Ambassador regrets slur on PVV voters

Indonesia’s ambassador to the Netherlands Junus Effendi Habibie has told the Dutch foreign ministry he should not have said people who voted for the anti-Islam PVV may be ‘anxiety psychotic’, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

But other comments about the PVV, made in an interview with the Financieele Dagblad, remain on the table.
In the interview, the ambassador said the planned October visit by Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhynono would be ‘very much in doubt’ if the PVV is part of the next coalition government.
‘Of course the president will not come here if there is someone in the cabinet who says Islam is backward. I do not want my president to be seen as a clown’ the ambassador told the paper.
Unwise
Foreign minister Maxime Verhagen told Nos tv that the ambassador’s words about PVV supporters were ‘unwise’.
‘I did not think it wise how he described the PVV voters,’Verhagen said. ‘An ambassador should not make comments about the electorate.’
Geert Wilders said he was pleased the ambassador had ‘grovelled’ about his ‘attack on the PVV voter’.
Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country in the world. Wilders has repeatedly called for a ban on immigration from Islamic countries.