Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2986-1003197372-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 15 Oct 2001 18:57:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 5702 invoked by uid 510); 16 Oct 2001 01:55:54 -0000 Received: from n32.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.82) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 16 Oct 2001 01:55:54 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2986-1003197372-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.223] by n32.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Oct 2001 01:56:12 -0000 X-Sender: yangyun@metacrawler.com X-Apparently-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_4_1); 16 Oct 2001 01:56:11 -0000 Received: (qmail 78712 invoked from network); 16 Oct 2001 01:56:06 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 16 Oct 2001 01:56:06 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO n9.groups.yahoo.com) (10.1.10.48) by mta1 with SMTP; 16 Oct 2001 01:56:00 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: yangyun@metacrawler.com Received: from [10.1.2.230] by n9.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Oct 2001 01:55:59 -0000 To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Message-ID: <9qg43f+u8lc@eGroups.com> User-Agent: eGroups-EW/0.82 X-Mailer: eGroups Message Poster X-Originating-IP: 24.112.32.13 From: yangyun@metacrawler.com Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 01:55:59 -0000 Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] Megawati's Ascension Day speech Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Megawati: bombing unacceptable Oct 16 AFR.com's Tim Dodd in Jakarta In a major setback for US efforts to win Muslim backing for its war on terror, Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri has criticised the bombing of Afghanistan, saying "blood cannot be cleansed with blood". In a televised speech from Jakarta's main mosque, Mrs Megawati said "terrorism must be fought, it must be punished". Although she did not mention the US by name, she made it clear she did not support the air attacks on Afghanistan, whose Taliban Government is harbouring the terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. "The search for, and the bringing to justice, of the parties which perpetrate terror, or those parties which harbour them, must be in accordance with laws which are widely accepted," Mrs Megawati said. "It is unacceptable that someone - a group or even a government - attack a people or another country with the justification that they are searching for perpetrators." Mrs Megawati's opposition to the air strikes will reverberate through this weekend's APEC summit in Shanghai, which she will attend, and where US President George Bush is to discuss the war on terrorism with other Asia-Pacific leaders. With Malaysia also opposed to the air attacks, the line will be sharply drawn between non-Muslim countries that support the US and the only two predominantly Muslim countries at the 21- nation summit, Indonesia and Malaysia, that oppose the US bombing. President Megawati's comments late Sunday are her first on the US air attacks and follow a week in which she has come under heavy pressure from her Muslim political partners, and a groundswell of public opinion, to condemn the bombing. Her equivocal support for the war on terror has intensely frustrated the US, particularly after she met President George Bush in Washington the week after the September 11 attacks and was given an aid package worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Yesterday the US embassy in Jakarta had no immediate comment on President Megawati's comments on the bombing. Small anti-US demonstrations continued in Jakarta yesterday, with police firing teargas and water cannon at several hundred radical Muslim protesters outside the national parliament who demanded an emergency parliamentary session to condemn the bombing of Afghanistan. In her speech at Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, at the commemoration of the Ascension Day of the prophet Muhammad, President Megawati also said that "no group or State should make its own rules in the use of force" - an apparent reference to Indonesia's previous call for the US war on terrorism to be conducted through the United Nations. Her speech came after a full week of sitting on the fence, neither supporting nor condemning the US air attacks that began eight days ago. But her stance became increasingly untenable, particularly after Vice- President Hamzah Haz, a leading Muslim political figure, condemned the US bombing on Friday. Even now President Megawati, at heart a secular pro-Western leader, has not yet criticised the US by name. But she had little choice but to speak out against the air attacks, because her unstable coalition Government relies on support from moderate Muslim parties, which have seized the opportunity to use the US war on terror to weaken her authority. She already risks losing the political initiative because of her long silence on the issue. Even moderate Muslim groups are calling on her to break diplomatic relations with the US, while small extremists groups have threatened to attack US interests in Indonesia, expel US citizens and assassinate the US ambassador. Although President Megawati has joined in criticising the US, her Government toughened its stance against radical Muslim groups over the weekend, arresting 65 anti-US demonstrators at the weekend who arrived in Jakarta from Central Java carrying weapons ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Pinpoint the right security solution for your company- Learn how to add 128- bit encryption and to authenticate your web site with VeriSign's FREE guide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/yQix2C/33_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:55 PST