C

em>Chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission I overseeing defense, foreign and information affairs, Kemal Aziz Stamboel of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), has planned to summon Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to seek clarification on Indonesia's position over the occupation of Israeli police at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The clarification was a response to condemnation by the Islamic organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia during a meeting with the commission. As the PKS has been growing significantly in the past few years, as could be seen in the number of seats the party gained at the House, moderates are increasingly alarmed that Indonesia may possibly tilt towards Islamic views in defining its national policies. The Jakarta Post's Lilian Budianto spoke to Kemal about the stance of the party's foreign policy and defense issues. Below is an excerpt of the interview.

Question: Indonesia has always been on the side of Palestine in the Middle Eastern conflicts, citing grounds on respect of sovereignty as enshrined in our Constitution. The PKS has been actively advocating the Palestinian cause - is it because of respect of sovereignty or religious solidarity?

Answer: I think both are equally important. As a nation, Palestine deserves the right to be independent and because they have a Muslim majority population, we also extend our solidarity as (Muslim people) to them. However, it should be noted that our solidarity is not only intended for Muslims but anybody needing it.

If we have to see those two causes separately, I'll put respect of sovereignty first and then follow the obligation as a Muslim to take care of the needs of umat (the people).

When we say umat, it means all people in Palestine, including Christians. They are also suffering and we have to help them as a nation. So, this is not only restricted to helping Muslim people.

Experts have been saying that the PKS has sided with the hard-line group Hamas in its advocacy for the Palestinian cause. How do you respond to that?

We did not see Palestine as groups but as a whole nation.

Issues such as the emergence of a more extreme group within Palestine are things that need to be settled among themselves internally.

Let it be their own business. What we fight for is for the whole nation that has been living under the pressure and mistreatment, not a particular group.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country but it has been cautious in defending the interest of Muslim countries. In 2007, Indonesia voted to support the UN resolution against Iran, leading lawmakers to summon the President for accountability of the decision. The summon was the first time ever in a foreign-policy issue. What is your point of view on this?

Our relations with other countries cannot merely be religiously driven, there has to be rationality. In the case of Iran, we have to see it as a nation. We have both on different occasions supported and abstained from UN resolutions against Iran. We put our stance towards Iran based on the reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We do not take our stance based on merely religious reasons.

How does Indonesia see its relations with Middle Eastern countries?

This is about bringing balance and it depends on the needs. Europe and the US have been our trading partners but we've tried to create trade relations with the Middle East.

In our party platform book, we state Indonesia's foreign policy priorities will remain within Southeast Asia and then follow with the other outer rings, from East Asia, Pacific, South Asia and the Middle East to Europe and America. Economic advantages and regional security will be the grounds in building relations with other countries and so not merely religious backgrounds.

What changes will be there in the commission now that the chairman is from the PKS?

We agree to put national interests above all. This commission handles sectors that are heavy on national issues, such as defense, foreign affairs and telecommunication and we have to remain rational. We do not see this commission as different from others. We will invoke President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his speech saying we need to implement multi-track and multi-direction diplomacy. We agree to that.

We want to be friends with all countries and we will build relations with other nations based on mutual respect, not only in politics but also economics and social culture.

We are not in the position to seek enemies. Indonesia is a member of G20 and we represent developing countries there.

In the past, The Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry have given differing views about the continuity of Defense Cooperation Agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia. The foreign minister wanted to go ahead with it but the defense minister resisted. What will be the position of the commission right now?

We are siding with the defense ministry on this case.

The Singaporean government wants to enact their own law in the training zone within the sovereignty area of Indonesia and they also wanted to be allowed to invite other countries in the training without having to seek our permission.

It will spoil our sovereignty. We still have to sit together to talk about it. I think the foreign ministry should negotiate extradition provisions to be part of the DCA because that's what is relevant to our interest.

What about the row between Indonesia and Malaysia?

Indonesia and Malaysia have established relations for a long time and in friendship, conflicts are sometimes unavoidable.

It happened that our relations with Malaysia is currently interrupted with the issue of migrant abuse and culture heritage claims. But at the end of the day, people will know that we are actually not against each other as seen and publicized.