Presidential Statement of the Day
By Gerald Ford, toasting Indonesian President Suharto during his visit to the US, 5 July 1975:
I recognize, as all of us do here from the United States, that you have achieved a great deal for your country in the period during your Presidency. The Indonesian people, we recognize, have developed a solid foundation to deal with your nation’s very complex challenges and the very difficult road, but in the process of development, great progress has been made. . . .
We do attach, in the United States, a great deal of importance to our relations with you. You have been a source of strength in Southeast Asia and in Asia as a whole, and we respect you for this part that you have played in the area, as well as the leadership that you have given to your own country in the process of development in the last 5 to 10 years.
We look forward to the opportunity of working with you in the future. The fact that we had a recent tragedy in Indochina actually should redouble, and does, our interest in the stability of Southeast Asia.