Full Text of the Supreme Leader's Statements in Meeting with the President and Cabinet on the Occasion of Government Week

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

I thank and praise God for granting this active and diligent government and these dear brothers the opportunity to carry this heavy responsibility on their shoulders for two years during one of the most sensitive periods in our history after the revolution. I hope that, as Mr. Khatami rightly stated, this path continues with the same characteristics that were embodied and manifested in our dear Imam (may his soul be sanctified), with strength, power, hope, and trust in divine assistance.

It can be said that this occasion of Government Week is one of the meaningful coincidences. The Government Week of a country commemorates the martyrdom of two prominent government figures. Dear ones! Not every killing is martyrdom. That killing which is accompanied by sincerity, bravery, and effort in the way of God is called martyrdom in the way of God. A martyr is one who strives—meaning makes an effort—and shows bravery and moves for God; because if one does not show bravery, one does not even come close to martyrdom. All of you are probably familiar with these two individuals and many of you have worked with them. We see these two figures as the complete embodiment of these characteristics. The commemoration of their martyrdom is Government Week.

In our country, Government Week is not the week of the birth of the government. In other places, if they want to establish such a day and such an occasion, they would generally consider the birth of the government or, for example, a prominent achievement that the government has accomplished, and designate Government Week; however, we have come and established our Government Week as a commemoration of martyrdom. This is a very meaningful and important thing; its meaning is that our path is the path of these very characteristics. Whether we have the chance to receive the reward of martyrdom or not is another discussion. I do not have much hope for myself. Now, God willing, there may be among you those whose end will be martyrdom in the way of God, which is a great honor. Whether this reward comes to us or not, our path is this: the path of working for God, with sincerity and accompanied by bravery, courage, and fearlessness in facing difficulties.

Thus, three characteristics emerged: one is that we work and strive. The second is that we perform this work with bravery and courage. The third is that we place God as the direction of our efforts. If these three characteristics are present, I am confident that the successes you have achieved in these two years will be greatly multiplied. Thanks be to God, the successes are not few. Since you speak little with the people, perhaps many of them do not know your successes in various sectors; however, we and those who are involved know that you have accomplished many good and useful works. Therefore, with these three characteristics, your successes will increase day by day, and in front of that human collective that moves with these three characteristics, certainly no problem will withstand. All constraints and problems—human problems, political problems, and financial problems—will be resolved; this is God's promise.

One of the effects that piety (taqwa) brings about is that the Almighty God blesses our works. If a person observes the effects that are mentioned in the Quran—the divine word—related to piety, they will see that answers to all possibilities, thoughts, and mental whispers are provided: "If you are pious to God, He will create for you a criterion (furqan)." If we practice piety, the Almighty God will create for us a criterion—meaning a distinction between right and wrong. The path of right and wrong will not be confused for us; the way will be opened. When a person understands which is right and which is wrong, they move with greater courage: "And whoever is pious to God, He will make for him a way out"; He will take them out of constraints and create for them relief and an escape: "And He provides for him from where he does not expect"; He will provide for them from where they have not calculated.

Your sustenance is not just your personal sustenance. Each of you is a manifestation of a large part of this nation and this country. Your sustenance is what makes your work easy and provides opportunities for you. The Almighty God sometimes grants His blessing with little money. Sometimes, with a lot of money and abundant income, blessing is taken away from a person. When a person has piety, when they work for God and practice sincerity, the Almighty God blesses their works. You see, during this war, when some of you had sensitive responsibilities, how many great works were accomplished! Even though it was a difficult time; it was a time of war, and we were under enemy bombardment. In this city of Tehran, in such a room, a person could not be assured at any hour of the day or night that a bomb would not hit this room. In such a situation, a government and a group of servants—namely you—came and, with effort, diligence, faith, and reliance on God, and with very little income—even less than last year's income—accomplished great works. Of course, there were many problems, and there was no expectation that these problems would be resolved in that period; however, they were resolved, and this country was managed and progressed and reached the period of reconstruction. That a government and a nation can, with that difficult experience, bring themselves to the beginning of reconstruction is itself a very important achievement.

