Ford was a friend to Indonesia

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 01/09/2007 2:49 PM  |  Opinion

I strongly disagreed with the Time Magazine panel of presidential historians in 1998 who dubbed Gerald Ford a ""do-nothing president.""

In my opinion, President Ford did a lot of great work which changed Indonesian history. He gave his approval to Indonesia to stop the expansion of communism in the region with America's full political support for the invasion of East Timor by Indonesian troops in 1976.

His visit to Jakarta in December 1975 was a quick response after President Soeharto stopped at Camp David to get his support for the invasion during his world tour in July 1975. At the Camp David meeting, President Ford also expressed his appreciation to Indonesia for not joining in the world oil embargo in 1973-1974.

During his short administration, President Ford never adopted a policy that hurt the integrity or dignity of Indonesia. In fact, his policies made us one of the great nations who fought successfully against communism during the Cold War by saving East Timor from the threat of Marxist-styled Fretilin forces. And the invasions made our territory greater, of course.

President Ford taught us that if America supports a nation to be its ally, we cannot treat it like a fruit salad and say, ""I like this but I don't like that.""

That's why the Ford administration marked a great period in the Indonesia-America relationship.

IWAN SATYANEGARA KAMAH
Jakarta

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