INDONESIA: INDONESIAN PRESIDENT WAHID PLEADS FOR PEACE AMONG COUNTRY'S WARRING GROUPS IN INDEPENDENCE DAY-EVE SPEECH

Record ID: 350389

  • Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIAN PRESIDENT WAHID PLEADS FOR PEACE AMONG COUNTRY'S WARRING GROUPS IN INDEPENDENCE DAY-EVE SPEECH
  • Date: 16th August 2000
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (AUGUST 16, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF PARLIAMENT 0.05 2. MV: INDONESIAN PRESIDENT ABDURRAHMAN WAHID SHAKING HANDS WITH PARLIAMENT SPEAKER AKBAR TANDJUNG 0.14 3. MV: SECURITY PERSONNEL 0.18 4. SV: WAHID SMILING, SHAKING HANDS WITH VICE PRESIDENT MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI 0.26 5. WIDE O
  • Embargoed: 31st August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA1SQXZIARAKNSL6W2RB1SUV5O0
  • Story Text: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has pleaded for
    peace among the country's warring groups on the eve of the
    country's Independence Day, saying social harmony remained a
    dream more than half a century after independence.



    In an Independence Day-eve speech strong on rhetoric
    but short on specifics, Wahid told parliament Wednesday
    (August 16) "dirty hands" were behind much of the communal
    violence which has killed thousands and driven off investors.

    However, Wahid's first Independence Day address as
    president began with light-hearted banter about the country's
    ethnic differences that had most legislators rocking with
    laughter.

    One MP who complained about too much humour was shouted
    down by colleagues in the 500-member assembly.

    The good humour shows how tension between the president
    and legislators has eased since a confrontation a month ago
    when MPs jeered a defiant Wahid after his refusal to explain
    the sacking of two coalition ministers.

    Wahid said: "We must understand one another. We cannot but
    try to seriously understand our own people across the nation"
    After the almost-blind Wahid's opening remarks on
    Wednesday, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri read his
    speech calling for reconciliation and unity in the diverse
    nation of 200 million.

    Sukarnoputri said: "I will load the new government (cabinet)
    with responsibility to settle all the political, economic and
    social problems. From the ministers, the government needs a
    moral commitment to their best service to rescue the national
    life"
    She continued: "If we use democracy only to allow vOilence,
    hatred and revenge, or to exploit past government mistake in
    allowing separatist movement, then we will lose the very sense
    of democracy and will fail to settle conflicts"
    Indonesia on Thursday celebrates the 55th anniversary
    of its declaration of independence from Dutch colonial rule.

    But the world's fourth-most populous country is riven by
    communal conflict, separatist rebellions, an ailing economy
    and political instability as it lurches towards democracy.

    Meanwhile, outside parliament, dozens of students
    protested, demanding the government dissolve the Golkar party
    - the political vehicle of disgraced former president
    Suharto. They held placards aloft and staged a sit down
    protest.

    The students, chanting "hell with (Suharto's) New Order
    era", also demanded that action be taken against the alleged
    corruption that marked Suharto's rule.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register