Fajarasia.co – The Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, invites world parliaments, especially the G20 countries, to jointly overcome global economic turmoil. Puan assessed that multilateralism is needed in anticipating the economic recession that is threatening the world.
This was conveyed by Puan at the Parliamentary Forum Meeting in the Context of the G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20) at Nusantara II Building, Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday (5/10/2022). The meeting was attended by the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Duarte Pacheco and the Leaders of the Parliament of the G20 Countries, including the Speaker of The House of Commons UK, Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle.
This forum is a series of activities for the 8th G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20) which will be officially opened tomorrow, Thursday (6/10), at the DPR Building. The theme discussed at the P20 Inter-parliamentary Forum was about the role of parliament in strengthening multilateralism in the 21st century.
“As the host of this year’s P20 implementation, the Indonesian House of Representatives is fully committed to the success of the parliament’s contribution in resolving various global crises, including an inclusive and sustainable effort to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Puan in her remarks.
“Indonesia, with its spirit of gotong royong, is ready, willing and able to collaborate with the global world in building the world together. A better world, a world that is prosperous, peaceful and beautiful,” he continued.
Puan added, currently the world is carrying out various social and economic recovery efforts from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This condition places the domestic economic situation in need of fiscal and monetary policy responses that can anticipate so that social and economic recovery can continue and keep the quality of people’s welfare from declining.
“We also still have a number of global agendas in completing sustainable development, including issues related to climate change, the environment, a green economy, food and energy security, as well as gender equality and women’s empowerment,” said Puan.
The first woman to serve as Chair of the Indonesian House of Representatives also mentioned the global economic turmoil and uncertainty that will continue next year. Therefore, said Puan, the sustainable development agenda requires a response from world countries.
“Our presence in the P20 meeting is to be able to build a commitment to work together in responding to the global turmoil and challenges,” he said.
According to Puan, the power of parliament in representing the voice of the people gives legitimacy to the efforts of the governments of each country in carrying out their foreign policy commitments and cooperation between countries.
“The legitimacy of the parliament will be directed at saving the lives of the global community for the better, by living in prosperity, peace and having a sustainable earth,” said Puan.
For this reason, multilateralism is said to be urgently needed to build effective joint work between countries. Puan assessed that multilateralism can answer various problems such as reconciling trade wars, reconciling geopolitical conflicts, overcoming food and energy crises, fighting exploitation, and building mutual progress.
“Indonesia invites the P20 parliament, through multilateralism, to seek solutions and consensus in anticipating an economic recession, overcoming the scary effects of global economic turmoil,” he said.
“In addition, to accelerate economic transformation to create wider people’s welfare, as well as strengthen the G20 orchestration in moving the sustainable development agenda,” added Puan.
In the future, central banks around the world are expected to respond to economic turmoil by increasing interest rates quite extreme and collectively. Of course, said Puan, this will have an impact on the economic recession.
“This turmoil will result in a decline in the welfare of the global community. The economic crisis that spread to the social crisis. Various steps are needed between countries, especially the G20 countries, to ensure that the supply chain of strategic commodities remains safe to meet domestic needs,” he explained.
In addition to prioritizing the fulfillment of domestic needs and market interests, strategic commodity producing countries are also expected to establish a common obligation to maintain stable global stock requirements. In addition, it is also necessary to work together in providing development stimulus that is transmitted for the purposes of domestic economic activities.
“So that consumption and purchasing power are maintained. The orchestration of the strength of the G20 countries, to accelerate economic transformation, both the digital economy and the green economy, is very much needed in real terms,” said Puan.
Furthermore, Puan supports the strengthening of implementation so that the digital economy and green economy become an inclusive economic ecosystem. He also mentioned Indonesia’s steps to strengthen various regulations to encourage the digital economy and green economy.
“This is done through the implementation of developing ease of doing business, digital banking, carbon taxes, and new and renewable energy,” he said.
Puan detailed that world countries need principles in effective collaborative working relationships between countries in responding to world economic turmoil and global development orchestration. Starting from commitments that can be implemented, mutual trust, prioritizing dialogue to a shared agenda.
