79th Birthday, Vice President: Life's Blessings Are More Important Than Short Ages

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin offered a prayer on his 79th birthday, in Jakarta, Friday (11/3/2022). ANTARA/HO-BPMI Setwapres

JAKARTA - When celebrating his 79th birthday, Friday, March 11, Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said that the blessings of life are more important than a long or short life.

"It's true that if you count from the day I was born, my age has increased. Today the count has increased to 79 years. But from the ration (age) that has been given, it is reduced. From day to day less and less, the quota will eventually run out. Therefore, actually increasing or decreasing (age) is not that important, what matters is the blessing," said the Vice President after cutting the cone in Jakarta, as reported by Antara.

Therefore, the prayer that must be said by mankind is to be given a blessed life, said the vice president based on a written statement from the Press, Media and Information Bureau of the Vice President's Secretariat.

"Our prayer is to be given a blessed life. It may not be long, but the benefits are many. It is even better if it is given a long (life) then there are many good things," he said.

This, said the Vice President, is as stated by the Prophet Muhammad SAW that the best people are those who have a long life and good deeds.

"But on the other hand, the wretched man is the one who is given a long life but his deeds are not good. So it took him a long time to make mischief on this earth. That is very dangerous," he said.

Furthermore, the Vice President said that blessings came from Allah SWT, but that his arrival did not come suddenly, but needed to be worked on.

"We must try to get that blessing, namely by continuing to draw closer to God, be taqarrub to God in order to get the blessings of life," he said.

As for God's grace, according to the Vice President, it is close to people who do good. The better a person is, the more God's blessings given to him will increase.

"If we are given something good by God, then we must do good, such as (for example) worshiping God well, so that later God will add more blessings to us, not only in this world but also in the hereafter," he said.

Lastly, the Vice President also reminded that Allah is indeed very close to His servants. But according to him, this closeness is not in the sense of distance, but closeness to get His pleasure and forgiveness.

However, there are also obstacles that can distance Allah from His servants, such as lust (and) Satan. Well this is what gets us far. Therefore, in order for us to continue to be close to God, all these obstacles must be overcome," said the Vice President.

On this occasion, the Head of the Secretariat of the Vice President, Ahmad Erani Yustika, also wished the President a happy birthday and prayed for the President to always be given health, blessings, and strength in carrying out his duties.

"Hopefully the Vice President will always be given health, given strength and blessings to always be able to carry out his duties as well as possible," said Erani.

Erani revealed that today's Thanksgiving for the Vice President is a form of gratitude as well as an expression of gratitude because so far the Vice President has provided a lot of inspiration and knowledge to the entire family of the Setwapres.

"Abah has given lots of examples, inspiration, knowledge, and many other things so that our lives will be better," said Erani.

Not only Kasetwapres, Wapres Spokesperson Masduki Baidlowi also wished the Vice President a happy birthday. In his brief remarks, Masduki stated that the Vice President is a figure who in carrying out his state duties is lived as worship.

"That's what the Vice President has taught us all," he said.

Masduki said that one of the things the Vice President has inspired him to do is the healthy lifestyle that the Vice President runs.

"His healthy lifestyle is a picture for all of us to live a long life," he said.

In addition, Masduki considers that in his life the Vice President has many privileges, both in social and political life. In fact, he said, while at the Indonesian Ulema Council, the Vice President was called an "injury time" player, meaning a figure who got various prestigious positions unexpectedly.

“For example, he has no wind, no waves, he was suddenly elected as Rais Aam PBNU, even though previously many others had run for office. Being the Chair of MUI is also like that, who nominates who, who is elected. He was also elected as vice president, there were many other figures who were said to be vice president, but it was precisely at the last moment that God predestined Pak Kiai Ma'ruf who was elected,” he explained.

In addition to the Head of the Wapres and the Vice President's Spokesperson, also present at the event, which was packaged very simply, namely the wife of the Vice President Wury Ma'ruf Amin, Deputy for Administration Guntur Iman Nefianto, Special Staff of the Vice President Sukriansyah S. Latief, the Expert Team of the Vice President Iggi Haruman Achsien, and all staff and limited devices.