During the reconstruction period, there were many problems. There are still problems now, and you can resolve them. Your power is a great power. Your power, on one hand, is the power of reliance and trust in God. If we keep God in mind and truly work as a duty, certainly the grace, favor, support, and unaccounted assistance of the Almighty God will reach us. Right now, you can see; in the ordinary course of work, sometimes windows open from places we have not calculated; we have not exerted effort for them. We know; now, sometimes some may think from afar that it was us who, for example, accomplished this global opening, that regional opening, and that national opening. We ourselves, when we sit together, know that this was divine assistance. We must believe in these unaccounted helps from the Lord. This is due to the reliance and faith that, thanks be to God, the Almighty observes in the hands of those involved. That sincerity that the Almighty observes in a nation and in a group of servants and in a group of doers will greatly help that group and that nation and will assist them.

My dear ones! In my opinion, the path of religiosity, the path of reliance on God, and the path of trust in divine promises is the way. "If the people of the towns had believed and been pious, We would have opened up to them blessings from the heavens and the earth"; faith and piety open natural paths, remove natural problems; they also remove global problems; they also eliminate great dangers and create numerous openings. This is one side of the issue; the other side is the people. Your spiritual reserve includes reliance on God; one is trust in these faithful, sincere, self-sacrificing people who care about the officials and care about Islam and appreciate the Islamic Republic system; whenever help was requested from these people by the officials of the system, they provided whatever they had at their disposal and completed the argument against us.

I want to offer a few recommendations regarding government issues. Fortunately, in the statements of Mr. Khatami, these same points were present. The same points that I want to mention some of them were in his report. Thanks be to God, you are busy and working hard; however, the more we increase our efforts, the more benefit we will gain.

One point is the cohesion and coordination of the government and avoiding the weakening of one part of the government by another part. This group of yours must be united. You must truly cooperate with each other. I am not saying you should not have sectional expectations. One time, I told one of these gentlemen who had sectional expectations and asked me for something, I said: I will not do your work—meaning it is impossible—but I admire the very effort! Therefore, I am not inherently dissatisfied with sectional efforts; however, these sectional efforts should not separately harm the entirety and the cross-sectional aspect of the government; that is, different sections should observe the matter. In my opinion, the main responsibility lies in those sections of the government that include the Planning and Budget Organization and the Administrative and Employment Affairs Organization of the country and the sections that are mainly concentrated in the person of the President.

In the government, the President should be the focal point. I have always said that the government is like an intersection where the President is like the commander at this intersection. When he takes the lead in one section, that section must stop so that other sections can come and move. When he signals to move, move; that is, do not go ahead and do not fall behind. What the President determines with consultation, considering the aspects of the matter, with regard to what different sections bring to him as various needs and the cross-sectional view that he naturally has, must be observed.

Fortunately, Mr. Khatami—our esteemed and dear President—is fresh, ready to work, and possesses the necessary capabilities and conditions for this work. I thank God for this and pray for him a lot. In the midst of the government and the government group, the eyes must be directed to the President's signal. I do not want to deny your sectional responsibilities—each of you is responsible for your section before the parliament and the people—but there is an issue that is above your sections, and that is the government as a whole and the resources of the government. Given this centrality and this cohesion, you must be able to advance the correct work of the government, which leads us to the third point that is related to this, which is observing priorities.

In my opinion, you must observe priorities in two areas: one is in the internal programs of the sections; the other is the programs of each section concerning other sections. Sometimes our income resources are abundant—very good—there we act like a wealthy and affluent person who, if the toy of his child is needed, generously reaches into his pocket and pays for the toy. Right now, our resources are not that generous. We have many shortages in our income resources. In my opinion, the reduction of oil revenue, although it was a heavy blow and a great pressure for us, was a blessing from one aspect. For us, the shortage of internal revenues has both that pressure and does not have that blessing and success; it brings nothing but hardship and difficulty. We must increase our internal revenues. We must activate this great, blessed country with all these resources, with all these arable deserts, with all these talented people, with this young and energetic workforce, with all these faithful people, with this political and economic geographical position.

