JAKARTA, 14 September 2003 — Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz, who will arrive in Saudi Arabia today as part of a five-nation tour, will try to attract investors to his country’s small islands while seeking closer political and economic relations with the Kingdom and other Middle Eastern countries.
Hamzah, who is accompanied by Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Husein Al-Munawar, will also be seeking a higher quota for Indonesian Haj pilgrims.
Mohammed Amin Rais, chairman of Indonesia Supreme Peoples’ Consultative Council, told Arab News that “Vice President Hamzah will visit the Kingdom to further improve bilateral relations. All efforts are exerted to forge closer ties with Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam.”
Rais, who is a strong presidential candidate for next year’s general elections, said that he “seeks more cooperation from Saudi Arabia in diverse sectors”. “The Kingdom will be the most friendly and favored nation during my tenure of presidency, if I win elections”, he said.
Referring to Hamza’s visit to Saudi Arabia, he said that Indonesian officials will hold talks on a range of regional and international issues with senior Saudi officials during the trip. Hamzah, who started his official tour in Sudan this week, will also visit the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen during his nine-day trip to the Middle East.
Accompanied by his wife Asmaniah, Religious Affairs Minister Said and State Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises Ali Marwan Hannan, Hamza will also perform Umrah during his three-day stay in the Kingdom. He is also scheduled to meet with the Indonesian community in the Kingdom.
Referring to the Indonesian government’s plan to offer some of its islands to oil investors, Muchrim Hakim, head of the Committee for the Efficient and Optimal Use of Small Islands, said that the committee had already offered Tinjil and Delih islands off the coast of Banten to investors from Iran, while two islets in the Natuna Islands and off the coast of Central Sulawesi had been offered to Omani investors. “These islands are being offered because of their proximity to the markets for clean oil products”, said Muchrim adding that the islands were being offered to the Middle Eastern investors to store their products as an alternative to Singapore, which plans to ban storage of products of polluting industries in 2005. Indonesia has the potential to lease at least 3,800 islands of its 17,000 isles to foreign investors.
Indonesia’s current Haj quota stands at 205,000 pilgrims. “We will propose to the Saudi government to allow some 10,000 out of 30,000 people currently on the wait list to perform next year’s Haj”, Indonesian officials said.
