Gus Dur on overseas trip again

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has been on foreign tours several times before, but his departure on Wednesday night to begin a two-week eight-nation tour has the most varied agenda, which includes a funeral service, a degree convocation, an international conference and a medical checkup.

Flying a Garuda Indonesia Airbus A-330, Abdurrahman and his entourage, which includes First Lady Shinta Nuriyah, are due to arrive in Tokyo on Thursday morning.

The President's main schedule in Tokyo is to attend the funeral of the late Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi.

The service is also an opportunity to meet other world leaders, and in particular, Abdurrahman is slated to hold a brief bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

During his one-day stay in Tokyo, Abdurrahman is also due to be the keynote speaker at an annual symposium of the Nihon Keizai economic newspaper.

Included in the entourage are Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab, Minister of Forestry and Plantations Nur Mahmudi Ismail, and Minister of State Administrative Reforms Rear Adm. (ret) Freddy Numbery.

From Tokyo, the President will continue his trip to the United States. He will fly to Salt Lake City and Baltimore for a medical examination. The checkup is a follow-up to last year's test on his ailing eyesight.

From there Abdurrahman will fly to New York to squeeze in a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday. Later that evening he will cross the Atlantic to Paris.

The President is due to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Sorbonne University.

Exactly 24 hours later, the presidential entourage will be in the air again heading for a series of one-day stops in Tehran, Islamabad, Bahrain and Oman.

His last stop will be a two-night stay in Cairo to attend the G-15 summit which brings together 15 leading developing countries. Indonesia is due to host the following G-15 Summit next year.

The President is due back home on June 21. (prb/byg)