Honorable guests,

　　Ladies and gentlemen,

　　First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for this wonderful opportunity for me to speak as a guest of honor for the “Primary Colors: Feng Zhengjie” exhibition opening ceremony.

　　As a person who shares the love of art and culture, I really appreciate events like this and hope that it can support the preservation of art and culture for our grandchildren to enjoy.

　　I learned to love art and culture since I was young. My father, Bung Karno, taught me well to appreciate all the values and beauty that people can learn from art and culture. As we all know, Bung Karno was amongst the world leaders who collected abundant masterpieces of paintings, statues and other artifacts. Until the end of 1965, Bung Karno collected more than 3000 paintings from all over the world and stored them at the Presidential Palace.

　　He left this massive collection at the Palace when he was no longer president and until today, the Indonesia Presidential Palace remains known as a center for national heritage.

　　Honorable Guests,

　　My upbringing drove me to write the seven-series book titled “Rumah Bangsa” or “houses of the nation,” which talked about palaces in Indonesia. Another series of books titled “Singgasana seni” or “art throne,” are on Bung Karno’s art collection. The book series was one of my commitments to preserve national culture and promote the love of art in our future generation.

　　When we look at Feng Zhengjie’s art, we are inspired by his vibrant colors that tell us the story of China, a country that is rich in history, culture and the arts. China has come a long way from her struggles to become the progressive and cosmopolitan nation, and the important cultural and economic centre she is today. We are also awed by Feng Zhengjie’s depictions of the many faces of beauty that reveal the confluences of tradition and modernity. These are cultural concerns that are shown by Chinese artists and Southeast Asian artists alike.

　　I am very glad to learn of the New Contemporary Art Centre project in Beijing which the Singapore Art Museum and the Yayasan YDY Nunsantara of Indonesia are collaborating on. This new centre will enhance cultural exchanges between Southeast Asia and China, and the world from an Asian cultural perspective. I know many artists are very excited about this project and I wish the new centre a great success.

　　To end my speech, I would like to ask for all of us to join hands and support the development and preservation of art. Once again, as both personal and chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, I would like to say thank you for the opportunity extended to me to deliver this speech for the opening of this gorgeous event, the exhibition “Primary Colors: Feng Zhengjie.”

　　Thank you.

　　28 JANUARY 2008, 7.00PM, AT SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM