Managing Conflict of Interest - Organisation for Economic Co ...

Closing RemarksHidayat Nur WahidChair, People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), Republic of IndonesiaBismillah i’rochman i’rochim. Excellencies, distinguished participants,ladies and gentlemen, Assalammualaikum warachmatullahiwa barakatuh. It is a great honor for me to be here this late afternoonfor the closing ceremony of the international seminar on conflict ofinterest, a fundamental anti-corruption concept. On behalf of theIndonesian people, I would like to express my deepest gratitudeand appreciation to the organizers, the Asian Development Bank,the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,and Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi; donors and sponsors of thisseminar; and all experts who came from all over the world to sharetheir priceless expertise and experience in combating corruptionwith all of us here, and to see and review corruption or potentialcorruption from a different angle, as conflict of interest in publicservice.If people like you, who have excellent expertise, are blessed withgood heart, are dedicated, and have passion to make the world abetter place to live, come together and focus, to discuss and try tofind alternatives or solutions to urgent issues like the issue of conflictof interest, I believe you can come up with good solutions that areuniversally applicable to all nations. Today I expect to receive fromyou all findings, shared experiences, solutions, and recommendationsfor effectively dealing with conflict-of-interest issues so we canmove on to other critical issues like elimination of poverty, improvementof education systems, health care, infrastructure, housing, andpublic welfare in general.Ladies and gentlemen, when Indonesia was struck by multidimensionalcrises in 1997, many people and observers thought thatthis nation would fall apart. The fact is, this nation got up on her feetand held a general election that was regarded as one of the mostdemocratic elections on the globe, proving that democracy can beupheld in a country where the majority of the citizens are Moslem.We have also amended our Constitution several times and arenot afraid to test our democracy with more amendments to comeas necessary. We have made a decision to let our mass mediaADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific