Indonesia Pushes for Global Leadership

SETWAPRES/JOHANES LINIANDUS

Vice President Jusuf Kalla conveyed his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday afternoon (27/9/2018) in New York, the United States.

NEW YORK, KOMPAS – Indonesia continues to push for the global leadership’s emergence in resolving the world’s problems, including the trade war and rising protectionism.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla conveyed these ideas in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday afternoon (27/9/2018) local time in New York (early Friday, Jakarta time).

Vice presidential spokesperson Husain Abdullah said in New York that the United Nations (UN) seemed to have no interest in resolving the trade war and rising protectionism. Kalla’s speech urging a global leadership was hoped to ignite the international agency’s attention to the two issues.

Kalla also spoke about Palestine and other pressing problems, including violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar and the South China Sea dispute.

This year’s UN General Assembly comes amid the escalating US-China trade war. The two countries are also involved in the tensions over the South China Sea.

Beijing has claimed part of the sea as its territory. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia also have claims on the maritime region.

Despite having no claims on the sea, the US has demanded that open passage be maintained in the South China Sea to all countries, by both sea and air. China censured the US after its planes and ships approached an island in the South China Sea on which China claims ownership.

VICE PRESIDENT SECRETARIAT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

Vice President Jusuf Kalla takes a walk in Central Park, New York,  the United States, on Thursday (28/9/2018). Kalla was in the US to take part in the 73rd United Nations General Assembly.

VP chief of expert staff Sofjan Wanandi said that Kalla also thanked the countries that had supported Indonesia’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which it will assume in 2019.

Combating TB

On Wednesday (26/9), Kalla spoke at the UN’s tuberculosis (TB) summit, during which the member countries pledged their commitment to stand united and embark on more serious efforts to combat tuberculosis in the declaration, “United to End Tuberculosis: An Urgent Global Response to a Global Epidemic”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that by 2022, 40 million people with TB would have access to necessary medication and that TB would have been prevented in 30 million people.

Kalla headed the Indonesian delegation to the summit, which included Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani and Health Minister Nila Moeloek. Arifin Panigoro, the head of the Stop TB Partnership Indonesia Forum, was also in the delegation.

UN General Assembly president Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces said that although it was preventable and curable, TB had caused the deaths of 1.6 million people in 2017. The new declaration was a roadmap for accelerating TB eradication and saving tens of millions of lives in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On Wednesday, Kalla also attended a bilateral meeting with International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) president Francesco Rocca. After the meeting, Rocca said that Indonesia had set a good example in disaster management.

KOMPAS/B JOSIE SUSILO HARDIANTO

Retno LP Marsudi

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi attended a bilateral meeting with Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Retno also attended several other meetings on Palestine issues.

In her meeting with Krahenbuhl, Retno conveyed Indonesia’s steadfast commitment to providing aid to Palestine, including encouraging the involvement of more philanthropic organizations amid the UNRWA’s funding difficulties. After the meeting, Retno said the UNRWA had a US$440 million deficit, only 60 percent of which had been recovered, and that $180 million of the deficit remained.

Funding was urgently needed to help more than 5.3 million Palestinian refugees across several locations, including Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan. The refugees and their families were victims of the Palestinian conflict.

Retno said that Indonesia had also reaffirmed its support for the two-state solution in the conflict.

(ADHITYA RAMADHAN, B. JOSIE SUSILO HARDIANTO)