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ASEAN a ‘big ship’ that must not sink, Jokowi says
“This big ship must keep sailing; it must not sink, as we have a responsibility to the hundreds of billions of people living in the region,” Jokowi said in an ASEAN Day speech in Jakarta on Tuesday.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (center) cuts the first slice of the tumpeng, a ceremonial dish from Indonesia, in celebration of ASEAN Day in Jakarta on Aug. 8, 2023, as ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn (left) and Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi looks on. (JP/A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has likened ASEAN to an ark that must stay afloat in a sea of geopolitical challenges so that it can continue to carry the peoples of Southeast Asia toward better lives.
“This big ship must keep sailing; it must not sink, as we have a responsibility to the hundreds of billions of people living in the region,” Jokowi said on Tuesday in a speech at an ASEAN Day celebration in Jakarta.
The President, who is leading Indonesia’s chairmanship of the association this year, made his point as ASEAN marked 56 years since its founding by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand on Aug. 8, 1967.
More than half a century later, ASEAN has expanded its membership to include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, while Timor-Leste is expected to join as the bloc’s 11th member in the coming years.
As host of the 43rd ASEAN Summit to be held in Jakarta next month, Indonesia was keen to help ASEAN maintain its central role in the region, Jokowi said, so that it could face the many challenges that lay ahead and respond effectively to global dynamics.
“Let us work together to make ASEAN matter [and turn it into an] epicentrum of growth,” he said.
Under Indonesia’s chairmanship, ASEAN has focused on its strengths as an economic community to develop programs to bolster regional health care and improve food and energy security in response to global developments such as COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. It is also seeking to become a production hub for electric vehicles and strengthen regional financial stability and connectivity.
