Security tightened ahead of Bush's visit in Indonesia

Jakarta, NU Online
Security police units have been deployed to guard the United States Embassy on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan here since Friday in anticipation of rallies against the planned visit of US President George W. Bush on November 20.

Bush’s planned visit to Indonesia had sparked various reactions and oppositions. Rallies against the visit had been going on in the last several days in the capital and other parts of the country.      

The two helicopters also conducted a test flight along the air corridor which will be used by Bush’s helicopter from Halim Perdanakusuma to Bogor, West Java, said, Col. Gutomo, head of the Operation Services of Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase.

As reported by the national news agency Antara, that Bush during his visit would be escorted by USS Essex (the US warship carrier of the Seventh Fleet based in Japan’s Sasebo), two Black Hawk Skorsky helicopters, four stealth jet-fighters and one AWACS plane.

Bush will visit Indonesia after attending an  APEC meeting in Vietnam. The visit would be a return visit to the one made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the United States in May, 2005.

Talks during the Bush visit are expected to focus on six topics, namely Indonesia’s desire to attract more US investment, cooperation in biofuel development, education, the fight against bird flu, natural disaster handling and information technology.

Yudhoyono is expected to urge Bush to help encourage the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state which the US had promised would be realized in 2005.

In the meantime, Mohammad Hatta, member of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) said that Bush’s visit must be viewed through the lenses of state interest.

"Bush must be viewed as a symbol of a state though Indonesia, as a predominantly Muslim country, also felt the hardship suffered by Muslims in various Middle East countries as a result of his foreign policies," he said. (dar)