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