Megawati tells U.S. not to invade Iraq

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Kuala Lumpur

Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, leader of the world's most populous Muslim country, for the first time called on the United States not to invade Iraq unilaterally.

She also called on the United States to apply the principles of democracy it always championed in regard to Iraq.

"Indonesia called on the Unites States, which has been recognized and admired as the advocate of democracy, freedom and human rights, as well as its allies, to exercise self-restraint and refrain from unilateral action or use of force against Iraq."

The statement was made during the informal consultation of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) here on Wednesday. The President reiterated the stance at a press conference later Wednesday.

At the meeting, Megawati urged the OIC to adopt a unified stance and find ways to avert war. "We should not just talk, we have to find and increase our efforts to avert war in the Middle East," she said.

The world is on the alert as the U.S. has submitted the second resolution draft to the UN Security Council, that opens the possibility for the use of force in disarming Iraq, while at the same time France has submitted a memorandum against it.

Recognizing Washington as the champion of democracy, Megawati said the U.S. should apply the principles of democracy themselves.

"America is also part of the world, that has a pivotal role in the establishment of the United Nations, and has to play its part to follow UN processes in all case, including on Iraq."

To be fair to both sides, Megawati reiterated her call for the Iraqi government to "fully cooperate with the UN weapons inspection team so that the issue may be peacefully solved once and for all."

Trying to win the hearts of Muslims in Indonesia and anticipate possible waves of anti-American protests should Baghdad be attacked, Megawati has taken an opposite stance to Washington regarding Iraq.

The government has also established a special team, led by the country's former military chief Adm. (ret) Widodo A.S., to prepare for the evacuation of Indonesian citizens from the Middle East should war break out.

"Currently, Pak Widodo is in Jordan, he is still conducting a series of trips to set up an exit point should we need to evacuate our citizens from the region," Megawati said.

Megawati ended her five-days trip to Malaysia to attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and informal consultation of the OIC and returned to Jakarta on Wednesday evening.

She said that so far there was no confirmation as to whether the OIC emergency summit slated to be held in Qatar on March 5 would take place, although she has confirmed her attendance at the planned meeting.

During the trip, the President also had the opportunity to continue her role in attempting to help defuse the Korean crisis by meeting North Korea Parliamentary Chairman President Kim Yong- Nam, the reclusive nation's no 2.

"I repeat our offer to facilitate dialog, either between Pyongyang and Seoul or Pyongyang and Washington to end the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula," Megawati said at the press conference.

The President also called on NAM countries to strengthen their cooperation, especially in economic and business cooperation between Asia and Africa.

"We hope that at the 50th celebration of the Asia and African conference in 2005, we already have more constructive and effective cooperation to support each other," she said.

Indonesia will co-host the Asia Africa Sub-regional Organizations Conference (ASROC) with South Africa in April. The conference will be in Bandung, Indonesia, the place where NAM was initiated in 1955 by five world leaders including founding president Sukarno, Megawati's father.