President Megawati Soekarnoputri will depart for Mexico this week to attend the Tenth APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Los Cabos. She will be accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr. Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and several cabinet ministers. She was earlier scheduled to visit several countries in that region as well as attending the summit of Group of 15 developing countries (G-15) in Venezuela. However, following the terrorist attack in Bali, the visits to these other countries have been cancelled and the President has assigned Minister Dorodjatun as her envoy to the G-15 meeting.

Minister Dorodjatun stated that the Indonesian Government will make use the APEC and G-15 meetings to brief other countries’ leaders on the latest developments in Bali. The Government hopes to gain international support and assistance toward government policies and actions that have been undertaken in the aftermath of the tragedy.

The Minister has outlined some key points of the policies and actions as follows:

1. THE RESCUE OPERATION AND VICTIMS IDENTIFICATION

a. The Police and Medical teams have evacuated all survivors and bodies of victims from the site;

b. All survivors are now being treated in Bali hospitals or have been evacuated to Australia for further treatment;

c. Police have identified 47 of bodies, and with the support of foreign teams are working hard to complete the identification process;

d. Medical teams have been flown in from all major cities in Indonesia as well as several other countries to help with the medical treatment and recovery of the survivors.

2. PROGRESS IN THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE BOMBINGS

a. The Indonesian police have invited police forces from other countries to assist the investigation in Bali. The entire investigation process is being conducted with Indonesian police coordination;

b. The Police will complete the site analysis soon;

c. The Police have questioned more than 50 witnesses;

d. The Police have gathered evidence and detailed information on the bomb(s) for further investigation.

3. GOVERNMENT ACTIONS TO COMBAT TERRORISM

a. The Government, with the support of the parliament has issued two new government regulations in lieu of laws on antiterrorism. The regulations allow for intelligence reports to be used as legal evidence; suspected terrorists can be arrested detained for up to a period of six months for questioning and prosecution; investigators, prosecutors and judges are given the power under this regulation to freeze any bank account belonging to suspected terrorists or those allegedly funding terrorist activities;

b. The Government will maintain cooperation with the UN and other countries to combat international terrorism;

c. The Government, the parliament, various non-governmental organizations and the people of Indonesia condemn terrorism and are actively participating in a concerted effort to investigate the bombing case in Bali and bring the terrorists to justice;

d. Following the issuance of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, the President has appointed a Chairman of the Commission of Anti-Money Laundering.

4. STRATEGIC POLICIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOVERY OF THE ECONOMY

a. The Government is finalizing the review on the impact of the bombing to the economy (tourism and Bali’s economy), the Government’s budget and balance of payments for the remainder of 2002 and beyond;

b. The Government will discuss the impact of the bombing with members of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) at the end of this month. Members of the CGI have indicated their strong support and willingness to assist Indonesia in dealing with the impact of the bombing;

c. Fiscal implications and recommended policies will be discussed with the parliament to attain united support on these important issues;

d. The Government consistently upholds the supremacy of law in bringing the terrorists responsible for the bombing to justice. The consistent actions taken by the Government in the first 7 days following the bombing have successfully renewed economic confidence in the stock market and currency.

5. SHORT-TERM ACTIONS TO ASSIST RECOVERY IN THE TOURISM SECTOR

a. The Government together with businessmen and tourism experts and employees are to meet in Bali on October 22-23 to discuss policies and concerted efforts to assist in the recovery of the sector;

b. Airlines, hotels and travel operators will promote Bali to domestic travelers and other destinations in Indonesia for the coming holiday season;

c. The Government has appealed for the continuation of all official and business meetings in Bali and other venues in Indonesia;

d. The Government and tourism operators are doing their utmost to appeal to other countries’ governments to review their travel advisory to travelers visiting Indonesia:

i. At the multilateral level, Indonesia will appeal to the World Tourism Organization that will hold their annual meeting in London next month to ask other governments to review the travel advisory on Indonesia;

ii. The Government will refer to the action of the Indonesian President visiting Washington, DC and New York City a week after the September 11 tragedy last year to offer sympathy to the victims and all Americans following the attack on the WTC. The Government will raise the issue that it will be difficult for Indonesians to comprehend the events that have taken place in their country which was the victim of last weeks bombing, and must now attempt to rationalize Indonesia being isolated as a tourist destination by other countries. Such an action would indicate that the terrorists have successfully reached their objective in sowing terror and wreaking economic havoc, and the targeted country or area is to suffer because of it.

During this difficult time for Indonesia, especially for those who live in Bali, it is important for the international community to send a signal of solidarity and global support for not only Indonesia, but for all countries at the forefront of this battle for the survival of civilization.

 Source :  The Office of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs