TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati slightly touched on the debate challenge in her speech at Welcoming Alumni LPDP 2018 event in Finance Ministry Building on Sunday night, May 7. Minister Sri said that she is not frightened of the challenge delivered to her.

“I’m not afraid of the debate challenge,” said Sri Mulyani in Dhanapala Building, Finance Ministry complex, Jakarta.

Sri explained the things she afraid of is the way of thinking among young generation that is close-minded which might affect the future of Indonesia.

“The position, debate, being a smart minister or not, being the best minister or nor, that’s not what I’m afraid of because there are no consequences from it. But the most thing that affects this country is the way you think and how you act, that has profound consequences,” she said in front of 1,100 alumni of scholarship grantee of the Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP).

As reported earlier, Senior economist Rizal Ramli challenged Finance Minister Sri Mulyani to a debate on foreign debt issues on his Twitter post. The tweet garnered 560 likes, 333 retweets, and an additional 100 replies.

Meanwhile, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo questioned those parties who brought up the issue of foreign debt without presenting clear data. Jokowi then welcomed those people who criticized the matter to have a face-to-face debate with respective ministers, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani.

In a phone call with Tempo, Rizal Ramli said he had communicated with the House of Representatives (DPR) speaker Bambang Soesatyo, who responded positively by saying he would facilitate the debate event in the form of a discussion.

ADAM PRIREZA | LANI DIANA