He made the remarks while closing a meeting of Muhammadiyah Youth at Narita Hotel, Tangerang, Banten province here on Wednesday afternoon.
"There are 700 tribes and more than 1,100 different local languages and other differences. This is our diversity, which is Gods gift that we must all be grateful for. This is also our strength that we can boast to other countries, namely, that although we have a lot of diversity we remain in unity," he said.
Indonesia has 516 districts/cities with a huge diversity of population, which must be preserved and taken care of, he said.
Jokowi said he has visited 34 provinces in the country and almost half of the districts and cities and seen how diverse Indonesia is.
"Let us not allow anyone to ignore the fact. We wish to remind us all that we are indeed diverse," he said.
Regarding chats on social media, President Jokowi remarked that "we must uphold manners, and ethics when chatting on social media. Just observe what has happened on the social media in the past month. We have insulted each other, cursed each other, and pitted one against the other. There is also a lot of slander and lies out there and these are not all Islamic."
In view of that, the president emphasized the importance of religious propagation through the social media.
He reminded the countrys youth about the importance of developing integrity, honesty, and optimism through the social media.
He also called for increasing national competitiveness.
"There are three areas where we have been inferior compared to neighboring countries. Firstly, it is corruption. Secondly, it is inefficiency, and thirdly, unpreparedness of our infrastructure," he said.
All the three areas must be improved if Indonesia wishes to make progress in the future, he said.
President Jokowi also emphasized the importance of preparing for the demographic bonus in the next few years.
The demographic bonus is not only about a momentum to prepare skills and intelligence through training but is, more importantly, about developing integrity and honesty among the next generation, he added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