See what the priorities are; then the priorities will determine our course of action. The priorities include the issue of employment, the issue of the value of the national currency, the issue of stopping inflation or reducing it as much as possible, the issue of economic stagnation, and activating the country. Of course, what immediately comes to mind is that all of these require money. Where do we produce income? All of these are interconnected. It is clear that they are interconnected; however, none of these creates a dead end. If we look at our work shortages—those flaws and disruptions that exist in some of our programs—we will see where we are being hindered. With a little more thrift, with a little more care and compassion from the hands that are active and working, many of these problems will gradually be resolved. The process of resolving problems is like the process of creating problems. Just as when a problem arises—whether it is an economic problem, a political problem, or other problems—it brings along other problems, resolving problems is the same. When you open one knot, you will see that the possibility of opening five other knots arises afterward. Each of the active hands that start from a small and minor place, I believe, will reach good places. This necessitates that you observe priorities in spending money, in selecting programs, in prioritizing one section over another—and within each section, one program over another. I see that in some places these priorities are not observed. If this issue is taken into account, I believe many problems will be solved. This will not be resolved elsewhere; the remedy lies only in the government; that is, it must be stated that no, sir! The beneficial aspects you mentioned are all in this program—none of them is denied—but they do not have priority; there is another program that has five beneficial aspects added to this; or the flaw that exists in your program does not exist in this program; this is how you should approach the work. In my opinion, human issues, educational issues, economic issues, social issues, and everything related to the service sector should be viewed this way. This truly burdens the work of the Planning Organization and some of the staff sections, as I mentioned. They must work sincerely, honestly, and diligently in this regard and enable the President to make decisions where necessary, and when he signals to stop, they must stop, and there should be no further complaints or grievances. Therefore, the centrality of the President of the government is the essence of the matter.

The second point where observing priorities is necessary is the overall issues of society. See; sometimes one issue is our main issue; however, they impose a secondary issue on us that becomes our major issue; as you can see now, the issue of murders has become the major issue of the country. Is the major issue of the country really these few murders that have occurred?! We have an Information Ministry, we have other agencies; we have officials; they sit down and solve it. Is the main issue of the country really this?! We have so many problems, so many issues and dilemmas facing the people; all of these were set aside, and at one point in time, most discussions or most concerns became the issue of murders! This way, it is not possible to continue and advance work successfully. Truly look and see what the main issue of the country is today. I do not think that if someone looks at the ordinary life of the people, there will be any doubt about what the main issue is. Why should we occupy ourselves with secondary issues and matters?! There may be important issues in the list of the people's concerns—perhaps ten items are written down—but the most important one must be identified. Here, you must observe the priorities; I will now move to the fourth point.

The most important issue is the economic issue. This economic organization plan was a great work that your government accomplished. Why do you ignore it? Why do you not seriously address it? I truly expected this from the beginning; however, now I have a greater expectation. The economic organization plan created hope among the people; it was indeed a good work. You see how much this plan was mentioned and how much was discussed about it in the media. The President personally spoke about it and promised, and to the extent that need was felt, we supported it, and the officials also made statements about it. It was expected that this matter would be pursued seriously. The economic organization plan must be followed up. I believe that the main points in this plan were the very essential points that we need today.

In this plan, the issue of employment was discussed. The issue of employment is a large and important issue. It must truly receive serious approval and genuine cooperation from all. Of course, it is not just one section; it is not just the Ministry of Labor; all economic sections are almost involved and share in the issue of employment; everyone must help. The issue of creating seven hundred thousand jobs a year is not a small matter. He is right; this is much more than what we have experienced in the past. However, I believe it is possible. I am convinced of this. Now, it may be that in our first year we cannot meet this figure; suppose we meet half of this figure; however, by meeting half of this figure in the first year, in the second year the number will double; in the third year, the number will double again, and it will continue to increase. This will become the total—perhaps even more—provided that we pursue it and strive.

