Megawati tells U.S. not to invade Iraq

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.