“We need a commitment that can be implemented in every country, while still respecting the sovereignty and integrity of the country. So that commitment does not stop at words, but takes the form of real work, no matter how small the real work is,” said Puan.
This commitment is also considered to be able to prevent an international system that is only oriented to the wishes of certain major powers. With a commitment like this, according to Puan, it is hoped that each country will work together in building common strengths and not produce rivalry or domination.
“How can we build a commitment to work together if at the same time we have different orientations and interests? This is the importance of us having a foundation of mutual trust in building
Working together between countries,” explained the grandson of the Proclaimer of the Republic of Indonesia, Bung Karno.
“Mutual trust, we must be able to show it through an equal relationship in a joint effort to achieve a win-win solution. We need to change the paradigm of winner takes all and zero sum to win-win in relations between countries,” he added.
Without trust, Puan believes that countries will continue to compete to maximize their respective benefits. For this reason, it is hoped that world countries will prioritize dialogue and diplomacy in solving various global problems.
“A culture of peace and tolerance (culture of peace and tolerance) is increasingly needed in strengthening interactions between nations and countries. Joint work between parliaments plays an important role in spreading a culture of peace and tolerance, which is increasingly needed in the face of current geopolitical tensions,” said Puan.
The chairman of the 144th IPU Session said that the crises that came one after another had become part of the new normal. Puan said, the various crises experienced today are not the last.
“Therefore, Parliament on the occasion of this P20, must be able to formulate an agenda, which can increase the ability of each country to respond to and deal with various global problems,” he appealed.
Another thing discussed at this meeting was related to the response of the G20 countries to the problem of climate change. Because the impact of climate change has been felt increasingly prominent.
“Extreme weather, droughts, floods, natural disasters keep happening one after another and they happen more often. Global warming has reached 1.1 degrees Celsius. We must have a sense of urgency,” said Puan.
According to him, now is the time for world countries to act to reduce global emissions, accelerate the transition to renewable energy, and implement financial assistance and technology transfer for developing countries. Puan assessed that the world needs to build people-centered climate change mitigation.
“People-centred mitigation starts with building awareness and commitment to preserve and support nature and the environment. In the next stage, a common will is required in building a world order of industrial ecosystems and an economy that is friendly to the environment,” he explained.
Puan said that it was necessary to change the way of thinking that humans not only took from nature, but also had to restore nature back to a good ecosystem. Then, realistic and real cooperation between nations and countries is also needed to be able to touch the core problems.
“That is managing global economic competition and industries that can contribute to environmental recovery. Industry not only takes from nature but also must be able to restore its recovery. A mitigation program with recovery carried out systematically and massively,” said Puan.
Parliament is also required to be increasingly aware of its strategic role in strengthening international inter-parliamentary cooperation for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Puan said that the issue became one of the common concerns, including at the 144th IPU General Assembly Session which was held in Bali last March.
“Which then jointly succeeded in agreeing on a Declaration to direct parliaments around the world in accelerating various mitigation and adaptation measures to the impacts of climate change,” he said.
In supporting the mandate of the international parliamentary forum, the DPR has taken concrete steps to support climate change mitigation and adaptation by strengthening sustainable development and a green economy.
This concrete step was realized by proposing the EBT (New and Renewable Energy) Bill as a proposal for the DPR RI initiative. In addition, the DPR will also start using solar cells to meet 25% of the electricity needs in the DPR building.
Puan also hopes that the very strategic P20 meeting can take real commitments and steps in mitigating and adapting the impacts of climate change. In addition, it is also related to the complexity of global problems that require the joint work of all parties. Not only the government, but also the parliament, the private sector, academia, or civil society.
“Hopefully today’s discussion, the P20 Inter-parliamentary Forum on the role of parliament in strengthening multilateralism in the 21st century and climate change mitigation can produce a productive common agenda,” said Puan.
“It is an opportunity for parliament, as the voice of the people, to be able to take on a role. Starting at the national, regional, and global levels through their respective platforms, and becoming a unifier in strengthening global commitments,” he concluded.****
