Indonesia's neighbors concerned over riots

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia said yesterday that it is concerned over unrest in Indonesia and is closely monitoring the situation.

"We are of course concerned, monitoring this very closely," Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told reporters. "But we wish them all the best, that they are able to resolve this period of difficulties."

In Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai expressed hopes yesterday that riots in Indonesia would not escalate, but said he could not forecast an end to the violence.

Thailand's powerful army chief Chetta Thanajaro added that the Thai military was prepared to evacuate some 500 Thais living in Indonesia if the situation deteriorated.

"I cannot predict the situation there because of the distance...but only offer support and hope that Indonesia would manage to find peace and solutions," Chuan said.

"As a friend and ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) member, we must offer assistance as its problems would affect us one way or the other."

Chuan said Thailand would feel the negative economic impact of the Indonesian violence but the shock would be less severe than that felt by Singapore or Malaysia.

Army commander in chief Chetta said he expected Indonesia's President Soeharto to control the spreading riots and protests.

"I think President Soeharto will eventually manage to keep the situation under control," Chetta told reporters.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said China is concerned over the riots in Indonesia and hoped the crisis- ridden country could maintain national harmony.

"We have noticed unrest in some areas of Indonesia recently, and the Chinese side voices its concern over this," Zhu told a regular news briefing.

In Canberra, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the worsening violence in Indonesia was deeply disturbing and urged security forces there to exercise restraint in dealing with the protests.

"The disturbances which have occurred are deeply disturbing," Howard said.

"We express the profound hope that there will be no more violence and no more deaths, and we ask the government of Indonesia to ensure that the security forces of the country behave with appropriate restraint," he said.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer, said mounting instability and violence in Indonesia were putting severe pressure on President Soeharto's government.

"It's not for me to get into speculating about the politics of other countries, but obviously the Soeharto regime is under a great deal of pressure now," Downer told Sydney radio 2UE, when asked if the violence spelt the end for Soeharto's government.

"A near neighbor is in a state of instability -- it doesn't mean there's going to be any direct effect on our country, but it obviously is a matter for concern and something we have to watch."

Change

The leader of Australia's Labor opposition party, Kim Beazley, said the student deaths meant the instability could not be ignored anymore and the government now had to use its influence to force change in Indonesia.

"Not only does it contain within it the seeds of potentially terrible loss of life in Indonesia, it has also got a regional outreach that none of Indonesia's good friends and neighbors can ignore," Beazley told reporters.

"There has to be a political transition. There has to be political change."

In London, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Indonesia was paying the price for ignoring his warnings last year that civil liberties were critical to economic success.

Cook, speaking to BBC radio, also stressed that Britain's new Labour government had refused to sell Indonesia equipment that could be used for internal repression.

Cook said what was happening in Indonesia, where mobs have rampaged through the capital Jakarta for three days, underscored the importance of open government to a flourishing economy.

"In Jakarta last August I said that civil liberty and open government were not the enemies of economic success. Nowadays they are conditions for it," said Cook, who has vowed to make Britain's foreign policy more ethically based.

"Sadly what is currently happening in Indonesia actually underlines how true that is and how tragic it is that the government of Indonesia have not grasped that ... yet," he said.

Cook said that although some British equipment -- such as water cannon -- has been used to suppress riots in Indonesia, none of it had been exported since the Labour government took power.

"Sadly it does appear to be the case that some of the equipment used in those riots are from Britain," he said.

"They would, of course, not have been sold under the new criteria which we brought in and under which we have refused seven applications from Indonesia very much for the type of equipment that the previous government did sell," he said.

"We made a very clear distinction between legitimate defense exports for self-defense which could not be used for internal repression and equipment, such as equipment sold by the last government like the water cannons, which can be."

In Moscow, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said all sides in the political conflict in Indonesia should show restraint and begin a dialog.

"Clearly, as a number of U.S. officials have stated, restraint on all sides is very important. Opening up to political dialog is essential," he said, adding that economic problems, not International Monetary Fund remedies, had created the conditions that have caused popular unrest.

Asked whether the IMF had contributed to the crisis, he said: "I think it is very important not to confuse the doctor with the disease."

Summers, who was in Moscow for meetings with Russian officials, said: "The fundamental cause of price increases, inflationary pressures, is the econ conditions...rather than the program that is in place with the IMF."

The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta urged American citizens to defer non-essential travel to Indonesia, an official said Thursday.

Mike Owens, the No. 2 official at the U.S. Embassy, said dependents of embassy staff and non-essential personnel were also free to leave the country.

Japan

Meanwhile, Japan, the main financial backer of Indonesia, said yesterday that it was becoming very concerned about growing unrest in Indonesia.

Chief government spokesman Kanezo Muraoka said Japan was closely monitoring the situation in Indonesia which in the year to last March received aid totaling 215.25 billion yen (US$1.60 billion) from Tokyo.

"We are very concerned (about the situation in Indonesia)," Muraoka told his regular daily news conference.

Asked about the safety of Japanese citizens in Indonesia, estimated at around 20,000 including tourists, Muraoka said: "We are carefully monitoring the situation."

But he said Japan's military was not considering at this stage sending planes to Indonesia to evacuate its citizens.

In Bonn, a senior German government official said the world's major industrial nations would discuss the economic crisis and social unrest rocking Indonesia at its Birmingham summit this weekend.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there had been significant progress in calming the financial crisis in Korea and Thailand, but added that political problems remained in Indonesia. "I expect this to be discussed by the chiefs in Birmingham."

Germany yesterday warned its citizens not to travel to Indonesia.

"Because of the tense situation in Indonesia the Foreign Ministry advises travelers not to go to Indonesia (with the exception of Bali) for the time being," the ministry said.

The European Union on Wednesday called on the Indonesian government to investigate deaths in recent disturbances and to refrain from lethal force.

"The recent upsurge in violence and loss of life in Indonesia is disturbing," said a statement released by the Foreign Office in Britain, the current president of the EU.

"The EU has frequently urged the Indonesian authorities to exercise maximum restraint in handling civil disturbances and stressed the importance of respecting freedom of association and speech. The confrontation with the students underlines the urgent need for political reform in Indonesia," the statement said.