Suriname Interior Minister Soewarto Moestadja disclosed in Jakarta on Tuesday that he was proud of his Indonesian heritage.

'€œMy duty is to build Suriname. But I still want to keep in contact with my roots,'€ Soewarto said during a discussion at the 2nd Congress of Indonesian Diaspora at the Jakarta Convention Center.

The two-day congress, which was opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday, brought together around 3,000 Indonesians and those of Indonesian descendant living overseas.

Soewarto explained how he came to live overseas.

'€œWhen I was three years old, my grandfather, my father and I moved to Suriname because the Dutch lied to us about a better life in other places. We thought we would move to Sumatera, but in fact, it was Suriname,'€ Soewarto said in broken Javanese.

Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Wira Idris bin Harun, another speaker at the discussion, also claimed he had Indonesian blood running through his veins because he was of Bugis descendant.

'€œI am fifth generation Bugis. Several other ministers [in Malaysia] are also of Bugis descent,'€ he said.

He also disclosed the Malaysian government's plan to build a kind of Javanese village for the Indonesian diaspora there, but did not elaborate. (apt)

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