President Jokowi Meets Malaysia’s Foreign Minister at Merdeka Palace

President Jokowi receives Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Diraja Zambry Abdul Kadir at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Friday (12/30). (Photo by: BPMI/Kris)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo received Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Diraja Zambry Abdul Kadir and delegates at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Friday (12/30).

At the meeting, President Jokowi congratulated Malaysia’s new government under the leadership of Prime Minister (PM) Anwar Ibrahim.

In her statement after accompanying the President, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Retno Marsudi said that President Jokowi put an emphasis on the issue of protecting Indonesian citizens in Malaysia and expressed hope that under PM Anwar’s leadership, the system for recruiting Indonesian migrant workers through the One Channel System (OCS) can run well.

“Malaysia’s Foreign Minister conveyed his commitment regarding the issue,” said Retno.

In addition, the President also welcomed PM Anwar Ibrahim’s plan to visit Indonesia in January. In this regard, the President asked Minister of Foreign Affairs to prepare a number of concrete cooperation pointers with Malaysia.

“PM Anwar Ibrahim will pay a visit to Indonesia and I was asked to prepare concrete collaborations that could produce fruitful results,” she continued.

Furthermore, according to Retno, during the meeting Malaysian Foreign Minister also conveyed his support and trust in Indonesia as the chair of ASEAN next year. The Malaysian Foreign Minister said that Indonesia’s chairmanship is a very strong chairmanship in the midst of a host of global challenges.

“Dato’ Sri Zambry expressed belief that Indonesia’s chairmanship is very strong in the midst of a situation that requires strong leadership because the current global and regional situation has a lot of challenges,” Retno remarked. b