'RI being undermined by foreign groups'

JAKARTA (JP): A senior cabinet minister alleged yesterday that some foreign interest groups were trying to sabotage Indonesia's efforts to become a prosperous and influential nation.

"They are undermining Indonesia in a systematic way," Minister of Transmigration and Resettlement of Forest Squatters Siswono Yudohusodo said at a seminar.

With a population of 200 million, Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and its fourth most populous. It is seen to have tremendous potential to become a powerful country, Siswono said.

Quoting futurist Hamish McRae and the International Monetary Fund, Indonesia may enter the world's 15 top economies in the second half of the 21st century.

The prediction will come true if Indonesia is able to maintain its security and stability, he said.

"But the road to glory is not all that smooth because there are foreign interests that do not want to see Indonesia develop. They want to see us weak," Antara quoted him as saying.

Then he held up a book titled Poisoned Arrows written in 1989 by a British journalist, George Monibot, as an example of how some "foreign interests" tried to undermine Indonesia.

In his book, written in an investigative reporting style, Monibot accuses Indonesia of destroying Irian Jaya's forests and exterminating its local indigenous people.

"This book shows how foreign interests are trying to weaken the nation," Siswono said.

He said that the many photographs in the book were meant to deceive the public on the recent history of Irian Jaya, which is Indonesia's most eastern province and acclaimed for its biodiversity.

Anyone with a good grasp on Indonesia would understand that the book has been written to create the impression that Indonesia is full of injustice, Siswono said.

"It also tells readers that there is no justice in Irian Jaya," he said.

To support his argument, Siswono said that "foreign interests" also lent a hand to the Democratic People's Party (PRD), a leftist group which the government has accused of inciting the July 27 riots in Jakarta.

According to the minister, PRD activists have contacts with foreign groups which are anti-Indonesia. That is why, he said, the PRD did not include East Timor and Irian Jaya as provinces of Indonesia in their manifesto.

The authorities arrested 10 PRD executives and activists in its investigation of people suspected of being involved in the riots that followed the brutal takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters by government-backed breakaway party members.

At least four people died in the July 27 riots. Government buildings were also set alight, public facilities were vandalized and over 200 people were arrested.

Siswono said youngsters were easily dazzled by "foreign ideas" that encouraged revolutionary change of the political system irrespective of its price.

"They don't even know what to do to replace the system. They can't see what will become of their actions," he said.

Siswono, who was a successful businessman before he assumed his cabinet post, also warned of foreign values that may erode local culture. (pan)