Megawati scheduled to make first formal overseas trip
Megawati scheduled to make first formal overseas trip
JAKARTA (JP): After complaining about President Abdurrahman
Wahid's frequent trips abroad, Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri will eventually make her first formal overseas trip
on Sunday: a three-day visit to Singapore.
According to her official itinerary, issued by the Vice
Presidential office on Wednesday, Megawati's visit will be a
combination of work and private matters, because she will also
undergo a general medical check-up there.
The vice president will arrive in Singapore in the afternoon.
In the evening, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
will host a dinner for her.
"On Tuesday, Ibu Mega will undergo a general check-up at the
Mt. Elizabeth Hospital. But this is purely a private matter," an
official of the Merdeka Selatan Palace said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, she will deliver a key note speech in an
international conference on cooperative movements in the Asia
Pacific region, before flying home in the evening.
After meeting with Abdurrahman, who just returned from a two-
week overseas trip, the vice president went to Surabaya to
inspect the Naval base there.
She continued her trip to Bali and Yogyakarta in her capacity
as the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan). She will also visit Bandung on Saturday
afternoon.
Before contesting in the presidential election in October,
Megawati also checked her health in Singapore. At that time her
aides insisted that Megawati just wanted to be sure that her
medical record would not be leaked and misused for the election.
The vice president recently complained that she could only
visit the regions while the President had visited tens of foreign
countries.
She has made a few private foreign trips, including the
controversial visit to Hong Kong at the year's end and a private
visit to Singapore in April. The President was reportedly upset
with her visit to Hong Kong and asked her to cut her visit there.
Apart from the trip, the vice president is also scheduled to
announce her new team to assist her in her daily activities.
According to Vice Presidential Secretary Bambang Kesowo,
Megawati will likely announce the new team next Thursday.
"Insya Allah (God willing), the announcement will be made on
June 29," Bambang recently told The Jakarta Post. (prb)