Ambassador Denies Paying Indonesians to Rally in Support of SBY
Protesters hold a demonstration against the award outside the presidential palace in Jakarta. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry).
sebaIndonesian Embassy officials denied claims that the office paid Indonesians living in the United States to rally in support of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as he accepted an award for his commitment to religious tolerance.
The Indonesian newspaper Koran Tempo ran an article claiming the supporters, many of them allegedly the families of consulate, embassy or central bank staff, were paid $100-a-head to rally in support of the president.
"The news is totally wrong," said Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesia's ambassador to the United States, in a press statement issued Sunday night. "Ask the Indonesian people who attended the gala dinner."
A small crowd of approximately 60 supporters greeted Yudhoyono as he arrived at the Pierre Hotel, in New York, to accept a "World Statesman" award from the interfaith Appeal of Conscience Foundation (APF) last week.
Koran Tempo journalist Victoria Sidjabat was on location last Thursday covering the awards ceremony. Victoria interviewed the supporters after she was barred from entering the gala dinner without committing to staying inside for the entire evening.
"They told me that they wanted to support SBY because they loved SBY and they considered SBY a successful president deserving of the award," Victoria said.
The supporters, she told the Jakarta Globe, seemed to rally as part of an effort to head off what Indonesian officials reportedly believed would be a large protest criticizing the foundation's controversial decision to issue the award to Yudhoyono. Few admitted to following current events in Indonesia and said they knew little of reports of religious intolerance back home, Victoria said.
The Indonesian government has struggled to curb a rising tide of religious intolerance in recent years as religious minorities found themselves under attack from Islamic hard-line groups.
"I think the [pro-award] demonstration was prepared in anticipation of an anti-award demonstration which was predicted to involve many people," Victoria said. "Actually many of them [anti-award protesters] suddenly decided not to show up."
Less than a dozen people showed up in protest of the event. The protestors brandished signs showing the victims of religious violence against Shia and Ahmadiyah members and portraits of slain human rights activist Munir.
John M. Miller, national coordinator of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, was among the protestors outside the awards gala. He accused the foundation of polishing Yudhoyono's image abroad when intolerance was in the rise in Indonesia.
"President Yudhoyono must not be allowed to polish his image while incidents of religious intolerance increase, the prospects for justice for past rights violations diminishes, and violations by Indonesia's security forces continue," Miller said in a recent e-mail to the Jakarta Globe.
The Indonesian Ambassador accused the protestors of offering money to those who rallied against Yudhoyono.
"Our people reported from trusted sources that there is an Indonesian calling up diaspora in US and asking them to join demonstrations against SBY in New York with $100 as payment," Dino said.
The supporters denied receiving compensation from the embassy, Victoria said. The allegations surfaced days before the awards gala, although the source of the information remained unclear, she said.
"The source is not clear," Victoria said. "When I interviewed people who were there to demonstrate, they denied it."
Paying protestors to demonstrate is a common practice in Indonesia where "mass organizations" are available to rally in the interests of whoever provides food or cash as compensation.
Officials with the Appeal of Conscience Foundation have not responded to interview requests from the Jakarta Globe or Koran Tempo. Indonesian journalists traveling with the president were told they had to stick with Yudhoyono throughout the event, preventing reporters from interviewing the protestors outside, Victoria said.
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