|
SPEAKING OUT: Demonstrators out in force in Jakarta yesterday to press for Indonesian migrant workers' rights in Malaysia - one of the hot-button issues that President Yudhoyono has been urged to raise. -- PHOTO: AFP
|
JAKARTA - CALLS have been made for a range of controversial issues to be raised ahead of a meeting between Indonesian and Malaysian leaders later this week, even as top politicians are urging the media to exercise self-restraint so as not to damage bilateral ties.
The calls come as Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to meet Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in Kuala Lumpur during a three-day visit to discuss, among other things, recent issues of contention between the two countries.
'It's time for the President to be frank and tell the Malaysian Prime Minister how the Indonesian people feel, for instance, about the migrant workers or Malaysian claims on Indonesian cultural products,' said the head of Indonesia's House of Representatives' Commission I on defence, security and foreign affairs, Mr Theo Sambuaga.
'By expressing all Indonesian concerns and listening attentively to what Malaysia wants, both leaders could find practical ways to end the ongoing rows,' said Mr Theo, who represents the Golkar Party.
On the first day of his visit tomorrow, Dr Yudhoyono will receive the highest award from the Malaysian government. The leaders begin their bilateral meeting on Friday.
The meeting takes place amid the recent souring of relations between the two countries, the result of several attacks on Indonesian citizens and migrant workers in Malaysia, and a row over copyrights.
Politicians in Indonesia have urged their President to be frank about what Indonesians want, noting that it was urgent that both leaders find ways to overcome the bilateral problems before they escalated into widespread hatred within both societies.
Said lawmaker Yusron Ihza Mahendra of the Crescent Star Party: 'Both leaders have to declare that they want to solve the problems, and that Indonesia and Malaysia need each other, without wanting to hurt each other, in facing challenges in the globalised world.'
The spate of incidents that soured relations started last August, when an Indonesian karate referee was assaulted by four Malaysian police officers for reasons that remain unclear. The following month, the Malaysian government was found to be using a Maluku song, Rasa Sayang, for Malaysian tourism purposes.
A Malaysian delegation also upset the Indonesians by performing a Minangkabau song before an international audience at the Asia Festival in Osaka last October, claiming that the song had Malaysian origins.
This was followed by the claim that the batik shirt and Reog dance from Ponorogo, East Java, originally came from Malaysia.
Although both the Malaysian and Indonesian governments have claimed that the issues have had no effect on their diplomatic relations, others have said that the incidents deepened mistrust between Malaysians and Indonesians.
JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
|
