Another protest at Australian embassy
Another protest at Australian embassy
JAKARTA (JP): About 20 students held a second demonstration in
less than a week outside the Australian embassy yesterday,
demanding an apology over a flag-burning incident in Melbourne
two weeks ago.
The demonstrators were members of the New Indonesian Youth
Legion, which represents six pro-democracy groups, including the
Forum for Democracy in Indonesia and Students for Solidarity and
Democracy in Indonesia.
Seven veiled women from the Moslem group Nurul Qur'an joined
the demonstration and chanted "Allahu akbar" (Allah is great).
Some demonstrators carried placards reading "Gareth Evans, go
to hell" and "I will fight for the honor of my flag," while
others scaled the embassy fence and hung an Indonesian flag
there.
A group of demonstrators in Melbourne reportedly burned an
Indonesian flag earlier this month. The Australian demonstrators
were expressing opposition to Indonesia's participation in an
international military exercise code-named Kangaroo 1995.
About 10 police and security officers kept watch at
yesterday's demonstration but did not intervene.
Three representatives of the demonstrators, Ananda, Mamok, and
Eko, were received by Australian Ambassador Alan Taylor.
After the meeting, which lasted less than half an hour, the
three emerged disappointed that the ambassador had declined their
demand for an apology.
"We will be back with more demonstrators," Eko said.
Ambassador Taylor reiterated his government's regret over the
incident.
"We very much regret the incident, but in terms of Australian
law and practice, the demonstration was quite legal and, despite
the upset that we understand it causes, the burning of national
flags is not illegal," Taylor told the press after meeting with
the protesters' representatives.
Taylor stressed, however, that his government understood the
resentment which the burning of the flag had caused, particularly
in the week of Indonesia's 50th anniversary celebrations.
Despite of the flag-burning incident and the demonstration,
Taylor said he believed that the "very strong" relationship
between Indonesia and Australia would continue.
"The relationship is built on a wide range of contacts and
investment, trade, educational exchanges, defense exchanges and
so on that have been built up over the last few years," he said.
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