Megawati to begins Asia tour

Megawati to begins Asia tour

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will be visiting four Asian
countries in her first foreign trip of the year beginning on
Sunday, leaving her nation preoccupied with high-profile issues.

During her 12-day trip, Megawati is expected to obtain
commitment for economic assistance from more developed countries
like China and South Korea, while at the same time lend political
support to India and North Korea.

Megawati first met the family of the late Kim Il-sung, who is
the father of President Kim Jong-il, almost 40 years ago.

Megawati's father, founding president Sukarno visited the
communist country in 1964 and was highly respected and remembered
as a close friend of president Kim Il-sung.

Megawati is also expected to help peace return in the Korean
peninsula by asking North Korea to resume negotiations with South
Korea. The peace talks stopped as soon as U.S. President George
W. Bush took office last year.

The President's trip will start in China, where she is
scheduled to stay for five days and visit several provinces to
observe the processing of agricultural products and economic
development zones in the world's most populous country.

Megawati is slated to arrive in Beijing at 2 p.m. local time.
Beijing time is one hour ahead of Jakarta time.

On March 28, she will fly to Pyongyang and stay there until
March 30. Then she will head for Seoul for another two-day visit.
Megawati and her entourage are slated to arrive in New Delhi on
April 1, and leave for Jakarta on April 4.

The President will not be present for the high-profile graft
trial of House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar chairman
Akbar Tandjung slated to open on Monday.

The country is also keeping an eye on the murder trial of
former president Soeharto youngest son's Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra and the ongoing human rights tribunal against several
military officers.

Megawati will also leave the much-awaited replacement of the
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief hanging in the balance.

A source close to the President told The Jakarta Post that
Megawati was due to forward the candidate's name before leaving
the country. He confirmed that Megawati had nominated Army Chief
of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto for the top TNI post.

Indonesia is seeking to strike a deal with China in a
liquefied natural gas project in Tanggu, to follow up the
Memorandum of Understanding signed in the last state visit of
Chinese President Zhu Rongji to Jakarta late last year.

The President will open the Indonesian consulates in Shanghai
and Guangzhou, while China plans to open consulates in Surabaya
and Medan.

In Seoul, Megawati will seek assurance that Korea will
continue to be Indonesia's second largest gasoline importer after
Japan.

Megawati's stop in India is expected to enhance regional
cooperation and peace between the two countries.

"Like our visit to China, the trip to India, which is one of
the biggest countries in Asia, will have a positive impact for
the region," Marty said.

The President will spend five days in the country before
returning to Jakarta to tackle domestic problems.