For the assistance and support of the people while I led the nation and state of Indonesia, I express my thanks and I seek forgiveness if there was a… - Suharto

To us, the interaction among development, environment and population is a cornerstone of national policy. We have learned to be concerned not only with population growth rates but also with the quality of the population, the levels of education that the people attain, and the skills and capabilities that they acquire. We have to consider the rights of individuals as they constitute population and a society, such as the right of men and women alike to determine the size of their families, the right to further the interests of the communities to which they belong, and other rights guaranteed under our laws. Such rights, together with the right to development and to obtain the best possible quality of life, as well as the right to a proper social and physical environment, are part of the spectrum of human rights that we uphold.

National independence and the peoples' sovereignty are basic principles to which we fully adhere. We maintain and at the same time apply these principles in our attitude towards other nations in the world.

The relationship between Man and his environment, especially since the Industrial Revolution, has been an exploitative and predatory one. Until the early seventies, little or nothing was done. In the absence of global accountability, greatly accelerated economic activities as well as population pressures combined to erode the carrying capacity of the global ecosystem, to destroy natural resources and habitats, and bring about widespread pollution of air and water as well as the degradation of the soil.