Megawati says Indonesia and Southeast Asia safe

Megawati says Indonesia and Southeast Asia safe

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Phnom Penh

President Megawati Soekarnoputri brushed aside on Tuesday global
fear of the safety of Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia
following a series of recent bombings in the region.

Speaking at a special press conference that wound up her
attendance at the ASEAN summit here, Megawati called on foreign
countries to lift travel warnings for Indonesia and other
Southeast Asian countries.

"I'm not specifically referring to Australia but to all
countries in the world. They should not act so excessively,
because Indonesia has never treated foreigners out of
proportion," Megawati said.

She said she had expressed her concerns to Australian Prime
Minister John Howard when the two met at the recent APEC forum in
Los Cabos, Mexico.

Travel warnings issued by foreign countries following the Oct.
12 Bali bombings have adversely affected tourism in the country.
Analysts have estimated the country will lose US$1.5 billion over
the next six months as a result of the slump in tourist arrivals.

Australia is among the countries to advise its citizens to
reconsider traveling to Indonesia following the bomb attack on
the resort island of Bali, which left nearly 200 people dead,
most of them Australians.

The United States and Britain took even more drastic measures,
withdrawing non-essential staff from their embassies in
Indonesia.

Following two bomb attacks in Thailand, U.S. authorities urged
on Friday all Americans in Southeast Asia to remain vigilant for
possible terrorist attacks across the region. Washington said it
believed extremist groups in the region "have transnational
capabilities to carry out attacks against locations where
Westerners congregate".

Megawati said Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries
had renewed their commitment to implement all measures agreed to
during last year's summit in Brunei, when the states first
declared their war on terrorism.

A series of conferences on terrorism, money laundering and
tourism will follow up this year's summit.

Megawati said the fact that Southeast Asia was hosting five
international events next year should help the region regain the
confidence of the world.

In 2003, the APEC summit will take place in Thailand, the
Islamic Organization Conference meeting in Malaysia, the ASEAN
summit in Bali, the Non-Aligned Movement conference in Malaysia
and the ASEAN-Japan summit in the Philippines.

In talks with South African President Tabo Mbeki earlier in
the day, Megawati also proposed a meeting of Asia-Africa regional
groupings in Bandung in April next year, to commemorate the 48th
anniversary of Asia-Africa Conference, the seed of the Non-
Aligned Movement. The conference was initiated by, among others,
Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, who is Megawati's father.

In an apparent show of support, ASEAN secretary-general
Rodolfo Severino said Megawati's regional counterparts had not
confronted her at the summit about her nation's efforts to fight
terrorism, and did not intend to do so.

"There is no call for Indonesia to do more, but there are
messages of support for both Indonesia and the Philippines,"
Severino said as quoted by AFP.

Megawati said that despite the new burdens resulting from the
Bali bombings, Indonesia had its confidence boosted by assurances
from Japan, South Korea and China that they would continue
bilateral cooperation with Indonesia.

Megawati's press conference was moved back an hour from 6 p.m.
local time. A member of the President's protocol team said
Megawati needed to rest after attending the last session of the
summit.

Spending over 10 minutes briefing Indonesian journalists about
the outcome of the summit, Megawati took only three questions
from the floor before leaving to prepare for a farewell dinner
hosted by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.