Govt congratulates Bush, expects stronger ties

Govt congratulates Bush, expects stronger ties

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja
and M. Taufiqurrahman
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The government congratulated President George W. Bush on Thursday
over his reelection and expressed a hope for stronger ties with
the world's only superpower country.

"The government of Indonesia congratulates President George W.
Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney on their re-election
and wish them success in their second term in dealing with the
various challenges facing both the United States and the world,"
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The statement said multidimensional and productive relations
between the two countries should be strengthened in the interests
of both the U.S. and Indonesian people.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself is expected to give
Bush a call on Friday to congratulate him on his second term in
the White House.

Analysts, however, doubted on Thursday whether Bush's
reelection would bring about any change in bilateral ties between
Indonesia and the United States.

Bantarto Bandoro of the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) said that the support for Bush in Tuesday's
election indicated that the incumbent won the approval of U.S.
citizens to continue his war on terrorism.

"The Bush administration will continue to pursue the war on
terrorism and Indonesia will therefore be affected by this,"
Bantarto told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

He said terrorism would remain a global threat and cooperation
between individual countries would be indispensable to ward off
the menace.

"Cooperation in the fight against terrorism will bring
Indonesia, the U.S. and Australia closer together," he said.

However, Bantarto said that the war on terror would receive
wider support if the Bush administration took a more benign
approach in its implementation.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the Indonesian Institute for Sciences
(LIPI) said that the government could not expect a speedy
resumption of the military relationship between the two
countries. The U.S. imposed a military embargo on the Indonesian
Military (TNI), following widespread allegations that gross human
rights abuses had taken place after East Timor separated from
Indonesia in 1999.

"The problem does not lie with the Bush administration, but
with the U.S. Congress, which wants to maintain the embargo. In
fact, President Bush wanted to resume the military ties early in
his first administration," she told the Post.

When asked about the growing resistance from radical groups
that resent the Bush antiterror drive, which they perceive as
targeting Muslims around the world, Dewi said: "It depends on
whether the Indonesian government manages to dispel the suspicion
that it merely bows down to U.S. interests."

She also said that such resistance would not materialize if
the Bush administration pursued its antiterror drive prudently.