JAKARTA, 10 December 2003 — In unusually blunt remarks, US Ambassador Ralph Boyce said yesterday that Indonesia’s strong criticism of Washington’s Iraq policies should be kept to the proper channels and not aired in public.
Reacting to criticism on Monday from Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, Boyce said he regretted and was disappointed by the harsh words from Jakarta.
Wirajuda told an Asia-Pacific security conference that the US occupation of Iraq had not met objectives and was becoming a debacle.
“I was not alone in being surprised and disappointed and maybe even a bit baffled by his use of that forum to present such a strong message,” Boyce told an American business group.
“I really do regret the deviation from what I think has been a successful policy in recent years between our two governments to try to keep our disagreements more in private channels.”
The comments were “contradictory to what they know to be US objectives in Iraq,” Boyce said.
Washington is keen to keep Indonesia — the world’s fourth most populous nation and the Muslim world’s most populous one — as an ally in its war on terror.
It has had some success in getting Jakarta on board in regional efforts, but both the intervention in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq brought widespread Indonesian criticism.
Meanwhile, suspect in the August bombing of a US-franchised hotel in Jakarta expressed regret yesterday that most of the 12 people killed and more than 30 injured were Indonesians and not foreigners.
A second suspect said he had surveyed an international school and other places as potential targets before deciding on the hotel.
The pair, quoted by the Detikcom online news service, was taking part in a police reconstruction of the crime. They were speaking at a rented house in South Jakarta where the bombers met and prepared the bomb.
“We feel guilty. We had already surveyed (the site) and we did not expect that many of the victims would be Indonesians,” said one suspect, Ismail.
Eleven Indonesians and a Dutch banker were killed in the bombing of the JW Marriott hotel and more than 30 people were injured. The attack is blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.
Ismail said the main target of the attack had been Americans. “America has slaughtered so many people in the entire world,” he said. The other suspect, Tohir, pointed out on a map pinned to a wall of the house several places he had surveyed as potential targets.
He pointed to Kemchicks supermarket in South Jakarta which is popular with expatriates, the Australian International school also in South Jakarta and two Citibank buildings. The plotters did not consider the US Embassy because it was too difficult a target, he said.
“I surveyed the Marriott four or five times and could even enter the basement. Thank God, the security did not question me then,” Tohir was quoted by Detikcom as saying. A van driven by a suicide bomber exploded in the hotel driveway on Aug. 5.
Malaysian explosives expert Azahari Husin and his compatriot Noordin Mohammad Top are among the top suspects still being hunted for the attack. Twelve people have been arrested.
In another development, three daughters of Indonesia’s firebrand founding President Sukarno, including incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, will contest next year’s general election as leaders of rival political parties.
Rachmawati Sukarnoputri, Sukmawati Sukarnoputri and Megawati were among leaders of 24 political parties who attended a draw at the national election commission on Monday night to determine the order the parties will appear on ballot papers.
The parties led by Rachmawati and Sukmawati may not be serious contenders against Megawati’s ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. But their emergence signals dissatisfaction with Megawati’s rule, even among her siblings. Each of the three claims to be the standard-bearer of Sukarno’s ideals.
Rachmawati, a staunch critic of Megawati’s rule, heads the Pioneer Party while Sukmawati is the chairwoman of the Indonesian National Party-Marhaenism. Marhaenism is the term Sukarno used for the peasantry or proletariat and was the centerpiece of his electrifying rhetoric.
