RI differs with Malaysia over East Asian block

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.