Amien hits out at foreign advisors<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien
\nRais said on Wednesday Indonesia did not need foreign advisors,
\nthus President Abdurrahman Wahid's appointment of several foreign
\ndignitaries in that role was merely a symbolic gesture.<\/p>\n
\"We don't need Kissinger, Lee Kwan Yew, Goh Chok Tong or
\nQaddafi,\" Amien remarked.<\/p>\n
\"If Gus Dur appoints an outsider as an advisor it's merely
\nsymbolic. But if it's a real advisor then we have to reject it
\nbecause we are a sovereign state,\" Amien said referring to the
\nPresident by his popular nickname.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman recently asked former U.S. secretary of
\nstate Henry Kissinger to become his advisor. Abdurrahman had
\nearlier also said he appointed Singapore senior minister Lee Kwan
\nYew as his economic advisor.<\/p>\n
Amien charged that such appointments, if taken seriously,
\nwould only add to the regiment of presidential advisors.<\/p>\n
\"Maybe at one point we would have (Australian Prime Minister)
\nJohn Howard as general advisor to inspect security in the Asia
\nPacific region,\" he quipped, referring to the much touted \"Howard
\nDoctrine\" recently condemned by Asian leaders in which the
\nAustralian prime minister suggested that his country could take
\nover the role of the United States to \"police\" the region.<\/p>\n
\"Then we could possibly have (Chinese) President Jiang Zemin
\nas advisor on Chinese diplomacy. I think this is all just fooling
\naround,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
When asked for his comments on President Abdurrahman's apology
\nin East Timor on Tuesday, Amien said such a remark should only be
\nconsidered a diplomatic courtesy.<\/p>\n
But he warned that if Abdurrahman's statement was an official
\napology, then the President was going too far.<\/p>\n
Amien asserted that people should also recognize that East
\nTimorese themselves were also to blame for the deaths of
\nthousands in the territory.<\/p>\n
He asserted that East Timorese should also bear much of the
\nresponsibility of the events dating back to the time of
\nintegration. (mds)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/amien-hits-out-at-foreign-advisors-1447893297",
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