President advised to ignore letter from US Congressmen

Jakarta, NU Online
The chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Inter-parliamentary Cooperation Body, Abdillah Toha, said it was not necessary for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to respond to a letter from 40 members of the US Congress about two separatists in Papua.

"The reason is that it is something normal for US Congressmen to write just for the sake of pleasing their constituents," he told ANTARA here on Thursday in response to a letter from 40 US Congressmen to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<>

The contents of the letter asked for the immediate release of two Papuan separatists unconditionally. They were Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage. The letter was addressed to Dr H Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Toha said if the government really wanted to respond to the letter, the president had to tell them about the condition of the law and the court in Indonesia in the sense that the president could not intervene in an ongoing legal process.

Toha who is known as a senior politician and one of the founders of the National Mandate Party (PAN) elaborated the third reason as a criticism over the US letter.

For Indonesia, the unitary state of Indonesia (NKRI) was a final answer and it could not be negotiated. "Those who violate the law by conducting such separatism are liable to legal process, " he said.

Then, fourth reason had to do with a call for the US Congressmen to handle human rights violation in that country like cases in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. (dar)