RI won't tolerate separatist violence, Hassan tells UN
RI won't tolerate separatist violence, Hassan tells UN
Priscilla Cheung, Associated Press, United Nations
Indonesia will not tolerate the separatist and sectarian violence that is hampering the government's efforts to revive the moribund economy, the foreign minister said on Thursday, addressing the country's two most pressing issues.
Hassan Wirayuda also urged other nations to do more to ensure a just and democratic world as part of the global campaign against terrorism.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Hassan said Indonesia -- the world's most populous Muslim nation -- is a good example that democracy and Islam can coexist.
"Whenever the powerful can get away with exploiting the weak, a sense of outrage smolders and there can be neither stability nor peace. Whenever there is injustice and it is not redressed, there arises a culture of vengeance.
"The challenge for all of us is to ensure that democracy works and that it does actually deliver a better life for the people," he said.
Indonesian officials on Wednesday offered to contribute troops to a multinational force in post-Taliban Afghanistan, a move that would likely please Washington and other Muslim nations.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri publicly opposed the U.S. bombing in Afghanistan after Islamic hard-liners criticized her initial support of Washington's war on terrorism.
Megawati, who became president in July, has also taken a hard line against separatist and sectarian rebels fighting in the provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya, and Maluku.
"We will not ... tolerate any acts of terror or violence for separatist ends against the territorial integrity and national unity of our republic," Wirayuda warned.
However, Indonesia will meet the rebels' "legitimate demands by introducing special autonomy and a great sharing of resources, and guarantee respect for their culture and ethnic identities," he said.
The former Indonesian province of East Timor voted for independence in August 1999 and is expected to become a new state next year. After the vote, pro-Indonesian militias went on a looting, killing and burning rampage which ended with the arrival of an Australian peacekeeping force.
Hassan said the police, military and the judicial system have undergone reform under Megawati, and a special court will soon begin handling complaints of human rights abuses.
The government also has taken measures to fight corruption and rebuild the economy, still burdened by the after-effects of Asia's 1997-1998 financial meltdown.
"We feel that the situation in Indonesia today already merits the confidence of investors," he said. "But we can barely make a good case for this in the light of lingering threats to sovereignty and territorial integrity of our republic."