Interview with Iranian Ambassador, Mahmoud Farazandeh

Iran's Islamic Revolution Creates Big Impacts

Duta Besar Iran untuk Indonesia, Mahmoud Farazandeh
Sumber :
  • VIVAnews / Renne Kawilarang

VIVAnews - Since 1979 the first eleven days of February have been a turning point for Iranian history, Ambassador Mahmoud Farazandeh said.

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He recalled that during those days, 32 years ago, the Iranian people successfully overthrew the authoritarian regime led by Shah Reza Pahlavi. The arrival of the Great Imam Ayatollah Khomeini from his exile became the symbol of change in the Persian country as well.

"We called that moment as the victory of Islamic Revolution of Iran," Ambassador Farazandeh told VIVAnews at the Embassy of Iran in Jakarta today, 8 February 2011.

Farazandeh emphasized the significant impacts of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, both domestically and internationally. Since then, Iran received adverse responses from various Western countries.

Multiple international sanctions and embargoes had instead helped Iran be less dependent on foreign countries while its people have become more confident to develop their country based on local resources and abilities. 

Astoundingly, people in some Arab countries, like Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, are having similar experience with the past Iran. They are protesting against long established regimes governing their countries.

Farazandeh told that he is not worried that the revolution in Arab countries could affect Iran. On the other hand, there are fears that the upheaval may bring those countries to be like Iran.

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"The people in those countries might see Iran as their model," said Farazandeh, who has just been in Indonesia for five months as the new Iranian envoy. 

Here are excerpts of the interview

Every year, from 1 to 11 February, Iranians celebrate the victory of the Islamic Revolution in their country. How the people in your country interpret this historic event?

This period is referred to as the days of "dawn." After dark then comes the dawn to welcome the Sun. Ayatollah Khomeini came to Iran [from his exile] on February 1, 1979. Iranians welcome his arrival as the end of the dark era.

So, in the next ten days [since Khomeini's arrival] the Iranians were hand in hand to eradicate the remnants of the old regime [the era of Shah Reza Pahlavi monarchy rule] and at the same time introduced a new system of government.

The Islamic Revolution is a cultural revolution and it is related to cultural values. There are a number of events associated with the celebration of the victory of Islamic Revolution in our country, such as art festivals, book festivals, and other cultural performances.

On the final day of celebrations, 11 February, people in various cities do a parade on the main streets to commemorate the wave of demonstrations in 1979. In addition to moving along the three to five kilometers, they usually read the joint communiqué, the oath of allegiance to the state and the values of the Revolution.

In the capital, Tehran, the President will make a speech before the marching people. Usually the parade begins at nine in the morning to noon [before the prayer]. The President will such this opportunity to make a speech on economic issues, politics and international relations.

What about the Iranian community living abroad, like in Indonesia. Is there also a special celebration?

In Jakarta, the Iranian community will celebrate the victory of the Islamic Revolution on Friday, February 11, at a hotel. We also invite officials and citizens of Indonesia to participate.

Actually, not many Iranians living in Jakarta [The Press Attache Embassy of Iran, Ghasem Yazdani, previously mentioned that the number of Iranian nationals in Indonesia are approximately only in hundreds, while in Malaysia there are about thousands people - Editor].

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That is why we continue to enhance economic and tourism cooperation with the Indonesian government to attract more Iranians to visit here and we also expect more Indonesian people to visit Iran.

What is the biggest domestic challenge in Iran at the moment?

The main challenge today is how to implement economic reforms that have been designed by the government. One of the reform programs is to cut subsidies for all commodities.

That is one of the commitments made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. To improve the policy of social justice, the government is now thinking how the distribution of subsidies should be met with the state budget and how to apply subsidies for the right people.

Iranian society consists of several levels, based on income level and family size. For example, there is a family possessing five cars while other families have no vehicles at all.

Families who have five cars enjoy subsidized gasoline price. This situation must be changed.

So, the government has been reducing price subsidy on some commodities. The result of this subsidy reduction will be used to provide compensation for low-income families. This is the priority for the government to improve social welfare.

