Jakarta-wapresri.go.id To be known to the world, Vice President Jusuf Kalla asserted, a country should be rich and willing to help other countries.

“If Indonesia wants to be known or to get noticed, it should be willing and able to give aids, and not only busy with discourses. It is better to give than to receive. We should be able to help Cambodia, Laos, and other countries,” said the Vice President when opening the national working meeting of the Lembang Sembilan Institute (ILS) at the Mercure Hotel in Jakarta, Monday (Mar. 6).

The Vice President then highlighted the people of Indonesia who gave exceptional welcome on the arrival of the King of Saudi Arabia to the country a few days ago.

“The visit of King Salman was scrutinized by many because in addition to a lot of media coverage, Saudi Arabia is rich and able to give aids to other countries,” said the Vice President.

He then asked people not to always talk about investments of foreign countries such as Saudi in Indonesia. The people of Indonesia, he continued, should also focus on making the country able to invest in other countries.

“I strongly agree with today’s meeting theme which is “Together, Building the Nation”. Since its founding, ILS has made efforts to advance the nation with politics. Politics is the ability to create something for the betterment of the nation,” he argued.

The Vice President further said, Indonesia no longer pays too much concerns on politics, yet it is still struggling to develop its economy.

“When we talk about Pancasila [the Five Principles], we could see that there is no problem with the principles, except for the fifth one that is ‘Social Justice for All Indonesian People’. There is a gap between the rich and the poor, and even the number of the poor is still many. Only with economic development we can resolve this,” the Vice President affirmed.

He further cited data that Indonesia is currently the third country with the worst income inequality after Russia and Thailand.

The Vice President said, inequality in Indonesia is far more dangerous than that in other countries, such as Thailand, for example. This is, he continued, because the rich and the poor in Thailand is relatively united and come from the same ethnic group, while both groups of people in Indonesia are away from each other and ethnically different.

In addition, he said, Indonesia also experienced some major conflicts in the past that killed more than 1,000 people, such as the conflicts in Aceh and Ambon, all of which are caused by injustice.

Therefore, the Vice President reiterated, if Indonesia wants peace, the country should move forward together and promote equitable development.

“Indonesia must go forward together. Do not be too concerned about political affairs and power, “said the Vice President.

Earlier, ILS chairman Alwi Hamu reported, the working meeting is held to develop programs for 2017 and 2018 and attended by 32 regional representatives and four representatives from abroad, namely Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and China.

ILS was initially established to support Jusuf Kalla in the Golkar Party national convention seeking presidential candidates in 2003. The institute then developed into the national campaign team for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Jusuf Kalla (JK) in 2004. Under the leadership of M. Abduh and Tanri Abeng, ILS became a sort of think tank to support SBY-JK administration.

Also attending the ceremony was Tourism Minister Arief Yahya.