The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) conferred its Distinguished Honorary Fellow Award on His Excellency Prof Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia on Friday, 10 April 2015.
Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman, ISEAS Board of Trustees, presents the Distinguished Honorary Fellow Award to HE Prof Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia.
The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) conferred its Distinguished Honorary Fellow Award on His Excellency Prof Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia on Friday, 10 April 2015.
The award is in recognition of his outstanding and distinguished leadership as the 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia; significant contributions to regional and global leadership; and his role in strengthening ties between Indonesia, Singapore and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
The ceremony, held at the Institute, was attended by over 150 guests including Associate Professor Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Ms Irene Ng, Member of Parliament, ambassadors, senior government officials, business leaders, academics and students. Members of the Indonesian community in Singapore were also present at the ceremony.
In presenting the award to Dr Yudhoyono, Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman, ISEAS Board of Trustees, stated, “We are all aware of what he has achieved during his presidency of the Republic of Indonesia and, in particular, we share the Indonesia peoples’ pride in his success in establishing Indonesia’s international standing. His experience there will be invaluable to us in ISEAS”.
In his acceptance speech, Dr Yudhoyono assessed the global power shifts between the United States (US) and China, and the increasing assertiveness of emerging economies. He also called upon ASEAN members to place ASEAN at the “first inner circle of foreign policy”, noting that ASEAN must become more coherent as a geo-political and geo-economic entity. Observing that the ASEAN Community would come into being after December 2015, Dr Yudhoyono noted the hard work necessary to ensure that ASEAN is “strong at the top and solid at the bottom”.
He acknowledged ISEAS’ role in the promotion of regional cooperation, quality of research analyses and intellectual resources, noting also that ISEAS is “an effective meeting place for dialogue on issues critical to our region”. Dr Yudhoyono looked forward to contributing “to help Indonesia and Singapore prosper together and to promote a peaceful Southeast Asia and a better world”.
Dr Yudhoyono is the second recipient of the Institute’s Distinguished Honorary Fellow Award. The first award was conferred upon Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of the Kingdom of Thailand.
HE Prof Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivering his acceptance speech.
Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge for Muslim Affairs, and HE Prof Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the reception.