Powell meets Indonesian students
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Twenty-three Indonesian students from various universities across Jakarta packed a meeting room at the Mulia Hotel in Central Jakarta on Friday, and waited anxiously for a rare chance to hurl questions at U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
After he entered the room, many of the students appeared nervous before he broke the ice and fielded a barrage of questions from the young men and women he referred to as the "future leaders of Indonesia".
"Don't look scared ... just laugh a little bit," he quipped during his introduction.
Most of the questions during the dialog, which was recorded by private television channel RCTI, touched on issues of U.S. policy and its influence on Muslims or Indonesia's relations with the superpower. There were also questions on America's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and the latest developments on the North Korean nuclear talks.
The first question came from a stiff-faced young man in the front row, who wanted Powell to comment on the growing anti- Americanism among Indonesians.
Powell replied that it was their right, in a democratic society, to oppose the U.S.
"I sense that most Indonesians appreciate the relationship between the U.S. and Indonesia. There are perhaps many Indonesians who are not happy with the United States policy in the world, and would like to demonstrate against United States policy. That is the beginning of an open and free democratic society."
"There is a lot of anti-Americanism in the world today because people, I think, don't fully understand what we are trying to do in Iraq or with respect to the Middle East peace process," said Powell.
Another student asked him about the perceived U.S. "double standard" toward Muslims. She said while Washington spent millions of dollars to improve relations with the Muslim world, it also imposed tough restrictions on people from Muslim countries to visit and learn about the country.
Powell said his country welcomed all people regardless of their background, especially if they would like to study and the restrictive visa policies that were imposed after 9/11 would soon be scaled back.
"We suffer when we don't have students like you wanting to study in the United States, because we've made it too difficult.
"We suffer when Indonesians are reluctant to go to Disneyland or to use our hospitals or just to go see the Grand Canyon or to visit Washington D.C. as tourists. We suffer!" he asserted.
In his concluding remarks he encouraged the students to work for democracy here.
"Keep working hard and remember, I'm going to be retired soon. I'll be in a rocking chair watching you guys become the leaders of Indonesia," Powell told the smiling students in a fatherly tone.
However, Lavina Fathoni, 20, a student from the University of Indonesia, was not very impressed. She said there was "nothing new" in Powell's answers to the questions.