Govt rejects calls to change stance over U.S. attacks

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government rejected on Tuesday angry calls by several Muslim organizations to review its stance after the United States and its allies launched the military component of their worldwide campaign against terrorism on Sunday.

Underlining the importance of regaining international trust to help remedy the national economy, Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil reiterated that the government's stance is firm despite vocal criticism from several Muslim groups.

"Our (the government's) stance is clear and we are not going to review it even though both the United States government and several religious groups here criticized us," Matori said after a coordination meeting on political and security affairs.

The Indonesian government, in its stance issued on Monday, simply said that it had expressed concern over the attacks and urged Washington to keep its operation limited to military and terrorist targets to minimize civilian casualties.

Several Muslim groups such as the Jihad Force Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, the Hizbullah Front, the Islam Defender Front (FPI), and the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), immediately criticized the stance and urged the government to freeze diplomatic relations with the U.S. and its allies.

U.S. military sources report that they have no reports of civilian casualties and all targets were military-related. According to AFP, sources in Kabul, Afghanistan confirmed only military targets were hit, however Taliban sources have put the figure of civilian casualties over 30, but those could not be independently confirmed.

Separately in Pekanbaru, Riau, Vice President Hamzah Haz warned the public not to engage in an emotional response over the U.S. attacks, explaining that the U.S.-led coalition has promised that it would only strike terrorist targets.

The Vice President reminded those gathered that any emotional response would be severely negative in its impact to the country's effort to get out from under the current economic crisis, that has caused Indonesia to suffer over the last four years.

Matori further explained that the government is determined to take the responsibility to protect both the international residents of Indonesia and foreign assets here.

"I know that many people here are disappointed because we do not condemn the attacks, but I hope the people will understand that our country is facing two major problems -- the economic crisis and national instability. We need the international trust in our country to help resolve the two problems," Matori said.

Hamzah admitted that as Muslims there will be a feeling of solidarity among Indonesian over the suffering of the Afghan people, but their solidarity should be expressed professionally and should not disturb Indonesian national stability.

He underscored the fact that any retaliation against the countries backing the U.S. attacks could cause a major economic setback for Indonesia, as it could ignite a further slump of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar and virtually dry up any foreign investment here.

"Previous (to the anti-U.S. demonstrations) the conversion of one American dollar was already stable at Rp 8,500, but now the value has dropped to Rp 10,600. And we are worried that it could further slip to the Rp 11,000 level," Hamzah said as quoted by Antara.

He underlined that should the rupiah hit the Rp 11,000 level it would be very difficult for Indonesia as many foreign investors will leave the country, thereby further worsening the unemployment problem.

The Vice President further asked the people to pray for the Afghanistan people and provide humanitarian support instead of launching violent, chaotic actions here.

Separately, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle supported the government stance on Tuesday, saying that the most important thing is to step up the diplomacy effort to resolve the current conflict in Afghanistan rather than to condemn the attacks.

"We urge the U.S. to limit their military strikes and our party will provide humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people. And in a bid to help calm down the anti-American rallies we will support the National Police to maintain order," the party's secretary general Soetjipto said.