Gus Dur to go ahead with Aussie trip
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid looks set to walk into another political firestorm, as it was revealed on Thursday that a planned visit to Australia later this month would go ahead as scheduled.
When asked about the trip, members of the House of Representatives Commission I for political, security and foreign affairs were quick to criticize Abdurrahman, saying his visit to Australia would only be a waste of money and time.
Sutradara Gintings of the Indonesian Nationhood faction said Abdurrahman should focus on domestic problems, particularly the possible impeachment proceedings hanging over his head.
"I don't see any benefit of the visit," Sutradara told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Paulus Widianto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said the President had already visited dozens of countries, but to this day there were few tangible benefits from the excursions.
"As with his other visits, I do not think this visit to Australia will benefit our country," Paulus said.
One faction that did hail the President's planned trip was, not surprisingly, his own National Awakening Party (PKB).
PKB's Effendy Choirie said the visit was evidence that "Gus Dur is not worried about impeachment".
Presidential press bureau chief Garibaldi Sujatmiko confirmed the President's three-day visit to Australia was scheduled to begin on June 24.
Garibaldi said the President would visit several cities including Canberra, Darwin and Sydney, but had canceled plans to travel to Melbourne.
"During the six-day overseas trip the President will also spend one night in New Zealand before flying to the Philippines," Garibaldi said.
The trip has already been canceled four times, and the hard feelings resulting from the 1999 East Timor debacle have not been completely forgotten by some politicians here.
When Abdurrahman travels to Australia, he will be the highest ranking Indonesian official to visit the country since then vice president Try Sutrisno in September 1994.
Garibaldi declined to say why the President was also going to Manila, which he has already visited twice.
"The President is only staying a day in Manila before returning to Jakarta on June 30," Garibaldi said.
Last month the President traveled to Thailand to meet with new Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The visit to Manila may be a introductory visit to new President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Such courtesy calls are common practice among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government would be delighted to receive Abdurrahman, who is due to meet with Prime Minister John Howard on June 25.
"The central issue is that despite the political difficulties he has at home ... he has shown a very strong commitment in recent times to come to Australia, he's wanted genuinely to come," AP quoted Downer as saying in Canberra.
He added that Wahid's visit demonstrated the commitment between the two countries to mend relations.
"This does underline a point that I have made for a very long time and that is that the relationship with Indonesia is being restored, has been restored, a good deal more quickly than a lot of people had anticipated," Downer said. (02/prb)