President Megawati, Bush and `state terror'<\/p>\n
Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta,
\nkorpur@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
While international news media organizations regard
\nSwaziland's Ngweyama (King) Mswati III as a source of amusing news
\nfor his eccentric royal rules -- he once ordered young women to
\nobserve a sex ban and to wear woolen, "do not touch me" tassels
\nfor five years until 2006 -- President Megawati Soekarnoputri
\nregards the tiny kingdom in southern Africa quite seriously.<\/p>\n
Just one day before the U.S.-led coalition started the
\ninvasion of Iraq on March 20, Megawati held a bilateral meeting
\nwith the ruler at Merdeka Palace.<\/p>\n
The king with nine wives told her that Swaziland backed
\nIndonesia's ambition to win a non-permanent seat on the UN
\nSecurity Council (UNSC) in 2006 (coincidentally the year of
\nfreedom for Swaziland's young women).<\/p>\n
"Swaziland has lent its support to us over the candidacy,"
\nMegawati said after her meeting with the 35-year-old monarch.<\/p>\n
The President had raised the issue of the UNSC seat probably
\nbecause she was so impatient at the powerless UN.<\/p>\n
Indonesian media paid little attention to the bilateral talks,
\nas Iraq had been grabbing the headlines. The Jakarta Post
\nheadline that day was Nations at odds over war that's not theirs
\nto fight.<\/p>\n
The timing of the above summit coincided with final U.S.
\npreparations for war. But what did the king's support for the
\nUNSC seat really mean for Megawati? Was he just about the only
\none to support her plan? Maybe the President is so eager to
\nreform the UN because the world body was considered responsible
\nfor the separation of East Timor from Indonesia in 1999.<\/p>\n
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda would likely deny
\nthat the tete-a-tete raised the impression of how powerless was
\nIndonesia in preventing the war.<\/p>\n
The President indeed issued a harsh statement against the U.S.
\nshortly after President George W. Bush announced the invasion on
\nMarch 20. For Indonesia invasion is not a new word, because the
\ncountry invaded East Timor in the 1970s. As Bush now believes, at
\nthat time Soeharto also believed he was the hero of East Timor
\nbecause he liberated the people from a colonial power.<\/p>\n
Vice President Hamzah Haz is much more proactive than his
\nboss, Megawati. Apart from labeling Bush the "king of
\nterrorists", he also bravely advocated the substitution of the
\nU.S. greenback with the euro. He also met the king but there was
\nno information on what topic they discussed.<\/p>\n
For some, the bold suggestions of the President and Vice
\nPresident may aptly be expected from a country with grand labels
\n-- the world's largest Muslim nation and the fourth-most populous
\nnation. The country is recognized as a prominent member of the
\ndeveloping world, and it was often pictured as the spokesperson
\nof the 119-member, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) -- at least until
\nbefore the collapse of Soeharto's regime in 1998.<\/p>\n
But what can Indonesia do now to influence global development,
\nwhen it is now more well-known as one of the world's most corrupt
\nnations? It is hard to preach to the world about morality when
\nnearly half of our population lives below the poverty line.<\/p>\n
The nation can no longer dream that it will regain its role as
\na peacemaker for other nations as it did in Cambodia, when
\nviolence in areas such as Aceh and Papua has even led to
\nallegations of state terrorism being carried out against its
\ncitizens.<\/p>\n
Many Indonesians dream that one day they might be able to see
\ntheir Air Force pilots maneuvering skillfully, as the U.S. and
\nBritish jetfighters did over Iraq. But they don't expect much in
\nterms of the armed forces' ability to protect the country, given
\ntheir limited budget. However, they have every right to be
\ndisappointed at the news of some Air Force personnel who,
\nabsurdly, attacked a police station near the Halim Perdana
\nKusumah Air Force base in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Perhaps one day, when the economic crisis is over, people will
\nbe able to see Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) soldiers act like
\nthe British special troops who engaged bravely with their foreign
\nenemies. Today, however, the force lives with allegations that
\nits members were involved in the strangling of a civilian, the
\nlate Papuan separatist leader Theys Hiyo Eluay in 2001.<\/p>\n
We would be proud to see the Navy overcoming foreign devils
\nintent on occupying our beloved territory. Or to see Australian
\nsoldiers flee at the sight of our troops on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
However, what confronts us now is that the President has
\nordered the Indonesian Military (TNI) to be prepared for military
\noperations in troubled Aceh and rebellious Papua if necessary.<\/p>\n
So any hopes of watching our troops become engaged in fierce
\nbattles with foreign enemies are dashed: Instead, they are to be
\npitted yet again against fellow citizens, many of whom have had
\nnothing to do with the rebels.<\/p>\n
Does Megawati wish to portray herself as President Bush, who
\nordered the attack against Iraq, or as the leader of a country
\nthat believes that TNI is never wrong on Aceh and Papua?<\/p>\n
Isn't a state a terrorist if the state kills its own citizens?
\nHow should it go about addressing their basic dissatisfaction
\nwith the state over matters such as injustice and a grossly
\nunequal distribution of wealth?<\/p>\n
After Friday prayers recently, Hamzah said, "If Bush is not
\nthe king of terrorists, what else is he?"<\/p>\n
That is a question that Bush might well raise in reference to
\nPresident Megawati's government, regarding the way it chooses to
\nsettle problems in Aceh and Papua.<\/p>",
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