In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
At the beginning of my speech, I would like to express my respect for two of our greatest martyrs, Shahid Rajai and Shahid Bahonar. Our people will never forget the short period of time they had an official responsibility in the country. I would also like to express my respect for all government officials of our country who were martyred. They are among the dearest martyrs in our country. Some of them were high-ranking government officials and yet they decided to make sacrifices for the country and they were martyred in the end. I congratulate our dear government officials, particularly Mr. President and the honorable ministers who are present in this meeting on Government Week. I would also like to express my appreciation for the numerous efforts that are made by the administration in different sectors. I receive regular reports about the efforts that are made.
Of course, I am aware of the fact that many of the details, selfless efforts and determined actions are neither reported nor can be reported, rather they remain between the one who has made those efforts and Allah the Exalted. The divine reward for such efforts will be a lot greater than other efforts.
My complaint is that many of the efforts that are made are not advertised and made public. Of course, it might be argued that I should complain to our media outlets, the IRIB and newspapers, but it appears to me that the executive branch of government is more at fault in this case than other organizations. The efforts that are made in the country should be reported to the people in a subtle way in order to correct the wrong ideas that some people might have developed about the conditions of the country.
It is necessary to raise public awareness about the efforts that are made in the country. This is because the volume and quality of the work that has been done is very high and it is necessary to find ways of reporting them to the people. The reason is that it is not enough to simply announce that one has done certain things or that a certain amount of work has been completed in a certain area. This is not a very effective method of reporting. It is necessary to think of effective methods. The statements that were made by the gentlemen in this meeting should be conveyed to the people in a proper way so that the people know that our high-ranking executive officials have completed a massive volume of work. For example, the statistics relating to decreased rates of inflation in the beginning of the year 1381, which were presented by the Minister of Commerce, are important. These are the kind of things that the people should be informed of. The reason is that strenuous efforts have been made over the past few years in order to make these achievements.
It is very important and difficult to control the growing rate of inflation, but this achievement has already been made. Of course, the recent increase in inflation rates aroused some pessimism and there were complaints in this regard, but you are making efforts to prevent inflation rates from going higher and I would like to ask you to continue your efforts in this area. The foundation that was mentioned in the meeting was established in the month of Esfand in 1381, but the prices continued rising in the first couple of months of the year 1382. Sometimes such foundations are established and it is announced that their work has officially started, but what happens is that after the passage of two, three months, the prices rise sharply. Do not let lack of harmony appear in your work. It is necessary to continue the work that has been done over the past couple of months.
There are many things that I want to discuss with you dear friends and I know that you are interested in discussing the same things, but unfortunately there is not much time for this although such discussions will probably increase hope and optimism among us.
The first thing that I would like to say is that you must not stop the selfless efforts that you make while relying on Allah the Exalted. This is because all the blessings that we enjoy in the country are due to these efforts. A government official should engage in selfless and determined efforts and satisfying Allah the Exalted should be his main goal. Of course, satisfaction of Allah the Exalted will lead to satisfaction of the people. That is to say, whenever we do something in order to satisfy God, we should also try to satisfy the people as well. Whenever and wherever we have shown negligence, the consequences have appeared and all of these things are due to failure to remain steadfast on the path of selfless efforts. Continue this path. This path will bring about many blessings.
Today our country is not comparable with twenty-five years ago in terms of the progress it has made and this is while over these twenty-five years, all powerful organizations in the world have tried to create political, technological, scientific and commercial problems for us. This is a fact. Of course, we have tried to normalize our relations with the world and we have been successful to a great extent, but there has never been deep and enormous motivation to help us in any part of the world. Only the opposite has been the case so far. There have been centers in the world that have tried to create obstacles for us. The achievements that we have made in the area of technology, in areas relating to infrastructure and in the area of scientific growth - all of these achievements have been made in the shade of our national and Islamic identity. It is necessary to continue this path.
