Jakarta – President of Indonesia on Wednesday urged Indonesians to unite to face national challenges including poverty and extremism.
“Challenges we are facing now are not easy,’’ Joko said in a state of the nation address to parliament a day ahead of the country’s Independence Day.
“We are still confronted with poverty as well as [income] disparities … and we are also still confronted with extremism, radicalism and terrorism,” he said.
The president said the government was not only working hard to address economic problems but also to strengthen the country’s ideological foundations.
“We continue to strengthen our national consensus to safeguard Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution and [the motto] Unity in Diversity,” he said.
Pancasila is Indonesia’s state ideology which includes the principles of unity, humanity, social justice, belief in one God and democracy.
Meanwhile, counter-terrorism police on Tuesday arrested five suspected militants and confiscated bomb-making materials in the city of Bandung.
Police said that the suspects were plotting to bomb the presidential palace and police headquarters.
Indonesia has been hit by several deadly attacks carried out by Islamist militants since 2000.