Gus Dur to embark on overseas visit next month

Gus Dur to embark on overseas visit next month

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid will visit the
United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand early next
month, a presidential aide said on Wednesday.

The President's secretary Djoko Moeljono said Wahid will first
travel to New York to attend the UN Millennium Summit, which is
expected to draw heads of state from around the world to discuss
the future of the world body.

Abdurrahman will later travel to Canada and Europe. Djoko did
not say which countries in Europe the President will stop or what
was the purpose of the trip. He also did not give exact dates for
the journey.

Gus Dur, as the President is popularly called, will then fly
to Australia for a long-awaited state visit and then onto New
Zealand, Djoko said.

Jakarta has had a rocky relationship with both countries since
they took leading roles in last year's international military
intervention in East Timor.

Abdurrahman, who has visited more than 30 countries since
taking office in October last year, has been criticized by
legislators for putting global issues ahead of unsolved domestic
problems.

The House of Representatives warned Abdurrahman in June to put
future overseas trips on hold because he had used up most of his
annual travel allowance.

The House Commission I for security and political affairs said
the President had used Rp 52.72 billion (US$5.85 million) --
around 98.64 percent -- of his state-allocated travel budget.

In June, Abdurrahman visited Tokyo, New York, Paris, Teheran,
Islamabad, Bahrain, Oman and Cairo in a bid to shore-up support
for his administration.

Djoko said that Abdurrahman's overseas trips have become so
frequent that the government has arranged a new deal with the
national airline, Garuda Indonesia, for future travel.

He said the deal would ensure a Garuda jet was available
whenever the President wanted to go anywhere. (byg)