VP tells ways to show good citizenship

Jakarta. A good citizen will not only exploit national resources and then save the profit in a foreign account, but make use of it for the sake of the country instead.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated this as he was making a speech in a national ceremony celebrating Cap Go Meh, the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, with the theme “the Spirit to Build the Country” held at Hall D of JI-EXPO Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Sunday (Feb. 28).

“We will be left far behind if we entrust other countries to take care of our money we gained from businesses we make inside the country,” said the Vice President.

In addition, he said, a good citizen must abide by the tax law and not asking for tax amnesty.

“With or without tax amnesty, we should always be committed to the development of our nation,” he said.

A good citizen, he continued, is also promoting others to progress.

“I said at all times that to reduce inequality, we do not necessarily bring down big companies, but we should promote the middle and lower class to grow even higher,” he said.

Concluding his remarks, the Vice President underscored that nationalism is not measured merely by identity cards (KTP) but it must be proven with real actions.

Previously, the advisory board chairwoman of the Association of Chinese-Indonesians Ms. Murdaya Poo said that in building the country, Chinese-Indonesians, or Tionghoa, should join hand in hand with people of other ethnicities.

“There is no reason for Indonesia to not be united! We must all be committed to bring forward this country to its best in the future,” she affirmed.

Ms. Murdaya then quoted the essence of Law No. 12 of 2006 regarding Indonesian Citizenship that Indonesia only acknowledges the term citizen or non-citizen.

“So, there is no term pribumi (native) and non-pribumi (non-native), and we do not need the Republic of Indonesia Citizenship Certificate (SBKRI) any longer as it has a great impact on the Chinese-Indonesians,” she said.

Also attending the celebration were Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan, Education and Culture Minister Anies Baswedan, Industry Minister Saleh Husin, Trade Minister Thomas Lembong, tthe People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Zulkifli Hasan, MPR vice chairman Hidayat Nurwahid, and some foreign ambassadors.