Indonesia Topics

Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is scheduled to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here on Tuesday as part of a five-day visit to Indonesia.

Xanana and Yudhoyono are expected to discuss a number of important issues concerning the relationship between the two countries, presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said in a statement Monday.

Also during the meeting, the two will witness the signing of four bilateral agreements. These are a trade agreement, a memorandum of understanding on technical cooperation in trade, an MOU on technical cooperation in small and medium industries, and an MOU on technical cooperation in drug and food control.

It will be Xanana’s first visit to Indonesia since being inaugurated as Timor Leste’s prime minister in August. (The Jakarta post)

Diplomatic ties between the two countries have heated up following Timor Leste President Jose Ramos Horta’s accusation that elements inside Indonesia were involved in a failed assassination attempt against him last month.

Both Indonesia and Timor Leste had hoped for closer ties following the completion of a 370-page report by the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF).

The report contains the joint commission’s findings and conclusions on violence in the then province of East Timor following the UN-sponsored independence vote in 1999. However, the CTF was forced to delay the submission of the report to the Indonesian and Timor Leste presidents following the attempt on Horta’s life.

Xanana on Tuesday also will pay courtesy calls to House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono, People’s Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid, Indonesian Military chief Gen. Djoko Santoso and National Police chief Gen. Sutanto.

The prime minister will also meet Indonesian businesspeople during a luncheon hosted by the Trade and Industrial Chamber.

On Wednesday, Xanana will speak at the Indonesian Council on World Affairs forum.

He will be accompanied during his visit by nine Timor Leste ministers.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed hope that the people and all concerned parties in the country would remain calm in the face of the current world economic turbulences that were affecting the national economy.

“I have to tell the people and all parties in the country that we and the House of Representatives (DPR) are still able to control the situation. We are also still formulating a credible and sustainable a revised 2008 state budget. We are still able to overcome the economic problems we are facing now,” the president said here on Thursday.

The president made the statement after a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Boediono, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, State Enterprises Minister Sofyan Jalil, National Development Planning Minister/National Development Planning Board Chairman Paskah Suzetta, state-owned bank BNI presdient director Gatot Suwondo and Bank Mandiri president director Agus Martowardoyo.

Yudhoyono said the meeting with the ministers was about a government policy to assist the poor and relatively poor members of society who were affected by increases in world oil and food prices.

“The impact in the country of the global food price hikes has led us to think of using funds from the state budget for poverty alleviation programs in an effort to assist the people,” he said.

The president also said the 2008 state budget had remained under control and able to meet its functions in financing general administration activities to stimulate growth and improve the people`s welfare, including the implementation of social safety net programs.

He said t the chief economic minister, the finance minister and the governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) would soon explain this to the people and the market so that they would remain calm in the face of the current global world economic turbulences. (Antara)

Indonesia’s President Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gives a tough reaction to the Fitna movies made by a right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders. He commands to the government and indonesians to ban this movie and prohibits its distribution. The President gives his press conference regarding this matter on Monday (31/3) night with several ministers.

Yudhoyono, the ex-military troops, says,”After I observed and watched the reaction of people in Indonesia and other part of the world, I forbid the movie to be distributed as it will ruin the unity and tolerant between believers in Indonesia”.

Through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Yudhoyono told the minister to send a official protest of this movie.

Fitna, a 17 minutes duration movie, pictures unbalanced stories about Islam and Moslem in the world. It potrays Islam as a violence and intolerant religion that should not be followed.

However, many countries have already banned the moview including the Netherland government itself. Ban Ki-Moon, General Secretary of United Nations says that Fitna the movie has no relation with the freedom of speech and freedom of the press.