RI denounces flag burning

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced Monday's anti-Indonesian government protest in Melbourne during which the nation's red and white flag was set on fire.

"That's too much," Irawan Abidin, the ministry's director of information, told Antara news agency yesterday.

"This is another attempt by certain anti-Indonesia groups to attract international attention," stated Irawan, saying that it was part of a "publicity seeking syndrome" to keep the East Timor issue alive.

Press reports received here said that the demonstration in Melbourne was held to oppose Indonesia's participation in a big international military exercise, codenamed Kangaroo 1995, which commenced in Australia yesterday.

The reports said that there were also demonstrations opposing Indonesia's participation at the Canungra military base in Brisbane, the Larrakeyah base in Darwin and in Sydney.

Irawan stressed that the joint military exercise was crucial for the maintenance of peace and stability in the region and that the flag burning incident could harm bilateral ties.

"There isn't a worse threat to regional security than the breakdown of international communication," he said.

Members of the House of Representatives yesterday condemned the flag-burning incident and called on the Australian government to take firm steps to prevent such occurrences in the future if Canberra intends to maintain its good relations with Indonesia.

"If they apologize once, we will forgive them. But we won't forgive them a second time," House's deputy speaker Ismail Hasan Metareum was quoted as saying by Antara.

Moestahid Astari of the Golkar faction urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a strong protest note to Canberra and summon the Australian ambassador in Indonesia to give a formal explanation about the incident. (emb)