European Parliament vows support for Indonesia

European Parliament vows support for Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): Visiting envoys of the European Parliament began
on Tuesday a visit aimed at exploring what the parliament can do
to help Indonesia develop democracy, empower the people and
establish good and clean governance, specifically at provincial
and regency levels.

Speaking at a media conference that marked the start of their
five-day visit to the country, Nirj Deva and John Bowis from the
Committee on Development and Cooperation of the parliament
underlined their organization's support for Indonesia now that it
had embarked on its critical chapter of regional autonomy.

"I have to underscore that we are here to listen to what is
best for the country. We are not here to support separatism or
battle or tell Indonesia what to do," Bowis told journalists.

"What we would like to do here is to enhance peace and the
democratization process in the country."

Deva said that the parliament would provide help on the things
that it was good at, including democratization, human rights and
the empowerment of people at the grassroots level.

For these purposes, he said the 15-nation parliament had
provided US$20 billion in financial aid for people around the
world.

Deva stressed that empowering the people, through the
implementation of regional autonomy, was the best way for a
country to move forward, improving people's potential and letting
the people also share the fruits of the country.

He underlined that Indonesia was very important to the
parliament due to the fact that it is the largest Muslim country
in the world and because of its vast territory.

"It is very important to raise the profile of Indonesia in the
European Parliament ... What happens in Indonesia will have an
impact on China and the rest of Asia," Deva said.

During their visit, the two members are scheduled to hold
talks with President Abdurrahman Wahid, House of Representative
Speaker Akbar Tandjung, several ministers and legislators.

The visit of the parliament representatives was arranged by
the Institute for Good Governance and Regional Development
(IGGRD), a non-governmental organization founded by Matori Abdul
Djalil and Willi Toisuta. (dja)