"During my almost 10-year tenure, our biggest challenge has been facing the COVID-19 pandemic. We have no idea when it ends and how to resolve it," the president stated at the 10th anniversary of the Jokowi supporters association Bara JP in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday (June 18).
Leaders of major countries in the world faced similar issues, as no country had experience in handling a pandemic, such as the one caused by COVID-19, he pointed out.
Jokowi expressed gratitude that despite the initial panic at the onset of the pandemic, Indonesia successfully overcame all challenges and also successfully administered 452 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to residents.
The vaccination figure achieved now would be unthinkable by anyone during the start of the pandemic, he remarked.
"This is our country. If we have the will, everyone is working, and everything will be resolved," the president remarked.
He noted that according to research, 98 percent of the Indonesian population already has COVID-19 antibodies.
"(The antibodies) either come from the vaccine or naturally after being infected," Jokowi expounded.
Apart from the success in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia's performance in preventing the pandemic from severely affecting the national economy is also among the best in G20, the president stated.
"Last year, (our economy) grew by 5.3 percent, (which is) very high. The growth in this year's first quarter was at 5.03 percent. Our inflation is also at four percent, which means we can control prices," Jokowi remarked.
The success in controlling the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic cushioned the people's economy from further difficulties as faced by residents in other countries.
The president pointed out that energy prices in a European country had surged by 700 percent on account of the pandemic.
"There was a European country whose prime minister just recently came here -- I will not say the name -- (where energy prices) surged by 700 percent, a seven-fold increase," Jokowi noted.
"When we increased the (price) only by 30 percent in 2015, the protests were endless. Imagine if we (were to) increase it by 700 percent," he remarked.
As Indonesia recorded several successes in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic until now, the president called on the residents to be thankful for it.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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