World Economic Forum Gives SBY Global Statesmanship Award

Jakarta Globe, May 23, 2014

Indonesia's outgoing president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been
honored by the World Economic Forum. (Reuters Photo/Toru Hanai)

Manila. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was awarded the Global Statesmanship Award on Friday at the 23rd World Economic Forum on East Asia for his achievements during his time in office.

He was the third recipient of the award since the WEF was established in 1971. The two other recipients were Felipe Calderon in 2012, when he was president of Mexico, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2010, when he was president of Brazil.

“I stand before you now with a sense of pride for what Indonesia has become today,” said Yudhoyono, whose second five-year term ends in October. “In a world marked by political turbulence, economic uncertainty, and strategic tensions, Indonesia does have a good story to tell.

“We have achieved that critical point of no return in our democratic development. We have proved to ourselves and to the world that we do not have to choose between democracy and development, and that indeed we can have both political freedom and high economic growth at the same time.”

On Thursday, Yudhonoyo reiterated that the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) could reach its development agenda to double the region’s combined gross domestic product to around $4.4 trillion by 2030. With millions of poor people across the region, Asean could also try to reduce the region’s poverty rate to 9.3 percent in the same time frame, he said. World Bank data show 43.3 percent of Indonesia’s population lived on less than $2 a day in 2011, compared to 52.7 percent in 2009.

“But as an optimist, I do see the glass as half full,” Yudhoyono said on Thursday. “I believe our generation is now endowed with the resources and knowhow to beat age-old problems of poverty, deprivation and conflict.”

Indonesia has embarked on a plan to support economic growth, aid the poor, promote jobs and protect the environment, he said.

“The overall purpose is to attain sustainable growth with equity,” Yudhoyono said on Thursday. “By pursuing this strategy over the past 10 years, we have been able to stimulate growth, reduce inequity and alleviate people from poverty.”

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was presented the award at a launch sponsored by the Lippo Group, which is the parent company of the Jakarta Globe.

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