President Jokowi Calls For National Unity

PALU, May 17 (Antara) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Tuesday asked all elements of the nation to stop the habit of insulting, defaming and protesting each other. "I want to get this message across. Don't forget to defend our unity as we are brothers. We waste energy in demonstration," the president said before officially opening the 19th Congress of the Muslim Student Movement (PMII). He said Indonesia is a big nation and a vast archipelago with great diversity , but united. "We are diverse but there lies our strength. This country is made up of 17,000 islands, more than 500 districts in 33 provinces. We consist of 714 ethnic groups with 1,100 local language. Where could you find a country with such diversity. This is a God blessing for us to maintain and protect," he said. He advised the PMII cadres not to dream to become politicians but dream to become entrepreneurs as the country has only 1.6 percent of its people having the profession as entrepreneurs as against 5 percent ideally. General Chairman of PMII Aminuddin Maruf said PMII does not want to become a group of people adding to the burden of the nation. "We want to become problem solving group of people to defend the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI)," he said.