Minister says 'no' to foreign intervention in internal dispute
Minister says 'no' to foreign intervention in internal dispute
JAKARTA (JP): Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono told the
House of Representatives that the government would not tolerate,
under any circumstances, foreign intervention in the country's
domestic affairs.
During a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission
II for home affairs, Moerdiono said this was a principle which
can not be broken in any situation.
"This is a fundamental principle which the government always
clings to," he said when legislators asked about the controversy
surrounding Washington's plan to reconsider the sale of F-16 jet
fighters to Indonesia due to alleged human rights violations in
the country.
Nevertheless he maintained that in defending the principle,
Jakarta would not go so far as to say "go to hell with your aid".
"That's a past slogan. A bad dream of the past, (but) there
are some fundamental things which we have to uphold," he
remarked.
Indonesia in 1992 dissolved the Dutch-chaired Inter-
Governmental Group on Indonesia because it felt The Hague was
meddling in Indonesia's internal affairs.
Jakarta is currently in the process of negotiating the
purchase of several F-16s which Washington had offered it. The
sophisticated fighters had originally been bound for Pakistan
before the deal failed.
However, several congressmen in Washington raised objections
to the sale because they alleged the Indonesian authorities had
violated human rights when they handled the rift within the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), including their handling of
the July 27 rioting and the aftermath.
Moerdiono again reasserted Jakarta's position that it has no
qualms about the deal falling through.
In his response, Moerdiono pointed out that it was the
Americans who first approached Indonesia with the intent of
selling the jet fighters.
He pointed out that such a purchase was not a priority for the
Indonesian government whose main concern was on economic
development. It was only because of the attractive soft-loan
purchasing sale that Jakarta agreed to consider the purchase.
Moerdiono said a number of congressmen, who from the start
have been unsympathetic toward Indonesia, have tried to block the
sale.
"After the July 27 incident certain congressmen, who were
opposed to the deal, began to raise their voices again. They
tried to stop the sale of the planes," Moerdiono explained.
Moerdiono said Washington has not come to a final decision on
whether to cancel or go ahead with the sale of the F-16s. (mds)