Top aides join Mega in Singapore
Top aides join Mega in Singapore
SINGAPORE (JP): Three top Cabinet ministers flew in on Sunday
to join President Megawati Soekarnoputri here, underpinning the
importance she attaches to Indonesia's relations with Singapore.
All three coordinating ministers, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
(politics and security), Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti (economy) and
Jusuf Kalla (people's welfare) joined the presidential delegation
to take part in various talks with their Singaporean
counterparts.
State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi, widely
regarded as her chief economics adviser, also joined the
delegation on Sunday, further highlighting the importance of
Singapore in Indonesia's foreign economic relations.
According to foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda, Megawati and
Goh discussed a wide range of subjects, including sensitive
issues such as extradition and smuggling, and they agreed to
follow it up with various meetings, down to the senior official
level.
Other issues discussed by both leaders included joint efforts
to combat international terrorism, haze problems originating from
Indonesian forest fires, military training for Indonesians who
have permanent residence in Singapore, protection for Indonesian
workers here and efforts to revive Indonesia's economy.
"We don't have the pretension to solve all those problems in a
very short time. It is agreed that there will be more intensive
meetings.
"To improve bilateral relations, the two leaders also agreed
to improve contact, either person-to-person or inter-institution
contact," Hassan said.
He added that the two leaders also agreed to conduct follow-up
talks behind closed doors to avoid "unnecessary public debate"
that could sour relations between the two countries.
Indonesia's relations with Singapore suffered during the
administrations of both of Megawati's predecessors.
BJ Habibie upset many Singaporeans in 1998 when he suggested
that Singapore's minority Malays had been discriminated against
by their government and dismissed Singapore as "a tiny red dot"
on the map.
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid patched up the relations
shortly after taking office in October 1999, making the city-
state the first stop of his foreign tours and also personally
courting Singaporean investors to return to Indonesia. But last
November, he caused a diplomatic row when he, while in Singapore,
accused the host nation of taking economic advantage of Indonesia
and threatened to collude with Malaysia to deprive Singapore of
its clean water supply.
It is believed that Megawati's ascent to the presidency will
enable closer relations with Singapore. Megawati is not an
unfamiliar face in Singapore, having visited here several times
while she was vice president, either on official duty or for
private matters, including, like many Indonesian officials, for
medical checkups.
Singapore is the eighth stop in Megawati's whirlwind tour of
nine capitals of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN). She flew in from Bandar Sri Begawan earlier and is
scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur on Monday before returning home
on Tuesday.
Megawati reaffirmed Indonesia's foreign policy priority by
making ASEAN capitals her destinations on her first foreign tour
since her election as president last month.
While on the first seven stops she focused on getting
acquainted with her counterparts more than anything else, the
President appeared to have a more specific goal in her visit here
as attested by the high-powered delegation.
All the three coordinating ministers and Laksamana were
returning home after the meeting and were not joining Megawati's
entourage to Malaysia.
Megawati's visit to Malaysia will be participated in by other
Cabinet members already in her entourage: Hassan Wirayuda and
State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo. (emb/dja)