MUTED INDONESIAN REACTION TO SADDAM'S EXECUTION

UNCLAS JAKARTA 000012 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL KJUS IZ ID SUBJECT: MUTED INDONESIAN REACTION TO SADDAM'S EXECUTION ¶1. Reaction to Saddam Hussein's execution has been muted in Indonesia, largely overshadowed by media coverage of domestic air and maritime transport tragedies that claimed the lives of more than 500 people this holiday weekend. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU) released a short statement on January 2, declaring that "Saddam Hussein's death sentence has already been appealed and upheld by the Supreme Court. Since the judicial process, although imperfect, has already been followed and Saddam Hussein given an opportunity to defend himself, the execution is not surprising. The Government of Indonesia hopes that Saddam Hussein's execution does not further divide the warring parties in their efforts to bring about the national reconciliation necessary to restore Iraqi sovereignty." DEPLU Middle East Director Chandra Salim echoed the latter point, commenting publicly that "there is concern that the execution will worsen conditions and we hope there will be no more violence." Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told the media that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will make no official remarks on Saddam's death since "it would be strange if Indonesia were too vocal" about the execution. ¶2. Press treatment of the execution has relied on foreign wire service reports, and local media reaction has been cursory. The English-language Jakarta Post ran an editorial positing that "Iraq is much better off with him dead than alive," but condemning the execution's timing as "smack(ing) of revenge, rather than justice." "The Iraqi government could have been more sensitive with Saddam's execution," the editors wrote. "Doing it in the middle of Idul Adha festivities, while Muslims around the world were slaughtering livestock symbolic of the need to sacrifice, was an appalling idea. Saddam's supporters can now claim that he was their sacrificial lamb, in order to fire up whatever cause they have in the civil war." Meanwhile, the Islamist Indonesian-language Republika ran a front page analysis on "Saddam's Last Voyage," which downplayed Saddam's reign of terror while decrying the negative effects of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In a representative passage, the author reported that Saddam was convicted and executed for killing 148 Shi'a in Dujail, which is "of course not as many deaths as caused by the American occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq." The harshest editorial ran in the independent daily Media Indonesia, which called the U.S. hypocritical and egotistical, and claimed President Bush should be tried as a war criminal for attacking Iraq and overthrowing a "lawful" government. ¶3. Indonesia's opinion leaders have been mostly silent about Saddam's death. The few who have spoken have generally expressed concerns similar to those of the Foreign Ministry, that the execution will exacerbate intercommunal tensions. For example, Masdar Mas'udi, a high-ranking member of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU),Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, reportedly opined that "people can already predict what the reactions of Saddam's supporters will be. There may be more bloodshed." In his view, executing Saddam was "right by law, but it is not wise." Similarly, Ahmad Syafii Maarif, the former head of NU's main rival Muhammadiyah, predicted to the press that "the execution won't remedy the current situation. In fact, it may attract more sympathy." Maarif also condemned the U.S.'s alleged role in Saddam's death, commenting that "what we don't like is that the court proceeding was impure, under the shadows of the United States." HEFFERN