Akbar Tanjung regrets Anwar's beating<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister\/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung aired
\ndeep concern on Thursday over the mistreatment of sacked deputy
\nprime minister Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
He also said President B.J. Habibie would likely drop a
\nscheduled visit to Kuala Lumpur due to his tight schedule.<\/p>\n
The Golkar chairman pointed out that as a former minister,
\nAnwar deserved appropriate treatment from Malaysian police
\nregardless of the charges leveled against him.<\/p>\n
The court should decide whether Anwar is guilty or not, he
\nargued.<\/p>\n
\"It is our expectation. But, of course, we hope that it (the
\nmistreatment) will not occur again,\" Akbar said after meeting
\nwith Habibie at Merdeka Palace.<\/p>\n
The comment was the first from an Indonesian official
\nregarding the tension in Malaysia, though the minister quickly
\nemphasized that he was speaking in a private capacity.<\/p>\n
\"Officially, there is still no statement. We have yet to issue
\nany comment,\" Akbar said.<\/p>\n
The President said last month he planned to make a one-day
\nstate visit to Malaysia later this month. The trip would have
\nbeen Habibie's first since he replaced former president Soeharto
\nin May.<\/p>\n
He is also scheduled to go there in November to attend an Asia
\nPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.<\/p>\n
Akbar, however, said this month's visit would likely be
\ncanceled due to Habibie's busy activities, including the
\ncommemoration of the Armed Forces (ABRI) 53rd anniversary on
\nMonday and the preparation for the special session of the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly next month.<\/p>\n
\"It seems that the President feels it is rather difficult for
\nhim to leave Indonesia.\"<\/p>\n
He did not link the cancellation with Malaysia's domestic
\nsituation.<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday, Malaysian politician Ghafar Baba retracted
\nearlier blunt criticism against Indonesian media reports on
\nAnwar's sacking by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He had
\nchallenged the Indonesian people to take Anwar as their own
\nleader if they were so sympathetic to \"a homosexual figure\".<\/p>\n
\"No insult was intended toward anyone, including the
\nleadership and the Indonesian media,\" AFP reported Ghafar as
\nsaying in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Ghafar came here last week to explain Malaysia's situation.
\nHis statements, however, angered many Indonesians, including some
\nMoslem activists who demanded that he be sent home immediately
\nfor insulting the country.<\/p>\n
Anwar is popular among young people and even top officials
\nhere. Habibie is known to have had a closer relation with Anwar,
\nwhile Mahathir was reportedly closer to former president
\nSoeharto.<\/p>\n
\"People can hand out their own judgments on our media, but it
\ndoes not mean that it will affect the close relations between
\nMalaysia and Indonesia,\" Akbar said about Ghafar's remarks.<\/p>\n
Relations between the two countries have not always been
\nsmooth. Founding president Sukarno severed diplomatic ties with
\nMalaysia on Sept. 17, 1963, just two days after Kuala Lumpur
\ndeclared the establishment of the Malaysian Federation State.<\/p>\n
The two countries became entangled in armed clashes for three
\nyears until 1966, during which Sukarno branded the Malaysian
\nstate as a new British colonial project which endangered
\nIndonesia's unfinished revolution.<\/p>\n
The two countries reopened diplomatic relations in August
\n1966, five months after Soeharto came to power.<\/p>\n
Akbar said on Thursday that Habibie had not had any contact
\nwith Mahathir since the new development in the peninsular state.<\/p>\n
\"I think there's been no (contact). In the past there was, but
\nI do not think recently.\"<\/p>\n
In New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas and his
\nMalaysian counterpart, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, signed a joint
\nnotification to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on
\nWednesday over the long-standing dispute over Sipadan and Ligitan
\nislands in Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
The dispute over the two tiny islands, located just off the
\nnortheast coast of Kalimantan, first arose in 1969. Both
\ncountries claim sovereignty over the islands based on their
\ncolonial inheritance.<\/p>\n
Soeharto and Mahathir agreed two years ago to bring the case
\nto the ICJ. (prb)<\/p>",
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