Indonesia closes ranks with peace backers on Iraq
Indonesia closes ranks with peace backers on Iraq
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian government and civil society leaders closed
ranks with peace backers France, Germany, and Russia over demands
to resolve the Iraq crisis through diplomatic means, sending yet
another message to the United States to drop its war plans.
In a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday,
the government said it "fully shares and supports the idea of
strengthening the UN inspection team as suggested in the new
initiative".
France, Germany and Russia suggested bringing in more weapons
inspectors and equipment into Iraq to make sure it met resolution
1441 on the disarmament of its weapons of mass destruction.
Foreign affairs spokesman Marty M. Natalegawa said the measure
"would send a powerful signal of the international community's
common sense of purpose in urgently addressing the question of
Iraq in an effective yet peaceful way,"
There are concerns that Iraq has failed to comply with the
resolution after the UN inspection team presented the Security
Council a mixed report last month.
The France-led proposal for more time and more inspection
personnel came in response to the U.S.' call to disarm Iraq by
force. Britain and Australia have lined up behind the U.S. call
and eight European Union country members have voiced their
support.
But Indonesia has consistently stressed the need to maximize
the use of all diplomatic means to find a peaceful and lasting
solution to the Iraq crisis, Marty said.
The government's position is shared by the public, indicated
by the ongoing antiwar protests in Jakarta and other cities.
Last week thousands of antiwar protesters from the Justice
Party clogged Jakarta's main thoroughfares for hours.
And as the war drums from Washington grow louder, an antiwar
movement is forming in Indonesia. Prominent activists and various
religious leaders joined in a high profile antiwar committee to
press the case for peace.
Some of the names in the committee are journalist Goenawan
Mohamad, Muslim scholars Nurcholish Madjid and Ulil Abshar
Abdalla, rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis, and singer Iwan
Fals.
The committee also groups together representatives from major
religious groups as well as Indonesia's expatriate communities.
On Friday evening, dozens of women from the Women's Alliance
Against War staged a protest at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle,
holding up candles and distributing flyers to motorists.
Since last week small groups of protesters have shown up at
the French, German, Russian and Chinese embassies, appealing to
their governments to do more to prevent the war in Iraq.
The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Indonesia Vladimir
Y. Plotnikov said his government was doing its utmost to prevent
the war from happening.
Russia and Indonesia, he said, agreed that any action against
Iraq must come under a UN mandate.
"The Russian position is very clear and simple: we cannot
launch an attack because the UN inspection team has not found any
evidence (of weapons of mass destruction)," Plotnikov told
reporters.
He said diplomatic pressure on Washington was coming from all
around the world on a bilateral basis.
U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce has said that he
understood Indonesia's position and he did not expect to have its
support in the possible war.