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 | POLITICAL AFFAIRS
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ASSEMBLY LIKELY TO APPROVE DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
JAKARTA (JP): The highest law-making body is set to amend two key legislations in the near future.
Five major factions of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Wednesday threw their weight behind the proposed district system for the general election and direct presidential election. This is a major shift from the current proportional system and indirect presidential election in which the president is elected by the Assembly.
The five factions include the Golkar Party, United Development Party (PPP), National Mandate Party and the Crescent Star Party (PBB). The factions want to approve the legislations in the MPR annual session scheduled for Nov. 1. The Jakarta Post September 13, 2001
BOYCE TAKES HIS POST AS NEW US AMBASSADOR
The new U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph "Skip Boyce, said on Thursday that Washington fully understood the position which President Megawati Sukarnoputri had taken with regard to the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan. 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 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 Ramadan 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. 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. (Jakarta Post, 10/25 interview with journalist following presentation of credentials.)
INDONESIAN PRESIDENT AGAIN WARNS OF "BALKANISATION"
JAKARTA, Oct 29 (AFP) - President Megawati Sukarnoputri, for the second time in two days, warned Monday that Indonesia could disintegrate like the former Yugoslavia unless its people put national interests first.
She told governors, and heads of districts and municipalities from across the country, to put the country's interests ahead of narrow regional, ethnic and religious considerations.
If each region stressed its own interests, "we may find ourselves in the midst of conditions which run against the spirit of national unity and cohesion," Megawati told the officials, who are holding a coordination meeting starting Monday.
An autonomy law which took effect in January gave regions more powers including revenue-raising. Critics have said its hurried application has given rise to many problems including overlapping authorities and rivalries.
Investors have complained of local regulations and taxes which run counter to central government policies.
Megawati said there were examples of countries that broke up into smaller states mainly based on tribal, ethnic or religious divides.
"As we can see in the Balkans, the life of the new small states which are based on those narrow concepts turned out not better than compared to when they were still within a greater national unity," she warned.
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