Megawati's East Asian tour
It is a pity that with only two days to go, a few details of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's nine-day East Asian tour remain uncertain.
After all, the invitation for the visit was extended when Megawati was still vice president. Given the political muddle that prevailed then, it is quite likely it was the Indonesian side that caused the delay.
The President was originally scheduled to depart Jakarta for Beijing on Monday, March 25, but according to the Indonesian ambassador to Beijing, A.A. Kustia, the President has had to change her departure to Sunday, March 24, "to adjust to President Jiang Zhemin's schedule".
The President, he said, will in all probability pay a visit to some of China's major centers of economic and industrial development, such as Hunan in the southern part of the country and Sichuan in the country's west, which is a high-tech development zone.
Without doubt, the President and her entourage can learn much from the Chinese models of agricultural and technological development.
Of more immediate importance to Indonesia, however, is what can be accomplished at the planned talks between the leaders of the two nations.
For the millions of Indonesians hit by years of crisis and want, these talks could well be the measure by which Megawati's tour is judged.
Megawati's visit to China this time comes rather close on the heels of similar visits by groups of Indonesian businessmen and officials to promote economic cooperation and trade between the two countries, especially in oil from Indonesia.
No doubt, the President aims to support these goals during her visit by opening Indonesian consulates general in the cities of Guangzhou and Shanghai.
Two other points on the President's agenda are brief visits to North Korea and South Korea. While these visits are billed as being aimed at strengthening the bilateral ties between Indonesia and the two Koreas, Indonesia, as Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda explained, "takes an interest in having peace established on the Korean peninsula".
Indonesia, therefore, will during the President's visit try to work toward a rapprochement, or at least a dialog, between the two Koreas.
"The President's present tour," in the words of the foreign minister, "must therefore be seen as one complete and unbroken working visit."
The last leg of the President's tour will take her to India, with whom Indonesia has few problems to speak of. Still, President Megawati might do well to cautiously mention to the Indian leaders the importance for the entire region of maintaining peace and stability.
Unfortunately, there is no saying when, if ever, the continuing frictions between Hindus and Muslims and between India and Pakistan will end.
As Indonesians know from their own experience lately, this is no easy task to accomplish. But President Megawati will certainly do India and the region a great service if she can somehow persuade the Indian leaders to calm sectarian sentiments.