SBY PRESIDENCY

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday canceled his official trip to the Netherlands at the very last minute. Yet, the entourage was ready at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, East Jakarta.

After waiting for two hours at the airbase, Yudhoyono said the reason he canceled the trip, scheduled to start on October 5 until 10, was because the trial on the charges against the Indonesian President at The Hague’s court began yesterday afternoon.

“There was a movement demanding human rights accountability in Indonesia and that the Indonesian President be arrested,” SBY said. “It was the South Maluku Republic that filed the suit.”

According to Yudhoyono, threats against a head of state overseas are normal. “But if this is tried in court, this concerns the nation’s pride,” said Yuhoyono at a press conference in Halim.

The demand for the arrest was filed at a court in The Hague yesterday by three Dutch-nationals claiming to be the RMS government. “We want the court to present SBY as the highest leader of the Indonesian Republic,” Wim Sopacua, RMS’ spokesperson in the Netherlands, told Tempo last night.

Wim said Yudhoyono’s presence was important to answer questions about the maltreatment given to RMS inmates in Maluku. The trial is also to ask the Indonesian government the whereabouts of Dr Soumokil’s tomb, the former RMS president executed in 1966.

Bart Rijs, the Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the law suit had to be concluded by the court as soon as possible. In his statement to BBC Indonesia, Rijs said a quick decision will allow the President to carry out his visit.

Rijs said the Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has summoned Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands, J.E. Habibie, to stress that President Yudhoyono has full legal immunity and is "most welcome" in the Netherlands.

In Jakarta, Pramono Anung, the House of Representatives (DPR) deputy speaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), said Yudhoyono should not worry about RMS’ threat because he has diplomatic immunity. “The cancellation becomes some kind of acknowledgement of the RMS,” he said.

RMS President in exile John Wattilete, told AP yesterday, “The cancellation is proof of our victory.”

TEMPO Interactive

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