U.S. envoy attacked over foreign policies

Ati Nurbaiti, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Karen P. Hughes, a leading U.S. image builder and deputy to U.S. secretary of state Condoleeza Rice, told students here on Friday that she hoped to get to know their hopes for their country, and about how Indonesian-U.S. ties could be improved. But hardly anyone was interested.

Instead they took up her other offer; that she would try to answer any questions that they might have. The undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs was then bombarded with critical questions that she has probably become accustomed to answering since she assumed the office a few months ago -- such as why America was so unfair, why it continues to police the world, why it associates anything Islamic with terrorists, and so on.

"What kind of democracy is America if after Hurricane Katrina the government discriminates against African Americans?" the first student asked. Hughes gave an assurance that the shortcomings in the handling of the New Orleans disaster were "not because of race."

"Why do you expect Iraq to become a democracy in only (a few) years? It's unfair. Let them decide for themselves," another said. "Stop the war in Iraq," yet another said.

Hughes, president George W. Bush's former communications director for both his gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, responded to each and every query and comment throughout the one- hour discussion with a dozen students at the State Islamic University (UIN) in South Jakarta.

About 10 other students protested outside, demanding that UIN refuse such visits from U.S. officials, with the U.S. being portrayed as "the world's most terrifying superpower."

One student, Said Rizki, said that even if the time was short, "at least (Hughes) got feedback" on the issues that concerned students here, such as Iraq, which he said was a very emotional issue.

Hughes also thanked the students for the "honest and frank" exchange, which she said had led to an understanding of their respective views, though not necessarily agreement.

In response to a question as to why Bush could possibly have been elected twice, she had said it was largely due to public support for the war on terror caused by the "shock and horror" of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

On the war in Iraq, she said "we would like nothing better than to bring our boys and girls home", but she said that even Iraqis still wanted American troops to stay on in order to help make the country stable.

She appealed to the students to make a distinction between Muslims in general, and those with "very dangerous" views who set out to kill not only Americans, but also Muslims who disagreed with them.

A postgraduate student, Zaki Nuraeni, said she had wanted more time to express her concerns about U.S. stigmatization of Islam and its institutions, like boarding schools or pesantren, "as if they all bred terrorists just because of people like Amrozi", the convicted Bali bomber who attended a pesantren in Ngruki, Central Java, along with a number of other convicted terrorists.

"I graduated from Ngruki", Zaki told The Jakarta Post, "and I never experienced any teachings of jihad like that (terrorism). Since the Bali bomb attacks it has become like I have to be careful about disclosing my identity as a Ngruki graduate."