Mega returns to souring U.S.-Indonesia ties

Mega returns to souring U.S.-Indonesia ties

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri returned from a two-week
visit to the United States and Japan on Sunday, as diplomatic
tension with Washington escalated in the wake of rising anti-
American protests at home.

Megawati addressed the concerns raised by the U.S. about the
safety of Americans in Indonesia amid threats by radical
organizations that they could be harmed if the U.S. attacked
Afghanistan in its campaign against terrorism.

"I call on the Indonesian people everywhere not to threaten
foreigners. They are our guests," she told reporters on board the
Garuda Indonesia Airbus that flew her from Tokyo.

If the situation were to get out of control, many Indonesians
who live abroad might feel the heat, she said.

"Can you imagine what would happen to the son of Pak Gogon
here who lives in America?" she asked, referring to Ahmad
Sumargono, a legislator of the Muslim Star and Crescent Party
(PBB), who participated in her trip in Tokyo.

Megawati also said that the government would clamp down on
radical groups if they carried out their threats.

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert S. Gelbard was criticized
by politicians and some Cabinet officials for his protestations
last week at the failure of the Indonesian police to clamp down
against militant organizations that had openly threatened to harm
American citizens in Indonesia.

Police have imposed extra security around the U.S. Embassy
building, the target of noisy but peaceful daily anti-American
protests last week, but they have refused to arrest leaders of
organizations that have made the threats.

While the authorities were dismissive of the threats, the U.S.
government took them very seriously by authorizing its embassy in
Jakarta to evacuate dependents and non-essential staff.

The last time the U.S. embassy evacuated its non-essential
personnel and dependents was in May 1998 just prior to massive,
violent antigovernment unrest in Jakarta.

A few days later, the regime of president Soeharto collapsed.

It was not immediately clear on Sunday whether the embassy had
began evacuating people but many other Americans said they were
watching the situation very closely. Some had already begun to
pack their bags, ready to leave at short notice.

Major American oil and mining companies such as PT Caltex
Pacific Indonesia, ExxonMobil and PT Freeport Indonesia said on
Friday that they had taken various precautions for their American
workers, but their operations were continuing.

Megawati said she would quickly convene a Cabinet meeting to
discuss the issue of foreigners' safety and security.

The President also faced criticism from some quarters for her
unequivocal support of President George W. Bush in the U.S.
campaign against international terrorism.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda, who accompanied
Megawati during the visits to the U.S. and Japan, told reporters
on Sunday that there had been no request from Washington for
Indonesia to join in any U.S.-led military campaign.

Hassan said that during the meeting Megawati had asked Bush to
consider the sensitivities of the Muslim people around the world
in its campaign against international terrorism.

Megawati's presence in Washington was widely billed by the
American media as a visit by the leader of the world's most
populous Muslim nation.

Some Muslim leaders in Indonesia have said that any U.S.
attack against Afghanistan would be construed as an attack on an
Islamic country. Other leaders, while opposing the U.S. plan,
have cautioned against turning it into an "Islam vs. the West"
issue.

The plane that flew the President and her entourage of about
100 people from Tokyo touched down at Halim Perdanakusuma airport
at precisely 3 p.m.

Megawati was greeted on the tarmac by Vice President Hamzah
Haz, whose remarks that the U.S. should "cleanse its sins" in the
aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks drew sharp rebukes from the
U.S.