Megawati too busy to meet Howard at Bali anniversary
Megawati too busy to meet Howard at Bali anniversary
Telly Nathalia and Michelle Nichols, Reuters, Jakarta/Canberra
Indonesia said on Tuesday its president will be too busy to meet
Australian Prime Minister John Howard when he visits Bali next
month to mark the first anniversary of bomb attacks that killed
202 people, including 88 Australians.
Foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda told a regular House hearing
that Howard had wanted to discuss terrorism cooperation with
President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Hassan said Megawati would be tied up with a visit by the
Algerian president the weekend of Oct. 12. But the move could be
seen as a snub to Howard, who is often perceived in Indonesia as
lecturing the world's most populous Muslim nation.
"Because the president is busy with other heads of state in
(visits) already scheduled, the Indonesian president cannot
fulfill the request of PM Howard to meet in Bali on Oct. 12,
2003," Hassan said in prepared remarks.
He mentioned no others beside the Algerian visit.
Howard will bring 1,500 victims and relatives of the October
2002 blasts to Bali for memorial ceremonies being organized by
Australia, Hassan said.
A palace official said Megawati, known for shunning the
spotlight and sometimes accused of passive leadership, had no
plan to attend the events. One local newspaper said she would
inaugurate a memorial to the victims on Oct. 12 in Bali.
In Canberra, a spokesman for Howard said the prime minister
had known for some time it was unlikely Megawati would attend the
Bali commemoration.
The October 2002 Bali bombings were the worst act of terror
since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Most of
those killed in Bali were partying in nightclubs on an island
many Australians had seen as their own backyard.
The attacks were akin to Australia's own Sept. 11, shattering
the feeling that the huge island continent was immune to the
arbitrary violence of terrorism.
Hassan said that on Aug. 21 he conveyed the message that
Megawati could not meet Howard. He said the Indonesian government
was not making the Bali anniversary a national day of remembrance
because such events had already been held.
Most recently Howard raised eyebrows in Jakarta when he said
he was disappointed judges had not ruled Muslim cleric Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir led the Jamaah Islamiyah militant group when an
Indonesian court jailed him for four years on Sept. 2 for acts of
treason.
Howard did say he was pleased Ba'asyir had received a jail
term. Indonesia has blamed Jamaah Islamiyah for the Bali
atrocity.
Indonesia and Australia have often had prickly ties, although
they have cooperated closely in antiterrorism efforts since Bali.
Hundreds of Australian police helped their Indonesian
counterparts track down Bali bombing suspects.