President Megawati, Bush and `state terror'

President Megawati, Bush and `state terror'

Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, korpur@yahoo.com

While international news media organizations regard Swaziland's Ngweyama (King) Mswati III as a source of amusing news for his eccentric royal rules -- he once ordered young women to observe a sex ban and to wear woolen, "do not touch me" tassels for five years until 2006 -- President Megawati Soekarnoputri regards the tiny kingdom in southern Africa quite seriously.

Just one day before the U.S.-led coalition started the invasion of Iraq on March 20, Megawati held a bilateral meeting with the ruler at Merdeka Palace.

The king with nine wives told her that Swaziland backed Indonesia's ambition to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC) in 2006 (coincidentally the year of freedom for Swaziland's young women).

"Swaziland has lent its support to us over the candidacy," Megawati said after her meeting with the 35-year-old monarch.

The President had raised the issue of the UNSC seat probably because she was so impatient at the powerless UN.

Indonesian media paid little attention to the bilateral talks, as Iraq had been grabbing the headlines. The Jakarta Post headline that day was Nations at odds over war that's not theirs to fight.

The timing of the above summit coincided with final U.S. preparations for war. But what did the king's support for the UNSC seat really mean for Megawati? Was he just about the only one to support her plan? Maybe the President is so eager to reform the UN because the world body was considered responsible for the separation of East Timor from Indonesia in 1999.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda would likely deny that the tete-a-tete raised the impression of how powerless was Indonesia in preventing the war.

The President indeed issued a harsh statement against the U.S. shortly after President George W. Bush announced the invasion on March 20. For Indonesia invasion is not a new word, because the country invaded East Timor in the 1970s. As Bush now believes, at that time Soeharto also believed he was the hero of East Timor because he liberated the people from a colonial power.

Vice President Hamzah Haz is much more proactive than his boss, Megawati. Apart from labeling Bush the "king of terrorists", he also bravely advocated the substitution of the U.S. greenback with the euro. He also met the king but there was no information on what topic they discussed.

For some, the bold suggestions of the President and Vice President may aptly be expected from a country with grand labels -- the world's largest Muslim nation and the fourth-most populous nation. The country is recognized as a prominent member of the developing world, and it was often pictured as the spokesperson of the 119-member, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) -- at least until before the collapse of Soeharto's regime in 1998.

But what can Indonesia do now to influence global development, when it is now more well-known as one of the world's most corrupt nations? It is hard to preach to the world about morality when nearly half of our population lives below the poverty line.

The nation can no longer dream that it will regain its role as a peacemaker for other nations as it did in Cambodia, when violence in areas such as Aceh and Papua has even led to allegations of state terrorism being carried out against its citizens.

Many Indonesians dream that one day they might be able to see their Air Force pilots maneuvering skillfully, as the U.S. and British jetfighters did over Iraq. But they don't expect much in terms of the armed forces' ability to protect the country, given their limited budget. However, they have every right to be disappointed at the news of some Air Force personnel who, absurdly, attacked a police station near the Halim Perdana Kusumah Air Force base in East Jakarta.

Perhaps one day, when the economic crisis is over, people will be able to see Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) soldiers act like the British special troops who engaged bravely with their foreign enemies. Today, however, the force lives with allegations that its members were involved in the strangling of a civilian, the late Papuan separatist leader Theys Hiyo Eluay in 2001.

We would be proud to see the Navy overcoming foreign devils intent on occupying our beloved territory. Or to see Australian soldiers flee at the sight of our troops on the battlefield.

However, what confronts us now is that the President has ordered the Indonesian Military (TNI) to be prepared for military operations in troubled Aceh and rebellious Papua if necessary.

So any hopes of watching our troops become engaged in fierce battles with foreign enemies are dashed: Instead, they are to be pitted yet again against fellow citizens, many of whom have had nothing to do with the rebels.

Does Megawati wish to portray herself as President Bush, who ordered the attack against Iraq, or as the leader of a country that believes that TNI is never wrong on Aceh and Papua?

Isn't a state a terrorist if the state kills its own citizens? How should it go about addressing their basic dissatisfaction with the state over matters such as injustice and a grossly unequal distribution of wealth?

After Friday prayers recently, Hamzah said, "If Bush is not the king of terrorists, what else is he?"

That is a question that Bush might well raise in reference to President Megawati's government, regarding the way it chooses to settle problems in Aceh and Papua.