House to urge Gus Dur to delay Australian visit
House to urge Gus Dur to delay Australian visit
JAKARTA (JP): Upset by the latest remarks of Australian
foreign minister Alexander Downer, the House of Representatives
has vowed to continue urging President Abdurrahman Wahid to
cancel his visit to Canberra, a senior legislator said.
Contacted on Sunday, Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, chairman of the
House's Commission I for Political, Security and Foreign Affairs,
said the President had to cancel the visit since Australia has
failed to show friendship but displayed only arrogance toward
Indonesia.
"Downer's statement today has shown their arrogance. He has no
willingness to improve the relationship," Yasril said.
He was commenting on the statements made by Downer in an
interview broadcasted on Sunday by Ten television network which
was then quoted by several agencies, including AFP.
During the interview, Downer accused Indonesian politicians of
exploiting the troubled relationship between the two countries
for their own domestic advantage.
"There are one or two people in the Indonesian parliament who
have their radar on to pick up any scrap of information they
could use against Australia," he told the television network.
"It really wouldn't matter what we did. They would find a way
of using that to criticize us. That is the mind-set," he said.
Downer also said the President's visit in November has been
opposed by some House members in Indonesia for one reason or
another, he said.
Yasril said the House -- particularly members of Commission I
-- deeply regretted Downer's statement which accused Indonesian
legislators of using the Jakarta-Canberra relations for domestic
purposes.
"We don't want our President to be trapped by Australian long-
term political interests. It's for our national interest," he
reminded.
Yasril explained that Australia's long term political
interests must still be related to its unfriendly conduct toward
Indonesians over the recent East Timor case.
Contacted separately, legislator A. Effendy Choirie from PKB
(National Awakening Party), founded by Gus Dur, said his party
had no objection at all to the President's proposed visit to
Australia even though the current government in Canberra might
use the visit for their domestic political interests.
"It's okay if the Australian government wanted to use the
visit for their own interests. But Australia should also give
benefits to Indonesia," Effendy, also from Commission I, said.
According to him, PKB saw the bilateral relationship between
Indonesia and Australia as very important, and that Indonesia
must show friendship and maintain a civilized relationship even
though Australia has shown arrogance in the past.
President Abdurrahman, he said, should not be obliged to obey
any demands raised by House members about his visit to Canberra.
(jun)