The week in review: A royal wedding and a state visit
Indonesia is not even part of the Commonwealth, but like many other countries around the world, the people here also attentively followed the royal wedding procession of British Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday. The wedding even sidelined the important state visit to Indonesia by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
The guessing game that had been lingering all this time was finally over after Kate walked down the aisle to marry her prince charming at Westminster Abbey in London. All questions were answered. Kate looked elegantly beautiful in her white lace gown. Queen Elizabeth, William’s grandmother, awarded the newly weds the titles of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
An estimated two billion people around the globe, including Indonesia, watched the British royal wedding. Many compared the occasion to when William’s parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, wed some 30 years ago.
The much-awaited wedding usurped all attention, outshining media coverage of Premier Wen and his visits to Malaysia and Indonesia. Wen arrived in Jakarta late Thursday on a mission to boost bilateral relations between Indonesia and China.
The implementation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) in early 2010 has significantly increased bilateral trade between Jakarta and Beijing, with trade volume reaching US$42.75 billion last year, an over 50 percent increase from 2009. However, there are several sectors that have suffered from the agreement, and thus it has become the Indonesian government’s responsibility to help those businesses bounce back and secure benefits from the bilateral trade.
In an interview with journalists from Malaysia and Indonesia prior to his visit, Wen praised ACFTA for offering mutual benefit and bringing win-win results to all parties concerned.
As the economies of the United States and Japan are presently still in decline, China has strengthened its position as a surging economic power, and thus Indonesia should be able to draw more investment from their giant neighbor to create jobs and push the domestic economy to higher rates of expansion.
Wen has mentioned China expects to intensify cooperation with Indonesia in the energy sector, infrastructure development and other important areas, including manufacturing, agriculture and fisheries. He also said cooperation in defense would be another point to focus upon, especially in joint anti-terrorism exercises and military training.
Improving bilateral ties with China was not the only matter concerning Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. As extremist movements have seemingly been on the rise, preaching radical religious and political ideologies, Yudhoyono called on the nation to preserve the country and protect the people. The President also warned the public of the serious threat of terrorism, asking all stakeholders to actively take part in preventive measures against violence.
The National Police have been busy across the country launching a major crackdown on the outlawed radical Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement. The police have their reasons for doing so, citing the aborted plan to explode a 150 kilogram bomb beneath a gas pipeline in the Serpong area west of Jakarta.
The police have actively called on universities across the country to monitor their students’ activities, in fear the NII movement might have been successful in infiltrating campuses.
The NII, which has existed since the early 1950s, aspires to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state. Allegations have surfaced that some of the more militant members have even targeted and brainwashed university students to convince them to join their cause. Some universities have set up crisis centers to enable students to report indoctrination efforts and recruitment activities allegedly conducted by the group.
The discovery of the group’s alleged brainwashing and recruiting activities has raised concerns that terrorism in Indonesia remains a real threat and may be evolving under different mechanisms. If that is the case, security officials and intelligence officers need to work harder to be able to facilitate early detection and prevention of any radical activities.
Indonesia may not be very powerful on the international soccer pitch, but the scandal at the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) has attracted attention not only from soccer fans, but also the general public. Prior to their May 20 congress, an agenda that would include an election for the next PSSI chairman after world’s ruling soccer body FIFA told chairman Nurdin Halid to step down, PSSI announced 19 candidates deemed eligible to run for the post.
Unfortunately, at FIFA’s request PSSI had to drop the names of business tycoon Arifin Panigoro and Army Gen. George Toisutta from the list of candidates. In addition to barring Arifin and George, FIFA decided to also ban Nurdin and former vice chairman Nirwan Bakrie from the race for the 2011-2015 chairmanship.
Still in sports, last week was a memorable moment for national boxers Chris John and M. Rachman, as they had the chance to meet President Yudhoyono at the State Palace. During the meeting, the President called on the young generation to join boxing clubs or other martial arts dojos to channel their energy into positive activities, as demonstrated by both Chris, the WBA featherweight world champion, and Rachman, the WBA world minimum weight title holder.
Last but not least, besides the British royal wedding, the engagement of Yudhoyono’s youngest son Edhie Baskoro and Siti Ruby Aliya Rajasa, daughter of Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, on Tuesday also received significant attention. Their wedding, scheduled for Nov. 24th this year, is eagerly anticipated by the general public, as many have been skeptical, seeing their match as a “political marriage” between Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party and Hatta’s National Mandate Party (PAN).
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