The second point is that generally speaking, a government is in charge of two kinds of work: one is related to development of the country and the other kind of work is related to the things that are necessary in order to improve living conditions of the people. The nature of these two kinds of work and their requirements are different from one another. It is true that development will finally result in improving living conditions of the people. That is to say, as people who are active in the area of oil, road construction, industries, agriculture, commerce and other such things, your work will produce outcomes for the country that will reveal themselves in the lives of our people in three, five, ten years and the people will definitely feel the effect of your work on their dinner tables, in their homes and in their pockets. However, this kind of work will produce results in the long term and it will shape the character of the country. The second kind of work only reveals its effect in the daily affairs of the people and I believe that such work is more subtle than the kind of work that is related to development of the country. When I say daily affairs, I mean the kind of things that are immediate, the kind of things that are needed urgently in order to help the country move forward and achieve its goals.
We want to do everything by relying on the people. This has been the case so far and everything in our country has been done by relying on the people. This is because the people sympathize with their government officials. They have cooperated with our government officials. They have been patient in the case of many problems and they have helped whenever they were needed. As a result, we have managed to continue this path until today. The first requirement is to keep the people on the scene. This is something that everybody agrees about. Everybody says that this is necessary. However, different plans are proposed to reach this goal. Eliminating political conflicts is one of the things that seems to be necessary in order to maintain the existing cooperation between the people and government officials. We must try to do everything in our power to prevent conflicts in the political atmosphere of the country. Of course, you are only one side of the issue and I do not want to pretend that everything depends on you. I am addressing all organizations in the country. However, when we take a look at the political conditions of the country, we realize that there are unnecessary arguments and conflicts. These arguments spread poison in the political atmosphere of the country and they depress the people who are in contact with that atmosphere. It is natural that this will affect the people's love for the Islamic Republic and its government officials. Of course, it is possible that as a result of a particular political event, somebody will lose popularity to some extent and somebody else will become more popular. Similarly, a sector might decline and another sector might improve. It is also possible that the opposite will happen as a result of another political event. Of course, the result is the same in both cases: the country is harmed. One of the important goals that all government officials and you dear friends in the executive branch should strive to reach is to make efforts to cleanse the general atmosphere of our society of unreasonable things and political fighting.
Another issue that might create discord and discourage the people is discrimination and offering special privileges to certain people in the country. After all, the people will find out and the enemy - who wants to engage in psychological warfare - will take advantage of such things. Of course, I do not want to provide specific examples in this regard and you yourselves have witnessed many instances of such things. Wherever you are, try to prevent such discrimination, which creates opportunities and special privileges for some people. I believe such things must not exist in the country.
The issue of economic corruption is related to this issue. Mr. Mazaheri wanted to discuss the issue of economic corruption, but there was not enough time. I carefully read parts of the report he had prepared as well as another report that had been prepared by my own office. Some of the things that have been done are good, in particular the actions that have been taken by the foundation in charge of fighting economic corruption. The foundation was created by the heads of the three branches of government and some of the friends who are present in this meeting are members of that foundation. That foundation has put forth good proposals, but many of them are stuck in the maze of executive problems in the Majlis or in the administration.
I think it was last year that I said in a meeting with government officials or in some other meeting that I believe the executive branch is in charge of fighting corruption and the judiciary can step in only at the last stage. It is the executive branch that must bravely step into the arena and make determined efforts to fight economic corruption. Officials of the executive branch should propose bills when necessary and they should immediately give them to the Majlis for ratification and they should follow up the matter. Once their proposed bills turn into laws, they must implement them in a careful way. When there is no need to pass laws, they should simply issue the necessary executive orders. In any case, the important point is that officials of the executive branch should pursue this issue in a serious way. We should take this issue seriously.
Our legitimacy as government officials depends on fighting corruption and discrimination and promoting justice. This is the basis of our legitimacy. Currently, many different comments are made about legitimacy and I know how to make similar comments, but the truth is that if I do not go after justice, my legitimacy as a government official will disappear. That is to say, all my legal powers will be illegitimate. The same is true of other government officials. We have come to promote justice and to eliminate discrimination. We have come to help our society to enjoy moral and spiritual blessings as well as other God-given blessings - and justice contains the most important God-given blessings. Of course, this does not mean that we should neglect living conditions of the people. Is this even possible? Basically, it is not possible to improve spirituality among the people without improving their living conditions. It is not possible to achieve spiritual blessings while living a miserable worldly life. The reasons are clear, but I do not want to discuss them in this meeting. Both you and I know what these reasons are. We need to develop the world and the purpose of all the efforts that we are making is to develop the world. However, a developed world that is devoid of justice and spirituality is good for nothing.
