Alan Taylor summoned over second flag burning

Alan Taylor summoned over second flag burning

JAKARTA (JP): Australian Ambassador Alan Taylor was summoned
to the Indonesian foreign ministry on Wednesday, the second time
in 10-days, over another Indonesian flag burning incident in
Australia.

Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said he summoned the ambassador
after receiving reports that a group of six to 10 demonstrators
burned the Indonesian flag and an effigy of President Soeharto in
Darwin on Tuesday.

"I expressed the government's strong protest about the
incident," Alatas said after the meeting with the ambassador.

Another flag-burning incident also reportedly happened in
Melbourne yesterday, involving about 200 pro-East Timorese. They
burned flags and jostled guests attending a function at the
Indonesian consulate held to mark the 50th anniversary of
Indonesian independence, AFP reported.

These incidents threaten to undermine relations between
Jakarta and Canberra.

The demonstrators were protesting Indonesia's 1976 integration
of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor. The first
occurrence reportedly happened in Melbourne at the beginning of
the month at a protest over Indonesia's participation in the
Kangaroo 1995 joint military exercise in northern Australia.

According to Alatas, Taylor regretted the incident but
maintained that there was not much Canberra could do.

"We are not asking them (the Australian government) to stop
the demonstration, we realize that in Australia there is freedom
to demonstrate, even here you can do it too. What we regret is
the burning of the flag. For us the flag is sacred," Alatas
explained.

Regret

Yesterday, Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said he
deeply regretted demonstrations, including the burning of
Indonesian flags.

Evans said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post
that Australians did not always understand how the burning of a
national flag could be a direct insult and an attack on a
country's national pride and dignity.

"Such actions are not illegal anywhere in Australia, and
accordingly there is little that law enforcement authorities can
do when protesters choose to express themselves in this way," he
said.

Alatas said Canberra should take preventive steps to prevent a
repetition of the incident, and cited talking to the perpetrators
as one possible alternative.

"Every time we expressed our protest, all the Australian side
did was to say that they regret it... If that (to do nothing but
regret) is the case, I'm deeply concerned," Alatas said.

He lamented the fact that this small group of protesters could
hold "hostage" relations between the two countries.

Relations between Indonesia and Australia became strained when
the Indonesian government had to withdraw retired Lt. Gen.
H.B.L. Mantiri's nomination as ambassador to Canberra in June.

Despite having already accepted his nomination, Australian
Foreign Minister Gareth Evans asked Mantiri to apologize for a
comment he made concerning the killing of over 50 demonstrators
by security forces in Dili in 1991.

Commenting on Evans intention to visit East Timor early next
year, Alatas welcomed the idea saying that it could become "an
eye opener so that he does not make the kind of assumptions he is
making now."

"I am convinced that if he sees the situation, then he will
change his mind," Alatas said of his Australian counterpart.

Meanwhile, Abu Hartono, a member of the House of
Representatives from the Armed Forces faction also expressed
disappointment of the incident.

"The Australian government is responsible for preventing such
things," he said, stressing that Indonesians regard the national
red-and-white flag with highest honor and pride.

Abu said it was too early to talk about breaking off
diplomatic relations. (mds)