SBY's Speech on RI-M'sia Ties Praised

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Marzuki Alie has said that the Wednesday evening speech of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on the Indonesian-Malaysian ties was appropriate.

"Yes, President SBY’s speech was appropriate. The problem is his ministers, who are not synergistic, no coordination. His ministers talk as they wish, that’s what make the people blame him," Marzuki Alie said at the Parliament Building here Thursday.     As the president, SBY was correct to be calm and soft, he said.        "It should be like that. He should be calm and soft because there are around two million Indonesian workers there, our students, and there are also Malaysian students here," the House speaker said.      If the president’s speech tended to be provocative, it would damage all the good things that the country has made with Malaysia, he said.       "We don’t want to damage the long existing ties just to satisfy few people," he stated.       President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his speech on Wednesday evening said that the border talks between Indonesia and Malaysia should be carried out and completed soon for the prevention of incidents that could disrupt the relations between the two countries.       "The Indonesian government is of the view that the best solution to prevent and overcome such incidents is through dialogs," the head of state.        He said that the talks should cover maritime and border areas, including areas in the Singapore strait and the Sulawesi Sea or the waters of Ambalat. Yudhoyono said that it was very important to preserve relations with neighboring nations, Malaysia in particular.         "But this should not mean that we would ignore national interest, let alone if it concerned sovereignty and the integrity of the Unitary State of Indonesia (NKRI)," the president said.