Indonesia's leader highlights economic and infrastructure developments in his final state of nation

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia’s outgoing President Joko Widodo highlighted advances in the economy and infrastructure during his final State of the Nation address Friday.

Widodo said that in the 10 years he's led the country, his administration controlled inflation, reduced rates of unemployment and extreme poverty, and built new infrastructure in parts of Indonesia that were difficult to reach and with limited resources.

“Furthermore, our resilience as a nation has been proven by our endurance in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, in facing climate change, and in facing the escalating global geopolitics,” Widodo said.

The Southeast Asian nation plays a crucial role in the economic and political dynamics of a region where global powers have been increasingly at odds over Taiwan, human rights issues, U.S. military presence, and Beijing’s assertive actions in contested areas like the South China Sea.

As a tropical archipelago on the equator, Indonesia has the world’s third-largest rainforest, home to diverse endangered species like orangutans and giant flowers. However, economic development has severely impacted these forests, making Indonesia one of the largest global emitters of greenhouse gases due to deforestation, fossil fuel use, and peatland fires, prompting the country's push for a green energy transformation.

Widodo said Indonesia's developments — particularly related to smelters and processing industries for commodities such as nickel, bauxite, and copper — would open up more than 200,000 jobs and increase state revenues.

With a population of about 275 million, Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and has the largest reserves of nickel in the world. Aiming to dominate the world’s nickel supply, the country has gone from having two nickel smelters to 27 over the last decade, with 22 more planned, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. In 2023, the country was responsible for more than half the supply of nickel ore globally.

But, Widodo said, 10 years is not enough time to achieve the goals his government set out to accomplish.

Widodo, popularly known by his nickname Jokowi, began his second and final five-year term in October 2019 and is not eligible to run again. After a February election, Indonesia’s electoral commission formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in April with Widodo’s son, the 36-year-old former Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as vice president. The highest court rejected challenges to his landslide victory lodged by two losing presidential candidates.

Widodo will leave office in October, leaving behind a notable legacy that includes the ambitious $33 billion megaproject to transfer Indonesia’s overcrowded capital from Jakarta to the nation’s future capital of Nusantara, in the burgeoning frontier island of Borneo.

Widodo also calls on his successors, President-elect Prabowo Subianto, to continue the leadership of the country, saying he has faith the country will “achieve the 2045 Golden Indonesia vision,” — referring to Indonesia's goal to become a sovereign, advanced, fair and prosperous country by 2045, when it will celebrate 100 years of independence.

“Allow me to pass the leadership baton to you. Allow me also to share with you the hopes and dreams of all Indonesian people from Sabang to Merauke, from Miangas to the Island of Rote, from the peripheries, from the outermost regions, from rural and urban areas to you," Widodo said.