Indonesian president postpones state visit
Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has postponed his state visit to the Netherlands, according to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday and reported in Trouw.
According to The Jakarta Post, the postponement comes following information received in Indonesia that the president risked arrest in the Netherlands on charges of human rights violations.
BNR news radio confirmed the report with the Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands, Junu Effendi Habibie, says Trouw.
The Indonesian government has informed caretaker prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende that the visit planned from Wednesday to Friday will not take place.
Yudhoyono says the Republic of South Molucca (RMS) in the Netherlands will demand his arrest at The Hague court on Tuesday afternoon.
South Molucca is administered as a province by Indonesia, the biggest Muslim country in the world, but its Christian population wants independence.
At the end of September there was a diplomatic row between Indonesia and the Netherlands after ambassador Yunus Effendi Habibie said the planned October visit would be ‘very much in doubt’ if the PVV is part of the next coalition government.
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