Envoys misinformed over KL meeting

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab assured on Friday that Indonesia harbored no political motive when its diplomats attended a briefing held by the wife of jailed Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur, and that their presence was merely a case of miscommunication.

"It is a matter of human error as, before attending the meeting, our diplomats received assurances that the meeting had clearance from the Malaysian government," Alwi told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"The problem was, we did not cross-check the information.

"There was no political motive at all, it was totally a case of miscommunication, as we believed the discussion was only about Anwar's health condition," he remarked.

Alwi further underlined that Indonesia would never jeopardize good relations between the two countries.

"I believe that Malaysia understands that we do not have any intention in meddling in their internal affairs and will always respect Malaysia's sovereignty as our close neighbor," he remarked.

Malaysia rapped foreign diplomats last week for attending a closed-door meeting with Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, saying that their attendance at such a meeting amounted to interference in Malaysia's domestic affairs.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad criticized the meeting and Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Wednesday that he would summon all diplomats attending the meeting to explain the incident.

It was reported that, besides Indonesian diplomats, there were also envoys from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, Germany and New Zealand in attendance.

Alwi said that this should be a very important lesson and that Indonesian diplomats in the future should only attend such meetings if there is clearance from the Malaysian government.

"Our embassy has sent a letter to Ibu Azizah regretting the inaccurate information she gave our diplomats. And we completely understand if Pak Mahathir was upset because of the matter," he said. (dja)