Malaysia’s travel warning is unwise: House

Protest: A protester in front of the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta. JP/Nurhayati

The House of Representatives Commission I on foreign affairs says that the Malaysian government should have acted wiser before issuing a travel warning for its citizens to visit Indonesia.

“The Malaysian authorities should understand that Indonesian people anger has been accumulated for the continuous border dispute between the two countries,” the commission chairman, Mahfudz Siddiq from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), told reporters at the House in Jakarta on Thursday.

“We understand that Malaysia might be angry too over the recent rally at its embassy [in Jakarta], but they should also not issue a policy that will only heat things up even further,” Mahfudz added, referring to a recent rally during which demonstrators threw human turds to the Malaysian embassy.

Mahfudz said Malaysia should have used Indonesian anger as a basis to be more serious in resolving border disputes.

The latest dispute revolves around the arrest of three Indonesian officers patrolling the Riau island waters by the Malaysian police.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party says that Malaysia is over-reacting by issuing the travel warning, saying it would only escalate the border dispute.

“If we threat one another, then the situation will not get cooler between the two countries,” Democratic Party deputy secretary general Saan Mustopa said in Jakarta Thursday.

Several non-government organizations (NGOs) haveing been staging rallies at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta, and in one occasion, they threw human turds to the embassy’s outer wall.

Saan also said that he could understand the NGOs’ reaction by throwing human turds to the Malaysian embassy but he hoped that the NGOs should have protested in a more polite manner.

Hundreds of people from a number of organizations staged another rally at the Malaysian Embassy on Thursday.

Orators were seen shouting protest through loudspeakers, demanding the Malaysian government respect Indonesians.

South Jakarta Police deployed 180 officers to safeguard the rally that has caused traffic congestion in the area.