Akbar Tanjung regrets Anwar's beating
Akbar Tanjung regrets Anwar's beating
JAKARTA (JP): Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung aired
deep concern on Thursday over the mistreatment of sacked deputy
prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
He also said President B.J. Habibie would likely drop a
scheduled visit to Kuala Lumpur due to his tight schedule.
The Golkar chairman pointed out that as a former minister,
Anwar deserved appropriate treatment from Malaysian police
regardless of the charges leveled against him.
The court should decide whether Anwar is guilty or not, he
argued.
"It is our expectation. But, of course, we hope that it (the
mistreatment) will not occur again," Akbar said after meeting
with Habibie at Merdeka Palace.
The comment was the first from an Indonesian official
regarding the tension in Malaysia, though the minister quickly
emphasized that he was speaking in a private capacity.
"Officially, there is still no statement. We have yet to issue
any comment," Akbar said.
The President said last month he planned to make a one-day
state visit to Malaysia later this month. The trip would have
been Habibie's first since he replaced former president Soeharto
in May.
He is also scheduled to go there in November to attend an Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Akbar, however, said this month's visit would likely be
canceled due to Habibie's busy activities, including the
commemoration of the Armed Forces (ABRI) 53rd anniversary on
Monday and the preparation for the special session of the
People's Consultative Assembly next month.
"It seems that the President feels it is rather difficult for
him to leave Indonesia."
He did not link the cancellation with Malaysia's domestic
situation.
Also on Thursday, Malaysian politician Ghafar Baba retracted
earlier blunt criticism against Indonesian media reports on
Anwar's sacking by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He had
challenged the Indonesian people to take Anwar as their own
leader if they were so sympathetic to "a homosexual figure".
"No insult was intended toward anyone, including the
leadership and the Indonesian media," AFP reported Ghafar as
saying in Malaysia.
Ghafar came here last week to explain Malaysia's situation.
His statements, however, angered many Indonesians, including some
Moslem activists who demanded that he be sent home immediately
for insulting the country.
Anwar is popular among young people and even top officials
here. Habibie is known to have had a closer relation with Anwar,
while Mahathir was reportedly closer to former president
Soeharto.
"People can hand out their own judgments on our media, but it
does not mean that it will affect the close relations between
Malaysia and Indonesia," Akbar said about Ghafar's remarks.
Relations between the two countries have not always been
smooth. Founding president Sukarno severed diplomatic ties with
Malaysia on Sept. 17, 1963, just two days after Kuala Lumpur
declared the establishment of the Malaysian Federation State.
The two countries became entangled in armed clashes for three
years until 1966, during which Sukarno branded the Malaysian
state as a new British colonial project which endangered
Indonesia's unfinished revolution.
The two countries reopened diplomatic relations in August
1966, five months after Soeharto came to power.
Akbar said on Thursday that Habibie had not had any contact
with Mahathir since the new development in the peninsular state.
"I think there's been no (contact). In the past there was, but
I do not think recently."
In New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas and his
Malaysian counterpart, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, signed a joint
notification to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on
Wednesday over the long-standing dispute over Sipadan and Ligitan
islands in Kalimantan.
The dispute over the two tiny islands, located just off the
northeast coast of Kalimantan, first arose in 1969. Both
countries claim sovereignty over the islands based on their
colonial inheritance.
Soeharto and Mahathir agreed two years ago to bring the case
to the ICJ. (prb)