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)