Megawati awarded honorary doctorate

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