60TH INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY
15 August, 2006

“No one can break our will or unity. No one can make India kneel…”

That’s one of Manmohan’s, the Prime Minister of India, stressing points when he delivering the Independence Day addresses the ramparts of the Ref Fort on last Tuesday (15/8). In that time, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also called for a new kind of politics if the country were to achieve its potential for a prosperous and bright future.

“We need a politics that will propel us forward. We need a politics that will guide us to new frontiers, take us to new horizons. I urge all our political leaders to think deeply about the future of our country. We must shun the politics of divisiveness and adopt the politics of change and progress.” he said. These were the concluding words of his address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort here on Independence Day.

I found a unique speech from Manmohan Singh’s script. Because till now, in India, Jawahar Lal Nehru was the only Prime Minister who scripted his own Independence Day speech, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to follow in his footsteps and present a “visionary statement” on Tuesday – a la Pandit Nehru. I remember with one of the greatest Indonesian leaders, Soekarno, who get a nickname as “pulpit tiger”. But, how is about the Indonesian Leader at present?

We’ll wait the stressing speech of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia, at 61st Indonesian Independence Day Ceremony on next Thursday (17/8). Whether he’ll speech with his own Independence Day script or not? We’ll see.