In recent years, Iran has repeatedly received economic and trade sanctions from the UN Security Council and Western countries due to the possession of nuclear technology. How Iran could survive from these sanctions?

Actually we've been experiencing a number of sanctions for 32 years. They have been implemented since the beginning of the Revolution, when Iran introduced a new system that had been recognized worldwide ever since, but there are some countries that not happy with the situation.

For example, some European countries were initially committed to run a number of projects in Iran. They already received the money, but they abandoned the social and industrial projects and they just left our country for granted.

One example is the project power plant in Busherh. At that time [1975], the German contractors received money to build it. Special devices should be built in Germany.

However, since the Islamic Revolution in Iran [1979], they did not bring those devices and abandoned the project that should be useful for the development of Iran. This power plant project in fact has taken a lot of money.

Then the Western countries applied a number of embargoes and sanctions against Iran. This situation has forced Iran to reduce the dependence on foreign countries.

That situation however just made Iran self-reliant, not to depend on outsiders. Iran has been confident to develop on its own. So the sanctions as well as the embargoes have lost their meaning.

In addition, foreign countries could not dictate us with their direct investments or bilateral trade, as happened in the financial crisis that also hit Indonesia in the late 1990s.

Hundreds of millions of dollars could instantly disappear because of the act of foreign investors who want to shake local stock markets. Iran did not experience such vulnerability. We basically rely on our own resources and capabilities.

Western countries then try to wedge us by blocking oil and gas trade as well as other materials that can be used to develop nuclear technology in Iran, which is used for peaceful purposes.

However, the Iranian people are used to face multiple pressures. We even keep growing. There is concern among Western parties that a number of countries in this world have regarded Iran as their model.

So why should be scared if some people make Iran as a model of development.

A number of Arab countries, like Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, are in political upheaval. Is Iran worried about the impact of the revolution in those countries?

Based on media reports, including from this newspaper [He showed an English-language international newspaper], there is a greater concern that those countries instead could end up like Iran. So the revolution in the region might not bring negative impacts to Iran.

Some opinions said that Iran would take advantage of the situation. If so, the people in these troubled countries might see Iran as a model. Thus, fears that the crisis would bring impacts to Iran are groundless.

Do you think the ongoing revolution in those Arab countries might lead greater instability in the Middle East?

We believe that every intervention from the superpower country has a negative and adverse impact to other countries. The Iranian principle is being independent without outside intervention.

So we hope that people in those countries will not let foreign interference and decide their own future.

On the other hand, there are a number of parties who wish to continue in power as long as possible in the Middle East and they caused the upheaval. However, thanks to the rapid advancement of information technology, many people now become critical for the situation in their neighborhood.

So if there are some parties want to take action against a particular regime, the people in the country will oppose it. In the case of upheaval in Egypt, for example, let the people decide whether the current regime should resign sooner or later.

We have got a serious problem in the Middle East. One of them is the occupation of Palestine by occupying forces and those who call themselves as World Power seek to intervene. Many countries are basically not happy with the situation.

For sixty years Palestine has been occupied, but until now there is no significant change for their people. All negotiations and peace agreements produced nothing.

Currently there have been considerations that the upheaval in those countries should not threat the Israel's security. This cannot be understood if the regime change in some countries should consider the interest of one state in the region.

On the bilateral relationship between Iran and Indonesia, what projects to be taken by both governments this year?

There are several partnership projects to be discussed this year. One of them is a joint venture projects in Iran and another one in Indonesia.

The bilateral cooperation this year would include oil and gas exploration and petrochemicals. However, there are several technical issues that need to be discussed between the two governments.

What about the trade volume between Indonesia and Iran?
Last year the trade volume was about U.S. $ 1 billion. The composition is 50-50, both exports and imports. However, to increase the trade volume, we should involve more private sectors.

For the time being they are western-oriented, then we need to shift the focus to the East. However, it takes time and should be done gradually.

Next week there will be a trade mission from Iran to Indonesia to explore new business contacts. God willing, this year we also expect for official visits to and from Iran.

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