The issue concerning rural people is also important. Right now, this earthquake and this flood and this severe drought have occurred. Truly, the danger of migration is high. This migration brings along other problems. The condition of the villages is bad. In my opinion, attention must be paid to the villages and the dilemmas of the people. One of the things I want to seriously recommend to you gentlemen is to go to the deprived areas and have direct contact with the people and be informed about their affairs. These trips that are made—especially to remote and deprived areas—are very valuable and blessed; because they place a person in realities that they have only heard about. We read many reports; however, a report that a person feels the effects of directly has a truly different impact. Therefore, in my opinion, the economic issue—which is mainly the focus of the people's problems today—must receive a lot of attention; some sections should work more in this regard.

Of course, it is my duty to defend Mr. Khatami as the esteemed President and the government as a whole, and you should know that I will defend. Not that I defend against enemies; even against the incorrect criticisms of friends—meaning internal elements and faithful elements and selfless elements—I defend; however, this does not mean that the government should not critique its own performance. A little critique of performances is necessary. Dear brothers! Two years have passed; that is, two years of the natural four-year lifespan of a government have passed; that is, fifty percent. This fifty percent that has passed is, from one perspective, the bright season of the government's life. Usually, the first two years are when enthusiasm is greater; the hopes of the people are higher; the cooperation of the people is more; the eagerness of the people is more. Of course, in the next two years, there will be more experiences; however, I doubt that the second two years can be preferred over the first two. Two years have passed; you must strive, plan, and seriously engage in all that you have in your aspirations as sincere servants—whom we consider sincere servants—in these remaining two years.

The third program is also important. Of course, I am aware that the government has very active and diligent meetings to bring the program to fruition. The point that Mr. Khatami mentioned regarding policies is completely correct. I have emphasized this point in both the letter I wrote to the Expediency Council and the letter I wrote to him.

Programs must emerge from the heart of policies. The issue of policies and planning and discussion in the government and then in the Expediency Council and considering various critiques and selecting policies and then planning based on policies has found a natural and logical process; however, be aware that during this planning, the policies that have passed through these various stages must be strictly observed. That programs must emerge from the heart of policies must mean that they are genuinely derived from the policies and crafted and shaped by these policies so that if a program succeeds, one knows that this policy was correct; if a program fails, one knows that the policy was wrong; that is, this correlation must be evident. If somewhere in the programs it happens that the policies are not observed, then the reason for the incorrectness of the program becomes clear. This is different from what relates to the performance of the executors. Ultimately, a percentage relates to the performance of the executors, and the policies will remain unaffected by these. Therefore, one cannot determine whether this policy that we sat down with all these preliminaries and the Expediency Council and before that the Cabinet and perhaps thousands of hours of work that the gentlemen in the Planning Organization did to formulate these policies and then came to us and the work we did, was ultimately correct or incorrect. It must be such that these policies are precisely observable in each program, and one must know that this program is derived from that policy; that is, there must be a logical and natural connection.

The last sentence I will say in this gathering, and then I want to say a few more private sentences to the brothers and sisters, is that brothers and sisters should strive to maintain the cohesion of the government and the system at a high level. Know that if we succeed in overcoming these problems—which, God willing, we will, by God's grace—it will only be in the shadow of cohesion and unity at a high level of the system and in public matters, the existence of a collective will that is pursued; and this will lead to public unity—in the continuous sense of the word. That a group is thinking about their own words and actions, while another group is also thinking about their own words and actions, does not work. Dividing and fragmenting at the high levels of the system will harm the system; it will benefit no one; of course, it will benefit the enemy. If we have a clever and wise enemy, he will immediately take advantage of it.

Today, fortunately, our people are united. Thanks be to God, the masses of the people—as you have seen many times and experience has shown—are united. This unity will be guaranteed and rooted when at the higher levels there is no feeling of fragmentation and separation and, God forbid, discord. If you want to be successful in your work, you must observe this. We hope, God willing, that the Almighty God will grant all of you and us success so that we can move on this straight path and benefit from divine blessings and assistance.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.