THE seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia, His Excellency Joko Widodo, will be visiting Penang tomorrow to deliver a keynote address at the inaugural Peace Dialogue, the centrepiece of the Commonwealth of World Chinatown (CWC) series, which is in its third edition this year.
Widodo, who is better known as Jokowi, is believed to be the first-ever Indonesian president to visit Penang since Malaysia's Independence.
Organised under the leadership of Singapore-based technocrat Winfred Khoo, the CWC series aims to attach greater value and attention to the pressing socio-economic needs which Penang faces as part of the global community.
On top of that, Khoo also envisions the CWC event as offering insights and solutions to the entrenched issues of geopolitics, conflicts, climate change and healthcare innovation.
Besides Jokowi, the other peace-supporting luminaries include Prof Jeffrey Sachs, the globally respected president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the honorary distinguished Jeffrey Cheah Professor at Sunway University.
The duo is joined by Malaysian economist Prof Emeritus Jomo K. Sundaram,
Prof Victor Gao, the vice-president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, Dr Wang Sheng-Wei, the founder of the China-US Friendship Exchange and Prof Kishore Mahbubani, a Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
Other distinguished speakers are Dr Joanna Lei, the chairwoman of National Women's League Taiwan, Tan Sri Dr Mazlan Othman, the former director of the Malaysian Space Agency, and PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Nurul Izzah would be attending in her capacity as a think tank chairperson.
Yeoh Lam Keong, the former chief economist of the Government Investment Corporation Singapore, is also expected to be present.
Former Malaysian minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed will also attend in his capacity as the United Nations Association of Malaysia president.
The Penang side will have a strong representation with Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow heading the delegation, which includes the executive director of the state's think tank - Penang Institute, Datuk Dr Ooi Kee Beng.
Former Indonesian Federal Minister Gita Wirjawan would also be attending in his present capacity as the founder of the endgame podcast together with Indonesian entrepreneur Dr Setyono Djuandi Darmono.
The Peace Dialogue aims to bring key global leaders to discuss new paradigms for the emerging multipolar world with individuals from different socioeconomic strata and cultural backgrounds.
Southeast Asia is an ideal location for civilisational cooperation, and Penang has a long history of collaborating in global trade and manufacturing supply chains.
The CWC will also hold an Integrative Medicine Asia and Space Camp conference to advance the mainstreaming of integrative medicine as a medical speciality in ASEAN while also discussing the prospects of space exploration. - September 4, 2026.
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