Megawati awarded honorary doctorate

Moscow's Institute of International Relations rector Alexander Turkunov presented Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri with an honorary doctorate on Tuesday for her contribution to "the development of mutual understanding between peoples and interaction between civilizations."

During the presentation, Megawati shared her experiences of preserving a national consensus in the multi-ethnic and multi- religious country and briefed the audience on development in Indonesia.

"For a country ... like Indonesia that has more than 300 ethnic groups with different religions, traditions and culture, an adequate national policy plays the deciding role," she was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

To prevent possible ethnic and religious conflicts as well as tension between representatives of different groups, Megawati said the Indonesian government had embarked on the decentralization process and given more say to various groups through elections.

Some problems may arise because of the unequal distribution of resources between the regions, Megawati admitted. However, the Indonesian government would take all necessary measures to alleviate the reform's negative consequences, she said. -- JP