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Issues of the day: Indonesia cannot depend on West: Kalla
Jusuf Kalla - JP/AwoMay 22, OnlineVice President Jusuf Kalla has stated that Indonesia cannot depend on Western nations when it comes to settling domestic and regional problems
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Jusuf Kalla - JP/Awo
May 22, Online
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has stated that Indonesia cannot depend on Western nations when it comes to settling domestic and regional problems. Addressing the 21st Conference on the Future of Asia Beyond 2015, in Tokyo on Friday, Kalla stressed that the South China Sea conflict could be resolved if the leaders of conflicting countries adopted a common view on security and peace in the region.
'Regarding East Asia, we are faced with numerous challenges, such as a slowing world economy, income disparity and economic uncertainty. At present, we are being tested on our ability to settle our own problems because we can no longer depend on the West,' he said as quoted by vice presidential spokesperson Husain Abdullah.
Your comments:
I'll say it again: if it wasn't for the West, Indonesians would be speaking Japanese.
Hinja
Of course Indonesia cannot depend on the West (whatever that means) or any other country. Kalla is stating the obvious.
Deedee S.
Mr. Kalla, when you and President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo save our nation from the lies of tricky lawmakers, only then will we be able to depend on ourselves.
Gregdaru
Quit the rhetoric and get the economy up and running please. I applauded you a couple of years back as being a man of action but now you are slow to move. Getting too old for the job, are we?
RA Rena
Each Asian country is politically and culturally unique. The rates of development between them also differ and varying population levels influence development. Whether Asian countries can unite in an amicable manner is still at best a work in progress.
However, it is obvious that Asia is likely to be the growth continent as spurred by the pace of development in the developing countries, and with funding from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Japan, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and international investment funds, there are adequate resources to support growth.
The political issues have been aggravated primarily with the US trying to maintain its influence in the region and a few Asian countries courting it. China is portrayed as a rising force, trying to flex its economic strength, but it is probably the only country (apart from North Korea) that has a communist political system that differs from the other Asian countries.
LB Saw
The West is going through a testing time. The US is in trouble economically if not politically. The EU is even worse. China is progressing well economically and now is spreading its influence through soft loans in Africa.
It's no wonder that every day we see a number of dignitaries from around the world lining up in Beijing to see either Chinese President Xi Jinping or Premier Li Keqiang to foster relations. So no countries are contemplating depending on the West anyway. Kalla is only stating the obvious.
Let's introduce democracy to China to slow, if not halt, its aim of becoming the biggest economy in the world. Let them busy themselves with democracy to allow China to disintegrate, hence posing no threat to the US and its allies.
ILA
Listening to politicians like Kalla is like listening to an old Frank Sinatra record, as Indonesia has been in control of its own destiny since the 1950s. We must work together for the common good ' cooperation and trust is the way forward. We must all concentrate on lifting the poor out of their miserable lives and must band together and fight corruption and inequality.
David Wallis
This is really too little, too late. Western nations have their own interests and agenda and only now are we beginning to realize. Why do you think American tobacco firms paid billions of US dollars to buy Indonesian cigarette companies? So that they can dump their tobacco here and let us blissfully puff our way to heaven.
They also dump insecticides in Southeast Asia that they discovered cause cancer. The French tested their nuclear weapons in Tahiti because it was safe and perfectly OK, but not safe or perfectly OK to test in France. When somebody suggested that Walmart stop buying from China, the answer was very simply OK, we'll close all our stores because we have nothing to sell if we don't import from China.
The situation is simple. They exist to make money and they will not be doing us any favors. Gasoline is cheap in the US (cheaper than Indonesia, which is already the cheapest in Asia) and people will continue driving their gas guzzlers, pumping millions of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere and blaming everybody else (especially China).
Pauloh
These days, in the Internet era, the boundaries are blurred. We all need each other. Let's not talk about how others don't understand us but critically examine ourselves, then act on correcting our ways.
Ness
The West conducts a lot of trade with all Asian nations and has a common interest in Asia and its security, particularly in the China seas, where China is flexing its military muscle in contested regions.
Eddy Saf
Like all politicians, the Vice President lives in a fantasy world. He has no idea what it's like to be poor and is deluded about Western dominance over Indonesia. This becomes a no-win game where the less powerful look to the larger powers for survival. Pick your poison ' the West or China?
Anonycom
