Protocol confusion at G-15 opening

JAKARTA (JP): While Abdurrahman Wahid's and Megawati Soekarnoputri's political allies were locked in heated debate at the House of Representatives a few hundred meters away, the President and Vice President were themselves unwittingly involved in a protocol mix-up at the G-15 summit.

At the opening ceremony of the summit Abdurrahman introduced Megawati to the summit participants and asked her to read out his written speech.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to listen to my written speech to be read by Indonesian Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri," the President announced, after delivering his brief off-the-cuff opening remarks.

Announcer Tia Maryadi repeated the President's statement.

While remaining seated, Megawati gave a negative gesture with her hand.

Appreciating the problem, Tia then quickly invited Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, seated next to Megawati, to address the summit on behalf of the African countries.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab quickly clarified the incident and played down its significance.

He said the problem was caused by the President's misunderstanding that the opening ceremony would be directly followed by a closed session.

"As the President had been informed to ask Ibu Mega to chair the meeting of the G-15, he intended only to deliver opening remarks, then hand over the leadership of the meeting to her. But then the misunderstanding occurred," Alwi contended.

When asked how such an incident could happen, the minister snapped, "Making mistakes is always possible, because human beings are not God".

The vice presidential secretary indicated that Megawati had turned down the President's request since there was no such plan in her official schedule.

Presidential protocol chief Wahyu Muryadi emphasized that the President had not intentionally departed from the formal schedule. "He only misunderstood," said Wahyu.

However, another protocol official hinted that the announcer had simply read out loud the written schedule. "I do not know how this could have happened," the official said.

Some other officials surmised that the President might intentionally have asked Megawati to speak, knowing that she was unprepared.

"You know what he's like, sometimes he is mischievous. He often does things like that just to upset others," said the official, who asked not to be named. (prb)