Abdurrahman to embark on overseas trip next week

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid will embark on yet another whirlwind overseas trip on Monday, which this time will take him to Venezuela, Brazil, Chile and Canada.

Presidential Military Secretary Rear Marshal Budhy Santoso said Abdurrahman was scheduled to leave for Caracas on Monday evening to attend the two-day OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Summit which begins on Wednesday.

Abdurrahman will then travel to Brazil for a one-day visit and afterward fly to Santiago.

He will continue his journey to Ottawa on Oct. 1 and then take a drive north to Montreal on Oct. 3 to visit McGill University.

The President is scheduled to arrive back in Jakarta on Oct. 5 after two refueling stops in Vancouver and Seoul.

Budhy said that upon departure on Monday night, the presidential plane would be flanked by two Indonesian Air Force F-16 fighter jets.

He added the presidential plane would also be welcomed by two F-16 jets from the Venezuelan Air Force upon entering the country's airspace.

Abdurrahman, who has visited some 35 countries since taking office in October last year, has been criticized by legislators for putting global issues ahead of unsolved domestic problems.

The House of Representatives warned Abdurrahman in June to put future overseas trips on hold because he had used up most of his annual travel allowance.

House Commission I for security and political affairs said the President had used Rp 52.72 billion (US$5.85 million) -- about 98.64 percent -- of his state-allocated travel budget.

Presidential Secretary Djoko Mulyono once said that Abdurrahman's overseas trips had become so frequent that the government had arranged a new deal with the national airline, Garuda Indonesia, for future travel.

He said the deal would ensure a Garuda jet was available whenever the President wanted to go somewhere. (byg/prb)