Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini sought an enthusiastic response from hundreds of students to fight ignorance and poverty that are the problems currently plaguing the Indonesian nation.

“The enemies now are poverty and ignorance. You cannot be stupid, you cannot be poor. That is what we are fighting against,” the minister stated at the event “Strengthening Heroic Values Through Students” held at the Convention Building of the  National Heroes’ Cemetery (TMPNU) Kalibata, here, on Monday.

The minister told the students that she also harbored high aspirations for Indonesia.

Rismaharini cited some of her activities as an example of her unyielding spirit by working tirelessly, such as traveling for six hours from a work visit to Nganjuk District, East Java, Sunday, November 21, all the way to Banjarnegara District, Central Java, to review the impact of landslides.

The minister then spoke of having arrived in Jakarta at 4 a.m. local time for a visit to the Social Affairs Ministry’s Office again and then headed to the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery for a dialog with students at the event.

Risma encouraged the students while emphasizing that everyone had the right to succeed and had the same opportunity to achieve their goals.

The minister also recalled a difficult time while she was pursuing her education in the Netherlands when her laptop got infected with a virus.

Rismaharini had to persuade the campus guard to let her borrow a computer, so she could complete her assignment, without being allowed to turn on the heater in the winter.

Eventually, the minister did manage to become the best graduate in her campus with all the efforts she had made.

“Success depends on you yourself, not others,” she affirmed.

Source: Antara News