RI committed to global war on terrorism
JAKARTA (JP): Despite a strong commitment to combat global terrorism, as shown by President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to the United States, there is not actually much that the Indonesian government can do, says political observer Rizal Sukma.
"The visit means that Indonesia has not only given its commitment to the U.S., but also to the rest of the world," Rizal told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.
Rizal, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said Megawati will, in her meeting with President George W. Bush, likely offer cooperation, especially in information and intelligence.
"I think Indonesia can offer the sharing of information, training and analysis. Beyond those things we have no capacity," he said.
Rizal made the remarks in conjunction with Megawati's trip to the U.S., one week after the horrific terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center in New York.
Fellow observer Riza Sihbudi of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the concept of global security could not be managed solely by the U.S.
He said that it is already time for the U.S. to use the recent terrorist attacks to push other countries to cooperate and set up a better security system.
"The terrorism threat won't be similar to how it was in the past, but will be more advanced," he told the Post.
In this context, Riza said, Indonesia could tell the U.S. to revise its foreign policy, which is considered by many countries to be unfair. "Therefore, the impression that the U.S. is arrogant could be reduced," he said.
Riza said terrorism is widely known as a weapon of the weak and does not stand alone, but exists in numerous countries. "Because it has a widespread network, cooperation from numerous countries is needed in order to control terrorism," he said.
He also warned that the Indonesian government must put an end to its internal separatist problem because such a movement could develop into terrorism.
"If this can't be effectively managed, than it will affect regional security," he added.
Rizal expressed confidence that cooperation with the U.S. on the fight against terrorism would enable Indonesia to obtain data on the global network of terrorism and gain U.S. support for research on terrorism.
Separately, speaking to reporters at a joint media conference after a meeting at the National Awakening Party (PKB)'s headquarters in South Jakarta, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert F. Gelbard and the party's chairman, Alwi Shihab, expressed concern over possible interpretation by many Indonesians that the war against terrorism would mean a battle against Muslims.
"President Bush was very clear when he went to the Islamic center in Washington yesterday (Tuesday) and said that Islam is peace," Gelbard said.
"I must say that terrorism has no place at all in a growing democratic world," he told reporters.
Commenting on Indonesian Muslim hardliners who might attack U.S. assets in Indonesia should the U.S. take military action in Afghanistan, Gelbard said: "We have gone to the police as we feel that the threat is very serious. We hope the police will be very serious in handling this issue."
Meanwhile, Alwi -- a former foreign minister during former president Abdurrahman Wahid's rule -- said that Gelbard visited PKB's headquarters as the party is known to be popular among followers of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). (tso/08)