Welcoming Remarks by H.E. Dr. N. Hassan Wirajuda at a Public Lecture by Prof. Joseph E. Stiglitz on the Global Economics and Politics of Climate Change, Jakarta, 15 August 2007

Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

 
Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

First, let me have the pleasure of welcoming Professor Stiglitz to this forum that has gathered to listen to his lecture on “The Global Economics and Politics of Climate Change”.

 

I am glad that so many of you have come here today to join us in listening to Professor Stiglitz and to exchange views with him on an issue on which the fate of humankind hangs in the balance.

 

What I can assure you, Professor, is that you will always have an enthusiastic audience in Indonesia. Here, yours is not a voice in the wilderness, but a voice to which we are heedful.

 

We are heedful because of the light you bring whenever you speak in forums like this or whenever you write a book. You do shed light on the mysteries of the dark side of globalization: on the inequities in the relations and interactions of nations with one another, on the systemic maladies of the global financial architecture, on the unfairness of the present multilateral trade regime, on the anatomy of the poverty of nations.

 

Of course, it is never enough to hold a candle to the shame of the present world order. It is just as important to suggest solutions to the problems that have been identified and thoroughly analyzed.

 

And in this regard, nobody can say, Professor Stiglitz, that you have been remiss: the solutions that you suggest are amazing in their forthrightness and in the forcefulness of their logic. Obviously, they are worth the most serious consideration by all nations.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Professor Stiglitz has written a great deal to enable to understand what is happening in the world around us and what should be done about it. There is no way that we can boil down the wealth of his messages into a single afternoon’s discussion. But if we must try and if we are allowed the use of only one word to sum up all that he has been saying in his lectures and in his books, I think that word has to be: reform.

Take globalization: in the long run, after the imbalances of globalization have done their worst on the developing world, there will be dire consequences that the developed world, having lost its developing partner, will have to suffer all by itself—unless, in the spirit of reform, these imbalances are redressed on time.

 

The same is true with climate change. To stop the encroachment of global warming, there has to be, among many measures, pervasive and vigorous reform at the international and regional level, at the national level and at the level of the community and the individual. It can no longer be business as usual at any level.

 

Reform will save us from the folly of nations seeking or maintaining temporary advantages at the expense of the long-term survival of humankind. It will save us from the absurdity of avoiding a large expenditure today while exposing ourselves to catastrophic devastation in the future. In brief, reform will save us from ourselves.

 

The message of reform as it comes from Professor Stiglitz has a tremendous resonance in Indonesia. It was pervasive and persistent reform, after all, that saved this nation from being totally crushed a decade ago by the Asian financial crisis and its attendant political and social turmoil.

 

It was through reform that we were able to make a transition to a more fully democratic system of governance. It is in the spirit of reform that we continue enhancing our social and political institutions while refreshing our investment climate.

 

In the spirit of reform we have launched a National Action Plan for energy security that is friendly to the environment. In the same spirit of reform, we are now taking a long hard look at all our policies to make sure that they do not compromise but contribute to the sustainability of our environment.

We are going through that process because we know we can do better than we are doing now for our environment. For reform begins with the realization of one’s imperfections, and makes progress only through sincere striving.

 

At the international level, it is our fervent hope that a finally united world community will now heed the call for reform in our treatment and use of the only planet available to us for habitation.

 

In this regard, we in Indonesia are now preparing to host this coming December the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. These two important events will provide a unique and special opportunity for the international community to arrive at a new consensus on the undeniable reality of climate change and what is to be done by all of us about this reality.

 

To my mind, the most accurate measure of success for these two meetings is whether nations represented will finally seize the spirit of reform and reach agreement on what is necessary to ensure the long-term survival of the human race in the face of the enormous threat of global warming. That means addressing our shared but differentiated responsibilities.

 

This forum is one of the steps we are taking in preparation for the holding of these two meetings. We need to go into these meetings with the fullest understanding, with the clearest insights not only on the politics and economics of climate change but also of the moral issues involved. That is why we have Professor Stiglitz with us today.

 

For I am sure there is no one in this world who can do a better job of shedding light on all the issues surrounding the reality of climate change than Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz — the gadfly of globalization.

 

I thank you.