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

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.