elements deplore cancellation of president`s Netherlands visit

elements deplore cancellation of president`s Netherlands visit : President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s decision to cancel his state visit to the Netherlands is seen by some elements in Indonesia as a deplorable policy on the ground that the Dutch government had guaranteed his security during his stay there.

"As a matter of fact, the president should have gone ahead with his state tour without taking into account of the reported plan of a group of the banned South Maluku Republic Movement (RMS) activists in that country to sue him in court for alleged human rights abuses," Hendardi, chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said here on Tuesday.

In fact, the cancellation was feared to become a bad precedent, he said, adding the decision to cancel the visit gave the separatist RMS group reason to step up their anti-Indonesia propaganda campaigns or activity. "The Indonesian nation in this case has really been placed in an unfavorable condition just because of that implication," he stressed.

Therefore, Hendardi also asked the House`s Commission I to take into account the impact to be faced by the president`s decision.

Sharing Hendardi`s view was Dr Sofyan Siregar, an expert on International law of the European Islamic University in Rotterdam, who said that nothing was to be feared from the propaganda of the RMS group in the Netherlands with their plan to sue the president in court.

The Dutch government would ensure security for Yudhoyono following a threat from John Wattilette, the self-styled president of the separatist "Republic of South Maluku" (RMS) movement in exile.

The Dutch government had reiterated that it did not recognize the RMS and hence there was no need to be over-reactive to their campaign, Sofyan said.

In addition, Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands JE Habibie had contacted political elites in the country to fully ensure security for President Yudhoyono.

The Dutch government had stressed it did not recognize the RMS which had threatened to "arrest" President Yudhoyono during his visit to the Netherlands.

"In responding to a statement by John Wattilette who calls himself president of RMS, the Dutch government has affirmed to the Indonesian government that the Netherlands does not recognize the RMS," Teuku Faizasyah said.

He said the Dutch government had made the affirmation to the Indonesian government through the Indonesian embassy in The Hague.

The Dutch government had also stressed that during his state visit in the Netherlands,
President Yudhoyono would enjoy diplomatic immunity and full security protection.

With such a guarantee of diplomatic immunity and full security protection, the president should not have canceled his visit, Sofyan said.

In the meantime, a number of media publications reported that RMS elements in the Netherlands had asked for the arrest of President Yudhoyono during his state visit to the Netherlands on October 5-9, 2010.

The demand for the arrest of the Indonesian president was made by John Wattilete in a teletext statement to the Dutch broadcasting network Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) on Saturday.

Wattilette also demanded that the Indonesian president explain the place where former RMS leader Soumokil was buried.

However, President Yudhoyono`s much awaited visit to the Netherlands could go undisturbed because the Dutch government had expressed its full commitment to ensure the president`s security, he said.

In response to the president`s canceled visit shortly to the Netherlands, Fadjroel Rachman of the Civilian Anti-corruption Community (Kompak) really lamented the canceled visit.

The attitude of the president by canceling the planned visit to the Netherlands just because of RMS demands to arrest him was seen by Fadjroel as childish.

"This actually shows the childish and saddening attitude in the sense that a bullying act committed by a group of people has caused many problems to came up," he said.

Fadjroel said Yudhoyono as the president of Indonesia was haunted by a feeling of fear. The president is recommended not to be fearful with the statement of the group
concerned.

"Each leader will likely face such a consequence. But we never heard US President Obama and Iranian President Ahmadinejad complain and express their problem to the people," he said.

Fadjroel said the attitude of a leader like this may place the condition of the nation to be worse just because of their fear which will eventually degrade the confidence of people in their leader.

"If the feeling of fear is uttered to the people, the impact of the report in stages will be bigger. This is really saddening," he said.

Fadjroel further stressed the attitude to cancel the visit will make many people in the country feel disappointed.