Kuala Lumpur (IslamOnline) - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid resumed his foreign journeys after favorable public opinion polls showed he had firm public support for his performance. Wahid, known fondly in his country as "the globetrotter," firmly believes that his country will not split despite separatist movements in at least three hotspots.
After Friday prayers in Jakarta, the president flew to Brunei in the company of Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab and Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security ad interim Surjadi Soedirja. The president, who travels on board an Air Force plane with his wife Siti Nuriyah and daughter Zannuba Arifah Chasof (Yenny), was in an uncompromising mood towards the separatists in Aceh and Irian Jaya (now Papua).
He assured the Indonesian community in Bandar Seri Bagawan, capital of Brunei, that the country was not on the verge of disintegration as claimed by the international media. As for the Maluku islands, where over 1,000 Muslims and Christians had been killed last year in religious riots, he believed things were improving fast.
"Madame Megawati called me last evening to tell me that the situation in the Malukus is improving everyday, and to let the officials there keep their posts," he said, quoting the vice-president Megawati Sukarno Puteri.
With that indication, officials in the Malukus were kept in their present government jobs. During the height of the riots last year, Wahid threatened to replace all Javanese officials with locals, as a way to ease tensions and normalize the situation. He was to replace the Military District Commander, Brig-Gen Max Tamalea, but the latter seems to have survived the wrath of the presidency.
"I went along with her suggestion, as long as she is going to tell the chief commander, the Army chief of staff about the matter. There are no problems, we only want to settle things in a peaceful way," he added.
Gus Dur, as Wahid is known, said he had received more confirmation of the normalization of life in the Malukus from his daughter, who had recently returned from a trip there.
"There are Christian and Muslim refugees sharing the same camp over there," the president quoted from his daughter's report. His daughter is an activist in one of the NGOs operating in the country.
"There are many combined Muslim and Christian activities right now. Not all the stories are true, there is little fighting going on right now," Wahid says in a bid to overturn what he called "inflated" and "untrue" reports about the region.
The Malukus has been reeling from a raging war between Muslims and Christians, with the latter burning down mosques and the Holy Quran, and killing hundreds of Muslims in the process.
However critics of the presidency believe he is misleading his people and overly optimistic. The group Stopinjustice said in an email to Islam Online today that "Hatred and enmity in the Malukus is rampant."
"The Muslims want revenge. Too much damage and violations have been committed against them for the presidency to close an eye to it," said the organization, in protest at the president's belittling comments.
Aceh in the folds
Overly optimistic reports and half-truths are the weapons of choice in the Wahid administration when it comes to dealing with Aceh, the restive and violence-struck province.
"A drastic change has happened in The Independent Aceh Movement (GAM)," he said, adding that the movement recently announced the death of its leader Hassan Di Tiro. "The organization is facing increased resistance from within," Wahid said.
Wahid regularly suggested that GAM was an tiny group that preferred violence while the majority of the population of the rich province was against GAM. The army and police in Aceh have blamed the increased violence on GAM and have started a bloody clampdown on the movement.
Papua follows suit
In Papua, the president said, a leader of the Independent Papua Organization (OPM), and an ex-Golkar man, as well as a former parliament member have declared that they wish to remain in the fold of the republic.
"I told Minister Alwi Shihab, 'It is only a matter of time when the others will follow.' If necessary, we will make the OPM leader a member of the Assembly. If he later joins the meetings in Jakarta, he is permitted to wear a koteka [Papua tribal genital cover, the only thing worn by traditional tribalists], if that's what he wants." His words were met with laughter from the audience.
Talking about the student movement and the Islamic movement, which he suspects want to oust him, Wahid said that he would not tolerate a state within a state. "Demonstrations are alright, no problem. We may have different opinions," he went on saying. Yet when different views are expressed in certain actions, the government will not hesitate to act. "We don't tolerate a state within a state. Indonesia is one state and will always be so," he stressed.
Islamists in Jakarta feel that the president, after taking Henry Kissinger as an adviser and allowing Israel to deal with Indonesian firms on a large scale, is simply portraying a good image of Indonesia.
Kissinger said Abdurrahman felt he could benefit from his political experience in handling social unrest and separatist movements in the country. Kissinger served as U.S. Secretary of State under former U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He was instrumental in shaping the U.S.'s foreign policy in Southeast Asia, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.
He is also a member of the board of the U.S- based Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold Inc., which operates one of the world's largest copper and gold mines in Irian Jaya, another area of the country trying to secede.
Riau grumbling!
Members of the Muslim student organization Riauna, based in Pulau Bengkalis, in Riau Island, told Islam Online that the president wanted to push his views and promote Indonesia as he sees it. They do not approve of his views, as Indonesia has yet to settle its problems, the group said.
Islamists fear that Wahid is planning to squash them to achieve economic gains in the long run without a real opposition.
Riau is currently in talks with officials from Jakarta on a possible federal state or autonomy with complete separation of military, economic and political powers. Riau currently produces oil and gas, which is under the control of the government based in Jakarta.
The state of Riau is the birthplace of Indonesian/Malaysian civilization, and was the first region to become Islamic. It established the first state of Islam well before the creation of the Turkish Ottoman empire.
