Megawati lashes out at foreign trip critics
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, now in Algeria, defended her much-criticized foreign visit to several countries, saying that she would go ahead with the trip despite the controversy at home.
"It is my job to reintroduce Indonesia, which has been out of the international political spotlight due to the prolonged crisis in the country over the last four years," the President said at a meeting with some 60 Indonesian citizens in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, late on Friday.
Megawati said that Indonesia needs to be active to resume its role in the international forum because its foreign policy was based on freedom and independence.
"The House of Representatives has been so outspoken that the foreign trip has raised pros and cons among its members. Some have said I should not have made the trip as it is a waste of money and that it would be a picnic," she added.
Megawati and her entourage, including her husband Taufik Kiemas, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hasan Wirayudha and several other ministers, are on an unprecedented four-day visit following her attendance at the Johannesburg Summit in South Africa.
Many sides, including a number of legislators, criticized the foreign visit because she was leaving behind a number of problems at home, mainly the plight of tens of thousands of Indonesian illegal workers stranded in Nunukan, East Kalimantan. So far, the death toll has reached 70. Poor living conditions and the outbreak of diarrhea in town are to blame for the high number of deaths.
The President argued that she embarked on the foreign visit to fulfill invitations from several countries having good bilateral ties with Indonesia.
"The invitations should not be turned down. Upon my arrival home, I will share the results of the foreign visit," she said.
It is estimated that her annual foreign trips over the last two years have cost about US$22.8 million (Rp 205 billion).
From Algiers, Megawati and her entourage are scheduled to continue on to Hungary, Bosnia, Croatia and Egypt. The President is slated to arrive home on Sept. 14.