He asked the people to support his massive development drive, even in the midst of an unfurling multidimensional crisis.

“Our current goal is not only to escape the pandemic but also to get through the crisis. We are taking measures to take a big leap by making the most of the ongoing crisis,” Jokowi said.

In his speech, held to commemorate Indonesia’s 75th Independence Day that falls on Monday, the President acknowledged that, like most countries in the world today, Indonesia was facing one of the worst economic crises in history, due to a pandemic that has killed nearly 800,000 people globally.

“In the first quarter of 2020, our economy grew by 2.97 percent, but in the second quarter, [it] contracted by 5.32 percent,” he said. “Developed [economies] even reported [contractions] of more than 10 percent.”

However, the former businessman encouraged the nation to embrace the setbacks and seize the moment to “catch up” with developed countries.

With his trademark use of analogies, the President compared the current crisis to a computer crash, and sought major transformation out of a crisis.

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