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U.S. closes embassy in Jakarta

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 11. The first anniversary of the "9/11" terrorist attacks was observed across East Asia today with due solemnity and delicate political messages.

The overall sombre mood was broken by Indonesia's open expression of dismay over America's unilateral move to close its embassy in Jakarta at this time for the fear of a possible terrorist strike. At an altogether political level, China made common cause with the U.S. but suggested a corrective anti-terror approach under the collective auspices of the select members of the U.N. Security Council.

The commemorative events in the region were marked by a thoughtful touch of inter-religious harmony and political correctness during a ceremony at the U.S. embassy premises in Singapore. Elsewhere, the Malaysian authorities not only maintained a heightened security vigil at the American embassy in Kuala Lumpur but also pulled no punches in advocating that the latest Iraq issue must be settled through the United Nations. While the scale and substance of the commemorative events varied from country to country in the Asia-Pacific region, no major disruptions occurred until nightfall.

Minor protests against the alleged high-handed approach of the U.S. in its ongoing anti-terror campaign were reported from Manila and elsewhere. Commenting on the U.S. decision to close its diplomatic mission in Jakarta for an indefinite period, the Indonesian Vice-President, Hamzah Haz, said he had asked the American ambassador, Ralph Boyce, to clarify the decision.

The Indonesian President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, is currently on a foreign tour. The Vice-President's intervention was, even if coincidentally, magnified by a statement from the Indonesian police chief, Da'i Bachtiar, who said that Abu Bakar Bassyir, the alleged mastermind behind a recent plot to blow up American embassies in South East Asia, was ``not involved in any terrorist act''.

While this did not exactly place Indonesia on a course of collision with the U.S., this was unlikely to go unheard in Washington.

China's Foreign Ministry said, "positive results'' had flowed from the multilateral cooperation that marked the anti-terror campaign during the past year. However, a "comprehensive strategy based on the Charter of the United Nations'' was called for to pursue the inevitably "long-term campaign'' against terrorism which should not also be linked to a specific country, nationality or religion, Beijing said.

The Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister, Leo Michael Toyad, said in Kuala Lumpur today that "the (current) Iraq issue should be resolved in line with international laws'' without any resort to a military action. Iraq, too, should abide by all the relevant U.N. resolutions, he said in Parliament.

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