Abdullah to visit Jakarta

Abdullah to visit Jakarta

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday leads an unusually top-heavy delegation on a visit to Indonesia aimed at deepening ties with parties in President Megawati Soekarnoputri's coalition.

Also making what officials are calling a goodwill trip to Jakarta from June 3-5 are Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar and all three vice presidents of Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO), including Defense Minister Najib Razak.

Both sides regard the trip as an opportunity for networking, between an Indonesian leadership which only came to power last year and UMNO's likely heirs to veteran Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, once he finally steps aside.

Malaysia's greatest foreign policy fear is an unstable Indonesia, and analysts believe UMNO has a common interest in finding parties in Jakarta that, like itself, can provide a bulwark against ultra-conservative Muslim parties.

Abdullah will meet Megawati while in Jakarta as well as Deputy President Hamzah Haz, Akbar Tandjung, who leads Golkar and the People's Representative council (DPR), and Amien Rais, speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

On Tuesday he will open a Indonesian-Malaysian business forum. -- Reuters