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Speech Transcripts

September 16, 2021

Opening Speech for "Japanese Modernization" Course / JICA Chair Program at the University of Indonesia

JICA HQ, Tokyo, Japan

Good afternoon everyone. I am very happy to be here for this lecture of the JICA chair program jointly hosted by the University of Indonesia and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

First, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Humanities: Dr. Adrianus Laurens Gerung Waworuntu, the Dean of Faculty of Humanities, Dr. Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan, the Vice Dean of Academic Research and Student Affairs, Professor Manneke Budiman, Director of Academic Development and Learning Resources, Dr. Filia, the Head of the Japanese Studies Department, and Dr. Sisilia Setiawati Halimi, the Manager of Cooperation, Ventures and Alumni Affairs. I would also like to thank all of the university staff who helped create this long-term course.

Before I start, I would like to express my deepest sympathies to anyone whose lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has been very challenging for all of us, I was relieved to hear that the University of Indonesia's hospital, which was built as part of a Japanese yen loan project, has served as an important regional hub to treat COVID-19 patients. I would like to sincerely thank the essential health workers who have worked to combat this pandemic. JICA looks forward to continuing to work with the people of Indonesia to fight the spread of this virus, including by providing more medical equipment to the university hospital.

Let me begin by talking about Japan's long relationship with Indonesia, dating back to the 16th Century. As you know, Japan closed its door to foreign countries in the 16th -17th Century. But only one window left open to the Netherlands, which was based in Batavia, today's Jakarta. Therefore, in that sense, Indonesia is a very important window for the Japanese to western civilization. That was the first important encounter between us.

Secondly, the next major engagement between our two countries was during the Second World War. I am truly sorry for the significant harm that Japan caused during our occupation from 1942 to 1945. After the war, Indonesians fought for their independence from the Netherlands and establish their own country. In that process, Japan, the Japanese people, some of the Japanese soldiers helped your effort for independence. Therefore, we could say that Japan helped Indonesia's independence to some extent, not wholly, because it was mainly caused by the power of Indonesian people.

Subsequently, in 1958, Japan signed a Peace Agreement and also War Reparation Treaty with Indonesia to restore diplomatic relations. These reparations eventually evolved into full-scale economic cooperation, which led significant investments from Japanese companies. Reparations also evolved into the ODA (Official Development Assistance). By the ODA, we helped create infrastructure in Indonesia, such as roads, electricity, harbors, and railway systems. Based on these infrastructures, Japanese private companies expanded their businesses to Indonesia and created many industries, through which, Indonesia made a marvelous development. Of course, Indonesian success should be attributed to the Indonesian people. But still, we are very happy to understand that we have made some contributions to Indonesian development. Many years ago, Japan was criticized by western countries; "Why do you support such dictatorship in Indonesia?" We said, "No, no. First, stability is important; then, we aim at economic development. By promoting economic development, enough number of middle-class people would be created. Based on the rise of middle class, Indonesia could go through economic development and would become a model case of the development in the world." We are very happy to be a part of mutual cooperation between the two countries, and to play some roles for Indonesian development and democratization.

Let me speak about the JICA chair program. Japan is the first non-Western country to become a developed country. Japan has modernized and created a rich, prosperous, free and democratic country focusing on the rule of law without losing our tradition and identities, which is a very important thing. As for the modernization from a non-western background, in that sense, Japan is the first case in the world.

Also, Japan once made a big mistake of war, and Japan was defeated. But, Japan made a quick recovery after 1945. After the recovery, we provided a lot of our cooperation to many developing countries, which was relatively successful compared to other donors. Therefore, our development since the Meiji Restoration, our recovery from the war, and our process of providing the ODA, are very unique experiences. That is why, I think that Japan should be the center of development studies in the world. In this regard, I created the JICA Development Study Program, in which we invite many students from developing countries to Japan and let them study their own interests such as agriculture, urban planning or disaster prevention. At the same time, we suggest them to learn about Japan's modernization process, in which you can learn a lot of hints. Of course, Japan made many mistakes. You can also learn from these mistakes. This is the basic idea of creating this JICA Development Study Program. With some suggestions, we are now exporting this program to foreign countries. That is the basic idea of the JICA Chair.

Now, let me move on to essential points of Chapter 1 "Meiji Restoration" or "Meiji Revolution." The Chapter 1 is on "Meiji Restoration" or "Meiji Revolution," which was the real starting point of Japan's modernization.

The Meiji government abolished the feudal systems, which had continued for several centuries in Japan. Japan not only abolished the role of Tokugawa Family, but also abolished the feudal system, which continued from the 12th Century or so, to the 19th Century. Then, Japan abolished the samurai class. These were made within several years from Meiji Restoration (the Restoration of the Imperial Rule of 1868). Since the Restoration, within 18 years, Japan created a modern cabinet system, and within 5 years from that, Japan started the parliamentary system.

Compared to the French, Russian and other revolutions, the Meiji Restoration was a rare historical event that changed the course of the world without significant loss of life. The total number of people who died in the Meiji Restoration was about 35,000 something like that, which was broadly less than one-hundredth of the French Revolution or one-thousandth of the Russian Revolution.

During the modernization process, the Meiji government enabled people to actively participate in politics, regardless of their social status. They appointed and promoted talented people to government positions based on merit rather than pre-existing allegiances. Even when people belonged to the old shogunate, the opponent to the new government, if they were talented and were willing to participate in this modernization adventure, they were invited in the government. In that sense, the new government was very inclusive. As a whole, the Meiji Restoration was a democratic, freedom, and meritocratic revolution.

Today, I look forward to having a discussion with the young people here, who are interested in learning more about Japan's modernization.

Thank you very much.

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