Indonesia welcomes new leader in Malaysia

Indonesia welcomes new leader in Malaysia

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government welcomed on Friday the change of guard in Malaysia
from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
and expressed the hope that the two neighboring countries would
continue to maintain their excellent diplomatic relations.

"We note that this is a very important step for Malaysia, but
we hope that we can continue to cooperate with the new
government," spokesman of the foreign affairs ministry Marty
Natalegawa said here on Friday.

He pointed out that Mahathir's 22 years of leadership as prime
minister had brought a lot of development not only for Malaysia
but also for the Southeast Asia region.

"The (Indonesian) government's stance on the succession was
expressed eloquently by President Megawati Soekarnoputri during
the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit in
Bali. We've nothing more to add to that," Marty said.

During the summit, Megawati bid a tearful farewell to Mahathir
and praised him for his "informed" views.

"He always had strong and informed views and never hesitated
to say the unpleasant. That is why I can say with confidence that
Dr. Mahathir may leave office, but he will never abandon his
involvement with ASEAN," Megawati said during the summit, which
marked Mahathir's last ASEAN meeting as prime minister of
Malaysia.

Unlike former Indonesian president Soeharto, who was forced to
resign from the presidency after 32 years of iron-fisted rule,
Mahathir gracefully bowed out on Friday.

When once asked whether Soeharto's fate was one of the reasons
why he decided to quit office, Mahathir said: "I do not want to
stick around until the people kick me out."