Chairperson of the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Hidayat Nur Wahid said here on Monday that the Indonesian delegation would raise the terrorism, corruption and climate change issues during the four-day meeting and fight for their inclusion in the Bandung Resolution to result from the meeting.

He said Indonesia would raise climate change issues because the meeting was of strategic significance in terms of its historical location in Bandung and its timing on the eve of the UN Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

“We are now following a number of conferences on sustainability. After the APA, the UN Summit on Climate Change will be held in Copenhagen with the hope that APA parliaments will contribute by proposing sustainable policies in their respective countries,” he said.

He said the meeting would also be held simultaneously with International Anticorruption Day with the hope that its observance would raise awareness of corruption and that delegations would support the continued fight against corruption.

“Corruption is a crucial issue the Indonesian Parliament has to follow up due to the emergency situation [on this issue] at home,” he said.

He said further that Indonesia would also lobby Asian parliaments to continue support for the fight against terrorism which was still a looming threat in Asian countries, including Indonesia.

“Indonesia is a victim of terrorism and therefore the fight against terrorism must continue,” he said.

Asked on security problems that might have led 13 countries not to send delegations to the meeting, Hidayat said 13 Asian countries, including the Philippines and Thailand, had yet to confirm their delegation’s attendance at the meeting, but their absence had nothing to do with the spreading rumors on a massive protest in the observance of Anticorruption Day on Wednesday.

He said the political and social  background to the  observance of Anticorruption Day would show Indonesia’s level of maturity in a developing democracy. “We altogether do not want the democracy to turn into ‘democrazy’,” he said.

Liber Silitonga, a member of the meeting’s organizing committee, said that only 26 of 39 member countries had confirmed their attendance to the meeting and three others — Cyprus, Thailand and the Philippines, had confirmed their absence from the meeting.

“So far, 10 other member countries have yet to confirm whether they will send their delegations to the meeting,” he said.

He added 192 delegates from 26 member countries have already arrived in the venue at the Museum of the Asian-African Conference.

The 10 countries which had yet to confirm their attendance include Iraq, Jordan, Kiribaty, Kuwait, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

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