President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) attended the 21st ASEAN-China Summit held in Singapore, Wednesday.

The head of state was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Affairs Puan Maharani, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, and Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita.

Singapore`s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong officially opened the summit along with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

Leaders of the 10 ASEAN member states, Chinese leader, and the ASEAN secretary general were present at the summit.

Earlier, President Jokowi held a bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and attended an ASEAN-Australia breakfast summit.

Jokowi and Morrison held a discussion on inter-faith dialog, among other things.

He also reaffirmed Indonesia`s stance on a two-state solution to end the conflict in Palestine.

The Australian leader expressed support to the Indo-Pacific concept initiated by Indonesia.

On Tuesday evening, President Jokowi highlighted developments in the concept of Indo-Pacific regional cooperation during the plenary session of the 33rd ASEAN Summit held at the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Center in Singapore.

"To maintain its centrality, ASEAN has no other choice but to use the East Asia Summit as a main platform to discuss this concept," President Jokowi stated in his address to the session.

The uncertain condition and huge challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region may threaten peace, stability, and prosperity with regard to the tug of war in the constellation of global forces, he stated.

The Indonesian leader remarked that the ASEAN, situated in the Indo-Pacific region, must be able to serve as an axis, play its role, and turn threats into increased cooperation. (ANTARA)

President Joko Widodo has called for ASEAN member states to help address the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar`s western state of Rakhine.

"I believe ASEAN is ready to help the Myanmar government create conducive situation in Rakhine state where freedom of movement is respected without discrimination and development is realized inclusively," the president or Jokowi as he popularly known said at the plenary session of the 33rd ASEAN Summit held at the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Center in Singapore on Tuesday night.

ASEAN is currently facing different challenges and that it needs commitments from all of its member states to maintain peace and welfare, he said.

The head of state noted that the Rohingya crisis has aroused anxiety and created declining global confidence.

He expressed hope that ASEAN would be able to take a forward step to settle the humanitarian crisis.

ASEAN needs to get involved in settling the question of the Rakhine state, he said adding if the crisis goes unheeded it will have a detrimental impact on Myanmar in particular and ASEAN in general.

For more than 50 years, ASEAN has enjoyed security and peace, he said.

"In 1967 when the rest of the world fell apart and was trapped in power struggle between two super powers, ASEAN leaders agreed to stand united and create a peaceful and prosperous region," he said.

He further lauded the results of talks between ASEAN foreign ministers to help settle the crisis.

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) is expected to help settle the crisis. (ANTARA)

President Joko Widodo likened national life as having to build and respect one another as well as remain in harmony as in a choir.

"Soprano voice, tenor voice, bass voice, all must respect each other. There is no way for one to seek dominance all the time," Jokowi stated in a gathering with winners and organizer of Voice of Church (Pesparani) 2018 at the Bogor Presidential Palace, on Monday.

According to him, each element of the choir must take care of each other and reduce the ego to get a unified, harmonious, and beautiful voice.

He also added that in the choir, everyone could learn about tolerance.

"In a choir, we learn a lot about tolerance, and we learn a lot about respecting others and building mutual tolerance," he noted.

The president remarked that at this time, Indonesian people needed unity and brotherhood the most.

On that occasion, the president conveyed messages of harmony, brotherhood, and unity which he always echoed to the people, the community, and the people of Indonesia.

He believes that currently many people in the country forget the fact that Indonesia is a very diverse country, with differences in religion, ethnicity, customs, regional languages, and traditions.

"And that requires a lot of understanding, so that the nation`s greatest assets, which are unity, harmony, and brotherhood, can really be infused by the community and can be understood fundamentally by the community," he stated.

He wanted the existing differences not to lead to intolerance and extremism and develop a feeling that the righteous one is pervasive everywhere. This will eventually lead to an unharmonious situation, and not getting along well will be very dangerous, "he explained.

Jokowi met the Pesparani 2018 winners and organizer at the Bogor Palace, West Java, on Monday.

The Head of State said that the choir could also teach about the philosophy of harmony that the Indonesian people needed.

According to him, the choir is able to harmonize diverse vocal characters into a complete and beautiful unit.

Also present with the president were Minister of Religion Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko, Head of the Creative Economy Agency Triawan Munaf, and Chair of the Indonesian Bishops` Conference (KWI) Mgr Ignatius Suharyo. (ANTARA)