Megawati apologises to Aceh, Irian Jaya

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, AUG 16. The Indonesian President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri, today provided the first glimpses of how she proposes to steer the ship of State by apologising to the troubled provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya for past wrongs.

The President, in an address on Indonesia's 56th independence day, however, made it clear that any resolution of separatist demands in these provinces had to be within the Indonesian union. Ms. Megawati, who speaks little, is unlike her ousted predecessor, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, who was willing to talk about anything and everything and remained open and accessible to the media all through his tenure.

``Our multitude of crises cannot be overcome all at once...only by (working together) can we gradually emerge from this time which has been very painful for us all,'' the President was quoted as saying in Jakarta. She also said if Indonesia was to avoid political instability - of the kind seen in recent years - there was a need to fix the country's Constitution. While ruling out the possibility of independence, Ms. Megawati publicly apologised to the six million residents of both Aceh and Irian Jaya. ``We convey our deep apologies to our brothers who have long suffered as a result of inappropriate national policies,'' the President said.

Hoping that the people of Aceh and Irian Jaya would accept autonomy proposals, Ms. Megawati stated: ``But one thing is clear. All this (autonomy) will take place within the context of maintaining the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia.'' (The loss of East Timor is deeply felt by many Indonesians - the East Timor example is not one that will be followed in the case of either Aceh or Irian Jaya - two provinces with long-running separatist movements). The President also spelt out what she felt were the roles of the Indonesian military (TNI) and the national police, which were separated by Mr. Wahid as part of the reform of the security structure.

``The TNI must concentrate on defending the integrity of the country's territory while the national police should focus on establishing security...'' she said. In a statement that should please the military, the President said it would be unfair to expect the TNI to maintain the country's integrity and security without proper equipment to perform their duties. ``It's highly illogical to place such an onerous burden on the military and police, and not to provide them with adequate equipment and logistics,'' she said. At the beginning of her speech, the President said Indonesia had been able to deal with some of the problems facing the country. ``Initially, many observers and foreign countries feared that Indonesia would disintegrate into anarchy,'' Ms. Megawati maintained.

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