenge ahead:

o Our economic growth this year, which is still far less than 7
percent, is definitely inadequate in generating more employment.
o More than 10 million of our fellow countrymen are still out of
jobs.
o Needless to remind you that 16 percent of our people are still
living below the poverty line.
o Although the debt to Gross National Product ratio is
decreasing, debt will continue to burden our economy.
o Our brothers and sisters in Aceh and Papua still live in
anxiety.
o Security in Poso and Maluku is still well under control,
although not entirely recovered.
o Corruption, collusion and nepotism are still rampant and
continue to be a systemic problem.
o The international situation is far from settled.
o The price of oil continues to rise well above the assumptions
of our national budget.
o And, the imminent threats of terrorism and other forms of
transnational crime will continue to haunt us.

Let us work harder to overcome all these difficult challenges.

Tomorrow morning, on Oct. 21, God willing, I will inaugurate
the members of my cabinet for the 2004-2009 period. Soon after
that, we will immediately start to formulate and implement the
initial steps of government policy.

In the next few months, my administration will concentrate on
domestic problems.
o My administration will stimulate the economy in order to
achieve higher economic growth, which can absorb more employment
and help alleviate poverty.
o My administration will continue to adopt and implement open
economic policies, in order to integrate the economy with
regional and international economies. In doing so, the government
will focus on short- and medium-term agendas in enhancing
productivity and competitiveness.
o My administration will encourage more investors to build our
infrastructure.
o My administration will actively launch an anticorruption
program, which, I, myself, will lead.
o My administration will give special attention to the handling
of conflicts in Aceh and Papua.
o My administration will prioritize and improve the government's
policies on the education and health sectors.
o My administration will intensify constructive dialog with
economic actors, especially our business communities, including
investors, whom I really expect to be the engine of our economy.
o My administration will do their utmost to establish clean and
good governance, which is responsive toward the public's needs
and aspirations.

But, let me remind you: It is impossible to resolve all of
these complicated problems within 100 days. That is easier said
than done.

But, I have the strong conviction that our determination and
goodwill are far more superior than the problems we are facing.
At this point, our character as a great nation is truly under a
severe test.

For a great nation, the harder the test, the higher its
tenacity; the more difficult the ordeal, the stronger its faith;
the stronger the storm, the stronger its solidarity; and the more
difficult the challenge, the stronger our sense of unity. Let us
prove and build on our greatness as a nation.

God willing, with our solidarity and hard work, we will be
able to create a better condition for Indonesians -- safer, more
just and more prosperous.

With my unfettered feelings and unfeigned confidence, today we
are opening a new chapter in the history of our nation. This is
the time to greet a new dawn.

To all of the Indonesian people, wherever you are, I would
like to wholeheartedly express my sincere gratitude to you, for
your support and confidence in myself and Pak Muhammad Jusuf
Kalla. Although I am now the President, I am no different from
each and every one of you -- I am just an ordinary citizen from
an ordinary family, born and raised by the state and the
community.

With the mandate I received directly from you, I am determined
to become, not only the President of the Republic of Indonesia,
but also the President of Indonesians -- of all of the Indonesian
people.

I will keep this noble political contract with the people. I
will dedicate my every thought -- all my time and energy -- to
promoting and protecting each Indonesian soul.

To all members of the House of Representatives and regional
legislative councils, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and I are
committed to cooperating with all of you, for the sake of our
national interests -- the interests of the Indonesian people as
emanated in our Constitution and laws that we must all duly
uphold.

For that matter, I sincerely urge you all to work together to
overcome the various, difficult problems that we are facing. The
people surely demand that we work closely in creating more jobs,
alleviating poverty, redeveloping our infrastructure and many
other problems faced by the people. The people need our
leadership and need us as role models.

To all civil servants, especially civilian civil servants
employed at central and regional levels, to our men and women in
uniform, to our policemen and policewomen, to the employees of
state-owned enterprises -- I ask you all to welcome this new
government with new spirit, improved services and to create a
better life, together with all of the people. You are responsible
for many important things in our lives. Let us do our tasks and
duty with a full sense of responsibility. We are all public
servants. The government and all civil servants are indeed here
to assist and serve the public, the country. Keep up the spirit
to serve. Any country in the world can be successful if only it
is supported by clean, professional state apparatuses, responsive
toward the aspirations and development of its people.

To all of our friends all over the world, please accept our
friendship, which we offer to you with open arms.

My administration will continue to uphold the free and active
principle of foreign policy, and Indonesia is determined to
become a voice that promotes peace, increases prosperity and
defends justice. Indonesia will continue to grow as a democratic,
open, modern, pluralistic and tolerant nation.

I would particularly like to express my highest appreciation
to all of our state guests from friendly and neighboring
countries, for their presence at the inauguration ceremony at the
Assembly this morning, who have truly bestowed on us a remarkable
honor.

Indeed, we are honored by the presence of His Excellency, the
Honorable Dato' Seri Abdullah Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia;
His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam; His
Excellency, the Honorable Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of
the Republic of Singapore; His Excellency, the Honorable John
Howard, Prime Minister of Australia; and His Excellency, the
Honorable Mari Alkatiri, the Prime Minister of Timor Leste. We
would also like to express our gratitude to the leaders of
friendly countries who have sent their special envoys, from the
Netherlands, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.
Personally, and on behalf of all Indonesian people, I am truly
delighted and honored by your Excellencies' attention to the new
government that I lead.

Having been inaugurated as the President this morning, I will
focus my attention on finalizing the Cabinet for the 2004-2009
period, which, God willing, will be announced tonight (Wednesday
night). Furthermore, God willing, I will inaugurate the new
Cabinet members (on Thursday), with the great hope that they can
adapt immediately and work well.

Let me assure you that I, and the entire new government, will
work hard to keep the people's trust. I accordingly ask for the
blessings, support and trust of all Indonesian people, and the
whole nation, in order to meet constitutional requirements within
the next five years. May Allah bless us all with guidance and
strength.