U.S. understands Megawati's stance, says new envoy

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The new U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia said on Thursday that Washington fully understood the position which President Megawati Soekarnoputri had taken with regard to the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan.

Ralph L. "Skip" Boyce, during a meeting with senior local journalists, denied suggestions that relations between Indonesia and the United States had cooled over remarks by Megawati that were seen by some as a veiled attack on U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

"We greatly value and welcome Indonesia's willingness to join in international efforts against terrorism.

"Like all friends, we may occasionally disagree about proper tactics. But, I hope nothing ever undermines our cooperation on our common goal of eradicating terrorism from the world."

Boyce, a career diplomat who presented his credentials to President Megawati in Jakarta on Wednesday, could not have asked for a more challenging task as he began his tenure in Jakarta.

Besides facing anti-American protests following the U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan, a statement from Megawati last week in which she said that no country had the right to attack another and that blood must not be paid for with blood, appeared to have irritated Washington.

A travel advisory warning American citizens against traveling to Indonesia remains in place and the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta has sent home some non-essential staff and many staff dependents.

Most of them have apparently not returned although the threats against American citizens and interests which were made by a number of radical groups appear to have receded.

Boyce said Megawati's statement had not become a bone of contention in Washington. He also denied that U.S. President George W. Bush had snubbed Megawati when the two leaders failed to meet while in Shanghai for an Asia Pacific summit at the weekend.

While Megawati had personally given Indonesia's unequivocal support to the U.S. campaign against terrorism when she was in Washington last month, Jakarta has insisted that such a campaign must be collective in nature and led by the United Nations.

Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda had subsequently warned the United States that if the U.S. military campaign continued into the Muslim Ramadhan fasting month, which starts in mid-November, the impact could be destabilizing on predominantly Muslim countries, including Indonesia.

Boyce rejected on Thursday the suggestion by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, the man Washington blames for the terrorist attacks on the United States last month, that this was a war between the West and Islam.

"This is an outrageous fallacy. The United States, which has the highest number of Muslims of any country in the Western Hemisphere, has nothing but the highest regard for Islam," said Boyce, whose early career in the foreign service included stints in Middle Eastern countries.

"In the past 10 years alone, we have repeatedly intervened to assist and protect our Muslim friends in Bosnia, Kuwait, and yes, even in Afghanistan, where we have been the world's largest donor of humanitarian assistance since the early 1990's."

On Washington's attitude to Indonesia, Boyce said the United States remained committed to supporting the current transition to democracy and economic recovery.

"We are here to support Indonesia for the long term. But you can also count on us in the short term for help," he said, as he announced a prompt US$25,000 in assistance for Jakarta to help with the victims of the massive flooding in Central Java this week.

Prior to his assignment to Jakarta, Boyce had been deputy assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs at the State Department since 1998.

Although he has never served in Indonesia before (he had previous postings in Thailand and Singapore), Boyce said Indonesia dominated his agenda when he was deputy assistant because of the importance of Indonesia, considered an emerging democracy, to the United States.

Had the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States changed Washington's perception of Indonesia?

Boyce said Indonesia, with the world's largest Muslim population, had become even more important to Washington, certainly in the State Department's list of priorities.