Ambalat, Maid Issues Heat Up Presidential Election Campaign

Ambalat, Maid Issues Heat Up Presidential Election Campaign

By Mohd Nasir Yusoff JAKARTA, July 3 (Bernama) -- Several issues related to Malaysia have been heating up the campaign in the Indonesian presidential election, with the three election rivals articulating their ways of dealing with them.

Among the major issues are the overlapping claims on the oil-rich Ambalat waters in Sulawesi and the ill-treatment of Indonesian maids in Malaysia.

Incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is defending the seat for a second term, said Indonesia would not let even a metre of Ambalat to be compromised.

Susilo came under fire from his rivals, who questioned the way he dealt with the issue. Megawati Soekarnoputri, for instance, said that an Indonesian leader should be firm on the matter.

Another presidential hopeful, incumbent vice-president Jusuf Kalla, lives up to his slogan of "Lebih Cepat Lebih Baik" (the sooner the better) when he became the first candidate to raise the issue in the campaign, pledging to defend Ambalat "either through negotiation or war."

Malaysians in Indonesia admitted there were quite taken aback by Jusuf's war statement because the vice-president, who is from south Sulawesi, has good rapport with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who also has roots in south Sulawesi.

Susilo explained that going the diplomatic way was a choice and never a sign of weakness.

"If war is the option, then let's go to war; but if we are rational, let's be rational. The important thing is that we are not going to let even a metre of our territory to be compromised," he said.

Susilo had contacted Najib at the height of the issue to calm the situation down and to keep at bay elements that could precipitate tensions between the Malaysian and Indonesian armed forces.

Megawati's running mate Prabowo Subianto said that in the Ambalat issue, the people should support the stand taken by the president.

Prabowo, the former head of Indonesian special force, Kopassus, expressed the hope that the relations between Malaysia and Indonesia remained cordial but said that there should never be any bargaining on matters pertaining to Indonesian territorial sovereignty.

Susilo also said that Indonesia lost Sipadan and Ligitan to Malaysia, and Timor Timur after the former Portugese colony declared its independent, because the two issues were left to others to resolve.

"We let the United Nations to solve the Timor Timur issue and the International Court of Justice to handle the Sipadan-Ligitan issue.

"In the future we must be able to solve our own internal problems," he said during the third and final presidential debate last night.

Susilo said that besides adopting a firm diplomacy, in defending its territory, Indonesia should also develop advanced infrastructure including in the information communication technology and uplifting the people's economic well-being.

Political observer Sukardi Rinakit told Bernama that the Ambalat issue was close and sensitive to hearts of the 170 million Indonesian voters.

"These issues, to me, are even bigger than the human rights issue involving Prabowo and Wiranto when they were military leaders," he said.

Wiranto is Jusuf's running mate.

Another issue being raised in the presidential campaign was the plight of 320,000 Indonesian maids in Malaysia and reports of abuse by employers involving some of them.

Observer said Susilo had the upper hands on the maids issue as he had set up an agency to oversee and protect Indonesian foreign workers.

During the campaign for the election, which ends Saturday, the Malaysian embassy here had seen thousands of Indonesians staging numerous demonstrations over the Ambalat and maids issues. Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Zainal Abidin Mohamed Zain said the wide coverage in the Indonesian media over the two issues was not only because they were hot issues in the election but rather, a reflection of the actual situation on the ground.

Another political observer Salleh Dani said issues concerning Malaysia were more dominant compared to issues with other countries.

"This cannot be avoided as we are very close to each other," he said, adding that the issues were real and raising them in the election did not amount to Malaysia being Indonesia's punching bag.

Salleh said the presidential election this time around would hinge on the way people perceive the candidates' stand on territorial issues like Ambalat after the bitter experience of losing Sipadan and Ligitan.

"The foreign workers issue is also important as many of the three million of them are voting in the election. Their families, who would want the best protection for the workers, are also voting in the election," he said.

-- BERNAMA