RI differs with Malaysia over East Asian block

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Indonesia reiterated on Friday its stance on the presence of India, Australia and New Zealand in the first-ever East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December this year.

Indonesia and Malaysia have sharp differences over who should attend the summit.

Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday that the three countries should be excluded from the summit because it was meant to be only the ASEAN+3 countries -- the 10 ASEAN members along with China, Japan and South Korea.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Yuri Thamrin, said in Jakarta that a plan to exclude those countries from involvement in the East Asia Summit would make the group ineffective.

"If the participants of the East Asia Summit and the current ASEAN-plus-Three are still the same, it will not be beneficial," Yuri said during a press conference on Friday.

"Therefore, a number of ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, see the possibility to include countries from outside the ASEAN+3 grouping, such as Australia, India and New Zealand to the East Asia Summit," he said.

The main objective of the East Asian Summit is to enhance cooperation between ASEAN and Japan, China and South Korea and jointly move toward an East Asian Community.

The ASEAN meeting in Vientiane agreed to host the summit in Kuala Lumpur this year. It also agreed to further discuss the participation of Australia, New Zealand and India in Kuala Lumpur's meeting.

The idea to host the summit was first proposed by Malaysia in 1990 but Indonesia objected to the proposal at that time.