Let us assume that our rate of growth has increased and that our per capita income has increased by two, three times. In the absence of justice in society, this means that a major portion of this increased income belongs to a limited number of people and the majority of the people are still poor and have little to eat. This is not what we should do. This is not the responsibility that lies on our shoulders. Our responsibility is to consolidate justice in society and this is not possible except through fighting corruption and greedy and opportunistic people. Part of the work for establishing justice in society should be completed and managed by the executive branch.
The other issue that I would like to discuss is the existence of two faulty orientations. According to one orientation, whatever problem that exists in the country should be attributed to the Islamic Republic. This is an orientation that currently exists in our society. If there is discrimination in society, if there is poverty, if there are problems outside our borders, the capacities of the Islamic Republic and the Constitution are questioned. Those who have this orientation connect every small problem in every corner of the country to the Islamic Republic. This is wrong. On the other hand, there is another orientation which is the exact opposite of the first orientation. According to those who support this orientation, the Islamic Republic does not suffer from any flaw - and they reduce the Islamic Republic to the Leadership and similar things. These people blame every problem that exists in the country on four, five government officials in a corner of the country. This is wrong too. There are certain problems in the country which might have originated from the performance of the organization that we are in charge of. We need to identify the root of our problems and just as Mr. Khatami pointed out in the statements that he made at the beginning of this meeting, we also need to critically analyze our own performance. We need to identify our strengths and weaknesses, work on our weaknesses and try to eliminate them. This will make us successful.
Another issue that needs to be discussed is the comfortable life that certain government officials have built for themselves. I am very unhappy about this. Of course, I am not referring to you. Some of you live an ordinary and simple life. It is wrong for government officials to constantly increase their wealth. Of course, the way our trips, our work, our lives and our meetings are reported to the people make them feel discouraged sometimes and it affects them deeply.
Among other factors that cause the people to drift away from their government officials is the image that is presented to them of the way the country is managed. Unfortunately, different political parties in the country use certain propaganda that is depressing and discouraging. They appear to cooperate with each other to undermine and question the way our country is run. Of course, some people have such motives and there are other people who engage in such actions with motives that are the exact opposite of these things, but the result is always bad. Currently, our country is being managed in a good way. A country with a population of seventy million people, a country that is so vast, a country whose people have so many demands and expectations, a country that is faced with so many hostilities - it is not easy for such a country to make so much progress. Is it possible to achieve this much progress without appropriate management, without making efforts and without managing different affairs of the country? No, such a thing is not possible. Thankfully, there is competent management in different parts of the country. Of course, there are flaws and shortcomings as well and it is necessary to pay attention to these flaws and to eliminate them, which requires competent management. This is a point that political activists should pay attention to when they want to make a statement.
Of course, there are certain actions that originate from narrow-mindedness. Some people assume and pretend that certain individuals have turned their backs on the Islamic Republic and have become its opponent on the basis of the most trivial things. Everything that happens in a corner of the country is labeled as anti-government: one political party does this because of its religious fervor and another political party does the same thing with the purpose of criticizing the Islamic Republic. This is while there are many young people who might do certain things in some cases that may not be completely in line with the existing criteria, but their hearts are with the Islamic Republic. It is such people who participate in pro-government demonstrations, in elections and in other arenas where national sentiments are displayed. They show up in such events and they prove that they love their country and the Islamic Republic. Those who are opposed to the Islamic Republic inside the country are extremely limited in number. The people know that the Islamic Republic is active. They know that the Islamic Republic is working hard and resisting. For this reason, they show that they love the Islamic Republic and the way different sectors are managed in the country. They can see the outcomes of the efforts that are made. Of course, they might have certain complaints as well and it is necessary to know what those complaints are and what should be done about them. It is wrong to pass judgments immediately.
