Page 62 - BUKU STRENGTHENING THE INDONESIAN PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY FADLI ZON

Acceptance Speech;

Chairmanship Speech and Closing

of the 6 GOPAC Conference
th

First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to all the Board of Directors who have entrusted
me with the mandate to chair the Executive Committee of GOPAC. I consider the trust you have
placed in me is sacred and that I will give my utmost efforts to justify this credence.

Let me commend the hard-work that has been crafted by the previous chair, Excellency Ricardo
Garcia Cervantes that despite his ill-health condition, the work of GOPAC in making a corrupt-
free world has become significant than ever before. We are now turning thirteen and as an
organization we have accomplished a lot. Today, GOPAC has more than 50 national chapters in
five regional chapters and some chapters in formation.

We strengthen and empower parliaments in many countries, from those emerging economies
up to those countries that are in the battlefield, with the dire need to combat corruption that
haunted them. But, numbers are not only the achievement.

After several years observing the negative impact of corruption, GOPAC has come into realized
that corruption is not just undermine the rule of law; it kills. We know where we are going
today; to bring justice for those who are deprived their rights caused by corruption. In doing so,
we have noticed some vital ways in dismantling the shield that is being used by the perpetrators
of such crime.

However let me also remind you, that despite we are a global parliamentarians with a
global network, we are of course part of the international community. In that sense, we have
the obligation to emphasize the work of the international instrument, in particular the UN
Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) as the tool in combatting grand corruption.

Selected Speeches of the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia I 49