In the midst of conflict, I was pushed to step forward. There were groups who wanted to change our leadership immediately. Some tried to force me to take over, but I rejected them.

For the support and help from the people of Indonesia that I received during my leadership, I ask for forgiveness if there have been any mistakes or shortcomings. Hopefully the people of Indonesia will remain victorious based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.

It is really impressive and makes us proud that in a lot of places in Indonesia, a church is close to a mosque, and even in many places, both Islamic and Christian communities cooperated to build a mosque or church.

Religious freedom is one of the most fundamental of human rights because religious freedom comes from the dignity of the human being as God's creature.

Higher educating has so many challenges, and private higher education has a special challenge of ever rising tuition costs.

I'm a goody-goody. I'm the person who sits in the back row, makes fun of the teacher, and secretly does the extra-credit work.

I've changed in my sympathies since I've become a mother myself. In high school I went through a period where I was close with my mom and had to break with her in order to find myself and come back. Since that was my experience, that's often what happens in my books.

I would even say that my parents, and their friends in our community, thought of education as a kind of armor against racism.