RI won't apply all Beijing pacts

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will not implement certain recommendations made in the two final documents of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, despite endorsing it, Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi said yesterday.

Indonesia endorsed the documents for the sake of consensus, but it reserves the right to decide in implementing the commitments, Mien, chief of the Indonesian delegation to Beijing, said.

The minister briefed President Soeharto on the conference yesterday, at Merdeka Palace. The conference reached an eleventh hour consensus on the final declaration and the Platform for Action, supposedly the blueprint for action on improving the conditions of women worldwide.

Despite the endorsement, many countries, including Indonesia, registered reservations on a number of contentious issues. United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in a written speech at the conference's closing, appealed to all countries to implement the programs.

After meeting with Soeharto, Mien said that implementation of the Beijing recommendations is a decision each participating country must make.

Indonesia could not accept some of the points on sexual rights and on the concept of a family, she said.

She declined to state Indonesia's position on sexual rights, but on the concept of a family, she said Indonesia is insisting that a family is a married couple, a man and a woman, and their children.

Mien, who represented President Soeharto in Beijing, said that overall, the congress has been successful for Indonesia.

She said the acceptance of a paper presented by delegations from members of the Non-aligned Movement, which was headed by Indonesia, and a UNESCO award for Indonesia's Family Welfare Movement, helped bolster Indonesia's prestige.

There was also a reference to the progress of Indonesian women, made by U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in her address to the forum, she said.

Mrs. Clinton visited Indonesia when she accompanied the American president, who was attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum last November. (emb)