Don't react excessively to flag burnings: ABRI

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) urged the public yesterday to refrain from "disproportionate" reactions to the burning of Indonesian flags in Australia, saying that these could jeopardize the good relations between the two countries.

ABRI chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Suwarno Adiwijoyo told The Jakarta Post that there were "anti-Indonesia" people abroad who "systematically" endeavored to incite Indonesians to react in such a way as could mar Australian-Indonesian relations.

By reacting disproportionately Indonesians are falling into their trap, he said.

A number of protests have taken place at the Australian embassy here over the past week, triggered by the burning of Indonesian flags at demonstrations in two Australian cities. The Association of Indonesian Importers (GINSI) has also threatened to boycott Australian products unless that country expels activists campaigning against Indonesian government policy from its territory by Sep. 18.

"The burning of flags in Australia (was aimed at inciting) Indonesian people to react disproportionately," Suwarno said. "If the relations between the two countries become bad, (Australia) won't care if those ("anti-Indonesians" intensify) their activities."

"The more indifferent that country is, the more free those people will be (in pursuing their goals)," he said. By contrast, "the better our relations, the more worried they will be."

Suwarno said the Indonesian government has responded adequately to the situation. The strong protests lodged by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas with the Australian government were "good enough," he said.

He also warned against retaliating in kind. "If we do similar things -- burning their flags -- we'll be the one who loses," he said. "For Indonesian people, the flag is a symbol of the country's honor. We once sacrificed our blood and tears for our flag...we hold it sacred."

Other nations may not hold their flags in such an esteemed place, he said. "For them, a flag may only be a piece of cloth. If it's burnt, they can always make a new one. Some of them even wear it as underwear and think nothing of it," he said.

By continually cultivating good relations between the governments of Indonesia and Australia, and between the armed forces of the two countries, the "anti-Indonesia" campaign could be limited, Suwarno said.

In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans urged yesterday both his country and Indonesia not to allow the flag- burning row to harm ties, saying Australia was prepared to suffer insults in the interests of good relations.

Evans said he hoped relations could begin to return to normal after the wave of protests in both countries, Reuters reported.

"There has been some reasonably explicit, and explicitly offensive things said about me and the Australian government and Australians generally," Evans said.

"We take that on the chin, we ride with those things and we're not going to make an issue of it," he said.

Meanwhile, two more demonstrations against Australia took place in Indonesia yesterday.

Some 2,000 students of Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, staged a noisy demonstration. Hundreds of placards and banners, with strongly-worded protests aimed at the Australian government, were displayed. Among them were: "The burning of flags is an insult to Indonesia", "It's hurting Indonesian people" and "We protest the burning."

An organizer of the protest, Djoko Yuwanto, read out a statement, urging the government to review its diplomatic ties with Australia and other countries which "have allowed the burning of Indonesian flags", such as the Philippines and New Zealand.

In Jakarta, sixteen students demonstrated outside the Australian embassy, then went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urge the government to take a tougher stance towards Australia.

Jakarta police said yesterday that they have deployed more personnel to safeguard the Australian embassy in Kuningan, South Jakarta, following last week's rowdy demonstrations there.

"By law, police have an obligation to guarantee the safety of everyone, including the staff of the foreign embassies," City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said.

Dibyo was quoted by Spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro as saying that the number of police deployed at the embassy had been increased in view of last week's incidents. (swe/har/bsr/01/mds)