President urges women to unite against war in Iraq

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri took the occasion of the International Muslim Women's Union (IMWU) Congress here on Monday to step up a campaign against the attack on Iraq.

Opening the congress, Megawati called on all women in the world to unite against the use of force in Iraq that was destroying the world order.

Referring to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Megawati said the voices of women were needed to push for an end to the war, for the sake of humanity.

"We are saddened to watch their show of strength, which is not only destructive but also retrogressive, and going down the wrong path," Megawati said, referring to the U.S. and its allies who attacked Iraq without heeding the objections of the rest of the world.

"We, the women of the world, should remind the so-called world's macho (nation), that we do not admire what they are doing."

The country's first woman President also appealed to all women's organizations of any race, religion or nationality to unite in mounting pressure against the violence.

"I urge all women to step up efforts and form alliances to put an end to the ongoing war, destruction and devastation," Megawati said.

Indonesia is hosting the third IMWU Grand Congress at the Jakarta Hilton International, which is scheduled to close on Friday.

Megawati has strongly deplored the attack on Iraq, calling it an act of aggression, and has pledged to continue diplomatic efforts through the auspices of the United Nations (UN) to end the war.

Antiwar protests have become commonplace in the country, and were so even before the U.S.-led attack on March 20.

The government has also repeatedly warned that the unilateral attack by the U.S. and its allies on Iraq had undermined the UN system and regressed the world to an era of "might is right".

Megawati stressed that the UN had been founded after World War II, when the international community had vowed to ensure that no further devastation would befall the world and humanity.

However, she said that the promise had been broken by the world's only superpower, an act that would revert the world to an immoral and unethical era.

"We have been asking ourselves why the UN has been undermined and what should we do to prevent these regressions from continuing," she said.

Indonesia is among those countries which have demanded the UN to take concrete actions to stop the war. However, the efforts to stop the war have failed, due to the differing views of each country on the Iraq issue.

Megawati had suggested that the UN General Assembly call an emergency meeting under Resolution 337 on "Uniting for Peace", but there has been no movement at the UN in this regard, while the war continues into its third week.

An official with the foreign ministry told The Jakarta Post recently that such a meeting under the resolution was unlikely to happen, as there were few countries willing to openly and completely oppose the war policy of the U.S. and its allies.