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.