Jakarta, KabariNews.com – Dalam pidato kenegaraannya di Istana Negara, Jakarta, Selasa (9/11), Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama merasa senang dapat kembali ke Indonesia.

Diawali dengan mengucapkan “Selamat Sore”, didampingi Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono saat menggelar jumpa pers, Obama turut prihatin atas bencana yang menimpa rakyat Indonesia saat ini.

Berikut ini isi pidato lengkap Barack Obama yang diterima redaksi KabariNews.com yang disampaikan Kedutaan Besar Amerika Serikat untuk Indonesia.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Selamat sore. Thank you, President Yudhoyono, for your kind words, your gracious welcome and for your friendship and your partnership.

After more than one attempt, it is wonderful to finally be back in Indonesia. And I’m very pleased that my wife Michelle is joining me for her first visit to the country. I assure you, it won’t be her last. And I want to thank the people of Jakarta for the wonderful reception when we arrived. Even in the rain, people were there to greet us. And we’re very appreciative of that.

Of course, we’re mindful that this is a difficult time for Indonesia -— first, the recent earthquake and tsunami, and now the volcanic eruptions. And our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost their loved ones or their homes. And I know that President Yudhoyono has been tireless in his efforts to make sure that people are safe and that this difficulty is dealt with in as effective way as possible. And so we are fully supportive of him.

The United States will continue to support the relief efforts in any way that we can. And I hope that my presence here today is a reminder that, in good times and in bad times, the United States stands as a friend with Indonesia.

Now, obviously, much has been made of the fact that this marks my return to where I lived as a young boy. I will tell you, though, that I barely recognized it. As I was driving down the streets, the only building that was there when I first moved to Jakarta was Sarinah. Now it’s one of the shorter buildings on the road. (Laughter.)

But today, as President, I’m here to focus not on the past, but on the future —- the Comprehensive Partnership that we’re building between the United States and Indonesia.

As one of the world’s largest democracies, as the largest economy in Southeast Asia and as a member of the G20, as a regional leader, as a vast archipelago on the front lines of climate change, and as a society of extraordinary diversity — Indonesia is where many of the challenges and the opportunities of the 21st century come together.

At the same time, the United States is leading again in Asia. We are strengthening our alliances. We’re deepening relationships, as we’re doing with China. We’re re-engaging with ASEAN and joining the East Asia summit, and we’re forging new partnerships with emerging powers like Indonesia. So our Comprehensive Partnership is bringing our countries closer together. And I want to focus just on three key areas. And we discussed a wide range of issues during our meeting.

First, as President Yudhoyono mentioned, we are looking to expand our trade and investment and commercial relationships because it can create prosperity in both our countries.

Trade between us is growing fast —- and that includes American exports to Indonesia. And that’s why Indonesia is one of the growing markets that we’re going to be focused on as part of my initiative to double U.S. exports. President Yudhoyono and I discussed ways to create the conditions that would encourage additional trade and investment. He mentioned that we’re number three right now in terms of trade volume and investment. And I informed him we don’t like being number three; we want to be number one. (Laughter.)

And so we’re going to be doing everything we can to expand this trading relationship. And I’m pleased to announce that the Oversees Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC, will host its annual conference this spring in Indonesia to highlight new opportunities for partnership here and across the region.

To strengthen cooperation in science and technology that fuels growth, we are going to be pursuing joint research in areas like energy and biodiversity conversation. And we are expanding educational partnerships between our young scientists, engineers and doctors. And building on the entrepreneurship summit that I hosted in Washington, which was attended by some very talented young Indonesians, I’m pleased that Indonesia will be hosting a regional entrepreneurship conference next year.

As we prepare for the G20 and APEC summits, President Yudhoyono and I discussed the need to ensure that the global economic recovery is strong and balanced and is creating jobs in all of our countries. So that’s focus number one — trade, investment, and the economy.

Second, we’re forging new ties between our people to address common challenges. We’re expanding partnerships between our students and our universities. We aim to double the number of educational exchanges between our two countries within five years. And I thank President Yudhoyono’s offer for additional scholarships for young Americans to study in Indonesia. I think that’s a wonderful thing that needs to happen.

We’re proud to support Indonesia’s leadership under President Yudhoyono in confronting climate change. I understand there’s been a lot of rain this year, and obviously we can’t look at one year as indicative of the future but I think there’s no doubt that as an archipelago, Indonesia will be on the front lines when it comes to the potential impacts of climate change.

So we’re glad to work with President Yudhoyono on this issue, and we welcome and will support the new partnership between Indonesia and Norway to slow emissions from deforestation and degradation of peat land.

We’re bringing on — we’re building on Indonesia’s inspiring transition from dictatorship to democracy by launching a new effort to help Indonesian civil society groups who tackle corruption and promote human rights at home to share their experience with civil society groups across this region, because I think people can learn from the experiences of Indonesia.

And I would note that many of the partnerships I’ve mentioned are a direct result of my call in Cairo for a new beginning between the United States and Muslim communities around the world. And it involves the private sector as well, thanks to efforts like Partners for a New Beginning, which is forging partnerships around science, education and entrepreneurship.

The third element of our Comprehensive Partnership is to deepen our political and security cooperation. As President Yudhoyono mentioned, we’re already enjoying strong cooperation in preventing terrorism, preventing piracy. We look forward to Indonesia’s leadership as the chair of ASEAN next year, and I look forward to returning to Jakarta next year for the East Asia Summit.

One of the challenges ASEAN and the world will continue to face is Burma, and I commend Indonesia for standing up for the people of Burma and their rights. Last week’s election in Burma was neither free, nor fair. And we will continue our efforts to move Burma toward democratic reform and protection of human rights. As a first step, the Burmese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

So, promoting prosperity, expanding partnerships between our people, and deepening political and security cooperation — these are the pillars of our new partnership, which owes so much to the leadership of my good friend President Yudhoyono. I believe that our two nations have only begun to forge the cooperation that’s possible. And I say that not simply as someone who knows firsthand what Indonesia can offer the world. I say it as President — a President who knows what Indonesia and the United States can offer the world together if we work together in a spirit of mutual interest and mutual respect.

So terimah kasih dan Assalamualaikum.

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