230 Millions Indonesians Today Chant: MERDEKA! to Celeberate the Independence Day August 17, 2008

Jakarta, Indonesia | October 29, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

The 63rd anniversary of Indonesia’s Independence Day was solemnly performed with a flag hoisting at the National Palace on Sunday. The ceremony, which was led by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, was a spectacle of the greatest respect and honor for the flag and the republic.

SBYThe ceremony was attended by the cabinet, military brass, family members of the current and preceding presidents, diplomatic corps and honored guests. Eleven-year-old Nada Lutfiyyah, an Aceh tsunami survivor who lost her parents in the 2004 disaster Nada Lutfiyyah and her pen pal Maggie Hamilton, 12, of Michigan, the United States, were sitting in the front row of the invited guests.

Yudhoyono says accelerated economic development caused rapid decline of poverty rate. In his statement delivered his State-of-the-Nation Address on the Draft 2009 State Budget and Financial Notes at a House of Representatives (DPR) plenary session in Jakarta, Friday (15/8), he stated that part of the positive impact of accelerated economic development in Indonesia has been a rapid decline in the open unemployment and poverty rates.

Yudhoyono said the open unemployment rate in February 2006 was 10.5 percent but it had dropped to 8.5 percent in February this year.

By the same token, Yudhoyono said, the poverty level had also dropped from 17.7 percent in 2006 to 15.4 percent in March 2008, and the poverty figure in 2008 was the lowest ever, both in terms of its size and percentage, in the last 10 years.

“There is also a declining trend in the poverty figure even if we use the poverty figure criteria of the World Bank, and this has been a concrete achievement for which we should be grateful,” Yudhoyono said.

“I would like to express my thanks to all the parties concerned, including governors, district heads and mayors all over the country, who have toiled hard for this,” he added.

In the context of speeding up the lowering of the poverty level, the president said the government had embarked on a harmonization and synergy program and budget for poverty alleviation at the central level, which was concretely carried out all over Indonesia.

He said the poverty budget program and synergy had been interpreted into three poverty alleviation program clusters.

In the first cluster the government provided social assistance and security to less-well-to-do families or the targeted group, in the second cluster the government offered community-based program and budget under the National Self-Reliant Community Empowerment Program(PNPM), and in the third cluster, the government empowered the micro, small and medium enterprises (UMKM), including the improvement of the business environment and the provision of Small-holder Business Credit.

Indonesian economic growth forecast at 6.2 per cent in 2009

Yudhoyono also unveiled on Friday, a draft state budget for the fiscal year 2009, that forecasts economic growth of 6.2 per cent.

In the state-of-the-nation address ahead the August 17 independence day, Yudhoyono said the government’s revenues and grants in the 2009 draft state budget would amount to 1,022.6 trillion rupiah (112.37 billion dollars), while the total expenditures were forecast at 1,222.2 trillion rupiah (134.3 billion dollars).

Yudhoyono said the 2009 budget marked a 14.3-per-cent increase compared with the 2008 revised budget, predicting a budget deficit of 1.9 per cent of GDP, which will be mostly funded from domestic sources - mainly derived from the issuance of government bonds.

Revenues from taxes were expected to increase to 726.3 trillion rupiah, a 19.2-per-cent increase from 2008 revised budget, and revenues from the non-tax sector would amount to 295.3 trillion rupiah, Yudhoyono was quoted by DPA as saying.

Under the 2009 draft budget, the government would spend a total of 227.2 trillion rupiah on subsidies, including a 101.4-trillion-rupiah subsidy for fuel oil, he said.

“The global oil price remains volatile and is extremely difficult to predict,” Yudhoyono said, adding that the selected average oil price at 100 dollars per barrel is a “reflection of the latest world oil price movements and the latest projection.”

Yudhoyono forecast economic growth of 6.2 per cent in 2009 for South-East Asia’s biggest economy, compared with the government’s 6.0 -6.4 per cent growth forecast for 2008.

In his speech, Yudhoyono, whose term expires next year and who is widely expected to run for re-election, emphasized his administration’s priorities, including the fight against corruption, improved security and economic performance, as well as spending on poverty alleviation.

“Since the outset of my administration, I have emphasised that corruption eradication occupied a high priority. The manifestation of a corrupt-free Indonesia must gain support from all of us,” he said.

“This is the only way that Indonesia can enhance its dignity in the eyes of the world.”

The draft budget also estimated the country’s crude oil production in 2009 would average 950,000 barrels per day, with oil prices on the international market averaging 100 dollars per barrel.

Soaring oil prices on international markets forced Yudhoyono to raise subsidised fuel prices in May in a bid to slash the ballooning subsidy bill.

Yudhoyono praised the country’s achievement of regaining self -sufficiency in rice, the first time since end of of former president Suharto’s rule in 1998, that national rice production surpassed the country’s rice consumption.

“We should actually be grateful, because the food situation in our country is relatively better than in many other countries,” Yudhoyono said. “In the midst of the current global food crisis, we must reinforce our national food stock.”

D-8 Organization extends its highest congratulation to Indonesia as its member state, and hope that the country will keep on developing, while at the same time strengthen the cooperation framework within the economic groupings of D-8. “We sincerely hope the very best for Indonesia to attain its real position in the world economy in very near future,” said Dipo Alam, D-8 Secretary General, in his comment to congratulate the occassion.

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