Indonesian attitudes to the Darfur issue in Sudan, in comparison to Palestine.

Darfur

On 12th March the government of Indonesia expressed its disapproval of the issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 4th March against the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, for war crimes and crimes against humanity (but not genocide).

The ICC prosecutors claim that Bashir and other high level Sudanese political and military leaders bear direct responsibility for the killing, raping and forcible removals of a large number of ethnic African civilians in Darfur, by Arab militias called Janjaweed.

An official announcement from Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Department stated that the issues of “promotion of justice” (punishing criminals) and “pursuit of peace” (ending the conflict) should be kept in better balance, with the arrest warrant tipping the scales to the former too much.

Indonesia recently supported an unsuccessful motion at the UN Security Council, along with many African Union and Arab League countries, to force the ICC to “defer” its investigations into crimes in Darfur.

Indonesia did urge the government of Sudan to cooperate better with the ICC, particularly over the arrest warrants for former Interior Minister, Ahmed Haroun, and Janjaweed leader, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman. Any such cooperation however must take into account the principle of complementarity, and allow for Sudan to handle the matter through its own justice system. beritasore

Meanwhile on the same day, 12th March, the Deputy Governor of Darfur province, Abdelrahman Aljien, made his way to Bogor City Hall and the Bogor Presidential Palace, as part of an official visit to Indonesia.

He was entertained by Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto, who discussed with him the possibilities of increasing cooperation between Darfur and cities in West Java such as Bogor, as well as Cirebon and Bandung, in the areas of small industry and agriculture. thejakartapost

Palestine

While the issue of Darfur is rarely mentioned in domestic politics that of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often so, particularly with the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Generic ‘Save Palestine’ banner on the street.

As part of their coalition agreement for the 2009-2014 period the party of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), Partai Demokrat, and the Justice Party/Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) have made a “political contract” to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation, says Anis Matta of the PKS.

Election banner of Partai Demokrasi Pembaruan.

Apart from freeing the Palestinians and ending a 50 year old conflict in the middle east the PKS and Partai Demokrat also agreed to wage war on corruption within the country.antara

PKS = Palestina Kita Sayangi