Regarding the second type of work that should be done for the people, my advice is that you should try to make the people hopeful about the Islamic Republic and about betterment of their living conditions and you should also assure them that you care about them deeply. It is necessary that the people feel their government officials care about them and understand their issues. The efforts that were made by the executive branch to control inflation and rising prices had a very positive effect on the people. These efforts made the people very happy. It is true that the work has not been completed yet and that it is necessary to do other things in this regard. However, the fact that the executive branch acted immediately is very important. A group of individuals raise the price of a certain product and then another group decide to do the same. These people do not pay attention to the consequences of their actions and they do not care what these rising prices will do to the people. They do not understand how their actions affect living conditions of the people, particularly poor people. The administration found out about this and stepped into the arena. Good statements and efforts were made. I believe that it is necessary to pay attention to these points.
Another point is that in the area of economic work, the majority of the efforts that are made should be focused on production. Production is the basis of everything. Try to identify the rules and regulations that stand in the way of production in the country and then try to eliminate them. Of course, this requires that you see everything from a broad economic prospective. Different sectors - including, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Industries and Mines, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce and other such organizations - should cooperate in order to organize economic affairs of the country. They should think about this issue and they should try to identify the problems that prevent production, including industrial goods, agricultural products and production of knowledge. Today the ground has been prepared for production in our country and we have good managers and technology experts. We have brilliant capacities and hopeful people.
A few days ago, I received a report about producing and freezing stem cells. This is a very complex and great scientific project that has been carried out in only a few countries in the world. This is while this project has been carried out in our country without any hype and the achievements have not been officially announced so far. I believe that the importance of this work is not less than the importance of the progress we have made in the area of nuclear technology. This project is very valuable for the future of medicine in the world. Stem cell technology is considered a medical revolution in the world. A group of faithful and revolutionary youth from Jihad-e-Daneshgahi have been working on this technology for a few years and they have achieved good results. Of course, it is necessary to continue this work until we achieve the ultimate goal. By Allah's favor, those who have worked on this technology will announce the results that have been achieved. Therefore, we have produced knowledge in such areas in the country, which is very valuable.
Another issue that I would like to discuss is related to avoidance of waste. Mr. Mazaheri and Dr. Sheibani were present in the meeting yesterday and I noticed that they were also stressing the importance of avoiding waste. In certain areas, our national resources are being squandered. Economy and avoidance of waste must become a principle that the administration is committed to.
I would say that we need to move towards consuming domestically produced products. When it was decided that we needed a building for international summits, those who were in charge of the project arranged a meeting with me. I told them that they should take care not to allow the use of foreign materials in the building. At the end of the project, they only used foreign materials in the case of the sound system, a few electronic devices and the fire-proof carpet, things that we could not produce inside the country yet. More than ninety percent of the materials used in that massive building had been produced inside the country. When that building was under construction, I emphatically highlighted this recommendation several times. They followed up the work and completed the project. We are capable. We have produced so many things inside the country. We have produced high-quality china, crystal and wooden products, yet some gentlemen and companies import the same things from foreign countries.
Regarding political turbulence, I ask our executive officials and particularly those in charge of political affairs to pay serious attention to the issue of avoiding political conflicts, especially because we will have elections in the country in the near future. We must act in a way that the general atmosphere of our society becomes moderate, peaceful and tranquil so that the people are encouraged to take part in the elections. By Allah's favor, we will have an enthusiastic election with a good turnout rate. I have always said that the results of an election in our country are of secondary importance. What is of primary importance is the election itself, which should be exciting and enjoy a high turnout rate. This is of primary importance. We should do everything in our power to ensure that we will have a good election. Do not let mistakes happen in your decision-making and in your work so that Allah the Exalted helps us benefit from His mercy and blessings. Such mistakes occurred recently in the case of certain events, which was not good. I wish success for all of you and I hope that Allah the Exalted approves your actions.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings