Govt urged to go all out for extradition treaty with S'pore

Govt urged to go all out for extradition treaty with S'pore

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Indonesian legislators renewed their calls for the government to
expedite efforts to establish a long-awaited extradition treaty
with Singapore.

The appeal surfaced during a hearing between members of the
House Commission I for defense, information, foreign and
political affairs with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda on Thursday.

"We ask the minister of foreign affairs to make more serious
efforts to solve problems with our neighboring countries, such as
the extradition treaty with Singapore," the commission said.

The Indonesian authorities have requested Singapore, a tiny
but prosperous city-state, to sign an extradition treaty as many
Indonesian nationals accused of corruption have reportedly fled
to Singapore to avoid trial in Indonesia. The treaty will enable
the Singaporean government to extradite Indonesians accused of
crimes committed in Indonesia.

Hassan said that Singapore had submitted a list of questions
regarding the technicalities of Indonesian law both in December
2003 and August 2004.

Indonesia, said Hassan, had answered all the questions and
submitted a note inviting the Singaporean authorities to hold
bilateral consultations on the issues.

"But Singapore has yet to show its readiness to sit together
(with Indonesian government) in a bilateral meeting to discuss
the issue," he told the commission.

During the hearing, a number of commission members expressed
their impatience and lashed out at Singapore for not cooperating
with Indonesia to establish the treaty.

They warned that any further delays in talks would hamper the
relations between the two countries.

"We, as the representatives of the Indonesian people, need to
declare Singapore as an enemy of the country because they haven't
shown the goodwill to sign the treaty with us," Mashadi of the
Reform faction said.

Yasril Ananda Baharuddin of Golkar Party concurred.

"I agree with Mashadi, we have said earlier that if the
Singaporean authorities still do not show goodwill by the end of
the current government period, we will declare Singapore the
enemy of our country," Yasril said.

During the last five years, Singapore has been emerging as an
important player in the crisis-hit Indonesian economy. Now it has
investments in the telecommunications, banking, health, property
and automotive sectors. The increasing presence of Singapore in
vital sectors of the Indonesian economy has caused concern among
many Indonesians, including some House members.

But Hassan expressed optimism that the two countries could
soon set up "a joint technical meeting" especially designed to
discuss the extradition treaty preparation.

"This is not a difficult agreement, we have already set up
such treaties with a number of countries, but we can't force
Singapore to do that," he said.

Indonesia -- the largest nation in Southeast Asia -- has
signed extradition treaties with Hong Kong, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Australia.

Thursday's hearing was also intended to review and assess the
foreign ministry's performance and its policies. Indonesia will
hold the presidential election runoff next Monday, and the new
president and vice president will be installed on Oct. 20.