Tito Says Government Present in NTT
Home Affairs Minister Muhammad Tito Karnavian said the presence of several central government officials in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is a form of state presence in accelerating the handling of communities affected by the earthquake.
“The President has assigned a number of ministers, heads of institutions, and deputy ministers to travel, to be present among the people, to attend the 17 August ceremony to show that the central government is not standing idly by,” Tito said in a statement received in Jakarta on Monday (17/8).
The statement was delivered by Tito after leading the 81st Independence Day Commemoration Ceremony at Natas Lehong Field, East Manggarai Regency, NTT.
Tito’s presence in NTT was a follow-up to President Prabowo Subianto’s directive to government officials to inspect the affected areas while accelerating post-earthquake handling.
During the ceremony, Tito wore traditional East Manggarai attire consisting of a white shirt, songke cloth, leros shawl, and a Rongga tribal headdress. Tito said he was grateful to be able to commemorate the 81st Independence Day with the people of East Manggarai who were also affected by the earthquake.
“Disaster on one hand provides a bitter experience, suffering, for all of our people. The English say ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, every problem has its wisdom. At the very least, the wisdom is that we can meet here,” he said.
In his address, Tito also invited the public to strengthen their sense of nationalism and reflect once again on the nation’s struggle to achieve independence. He said the values in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution, among other things, affirm the rejection of colonialism as well as the state’s goal to protect the entire Indonesian nation and all of Indonesia’s homeland.
According to Tito, this protection is also realised through the government’s presence in helping communities facing disasters.
The ceremony was also attended by Head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Mohammad Syafii, East Manggarai Regent Agas Andreas, and members of the East Manggarai Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda).