Government will review stance on Afghan assault

Government will review stance on Afghan assault

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After giving out confusing signals, the Indonesian government
decided on Thursday it would review its official stance on the
U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan.

The decision was taken in a meeting of senior officials at the
office of Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

State Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul
Mu'arif said after the meeting that Indonesia faced a dilemma:
whether to ally with the U.S. or bow to domestic pressures.

"Until then (the review) there should be no groups or
individuals making trouble and complicating our position," he
said.

The confusion over the government's stand began on Sunday when
President Megawati spoke during the ceremony for the Ascension of
the Prophet Muhammad at the Grand Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta. She
implicitly denounced the U.S.-led assault on Afghanistan, saying
that assaulting a sovereign country was unacceptable under any
pretext. When the U.S. launched its attack on Afghanistan on Oct.
7, the government merely expressed concern.

The Megawati administration's seemingly hardening stance
received praise from her critics at home but raised question as
to which was official.

Trade and Industry Minister Rini Soewandi denied on Thursday
that Megawati had condemned the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan
and said Jakarta had not wavered in its support for a war on
terrorism.

Rini said media reports had distorted Megawati's comments.
Moreover, U.S. officials had neither questioned the country's
commitment to the anti-terrorism fight nor threatened economic
sanctions, she added.

"The U.S. understands that the perception (of Megawati's
comments) by the media, or by some of the media, was not the true
stance of Indonesia. It was not the intention of Indonesia to
relax its position on terrorism," she told Reuters in Shanghai.

Megawati's Sunday statement has sparked a diplomatic furor.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard strongly criticized it,
British Ambassador to Indonesia Richard Gozney "appreciated" it,
while political observer J. Kristiadi warned of a backlash.

The most scathing criticism came from Howard, who saw
Megawati's statement as a loosening of Indonesia's commitment to
the fight against global terrorism.

Antara quoted Howard as saying, "It's important that the so-
called largest Muslim country should not let the issue become
Islam against others .... It should never happen."

Howard threatened to raise his objection to Megawati's stance
at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai this
weekend.

Howard's statement has met equally strong reaction from
Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Sudjadna Parnohadiningrat in
Canberra. The envoy said Howard had made a misleading comment on
Megawati's recent stand.

Sudjadna said Howard wanted to win the support of Australian
people who will cast their votes in the general election on Nov.
10 when the prime minister will compete with rival Kim Beazley of
the Labor Party.

"I really regret that Australian politicians are using
Indonesian issues as material in their election campaigns," he
said.

The ambassador stressed that Megawati's statement was a
manifestation of Indonesia's foreign political policy, which was
"independent and active".

In Jakarta, Ambassador Gozney told journalists, after meeting
with Vice President Hamzah Haz, "We appreciate the statement of
Ibu Megawati as president of a sovereign country."

Gozney, who speaks fluent Bahasa Indonesia, reiterated that
the U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan had targeted terrorists and
the forces that gave them safe haven, not Islam itself, as some
Muslim groups here had seen it.

J. Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) said that by ignoring Megawati's latest statement,
the U.S. meant to show that it knew who actually was for or
against its military action in Afghanistan.

"Don't assume that the U.S. considers Indonesia means that
much by it," he said.

It is possible that the U.S. is taking a hostile stance on
Indonesia in order to defend its principles regarding terrorism.
"Indonesia has to be careful about maintaining good relations
with the U.S. because we rely heavily on it for our economy."