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RI HOPES MYANMAR TO BE MORE OPEN
Jakarta, Antara News, 10 May 2008
The Indonesian government hopes that Myanmar which was hit by cyclone Nargis last weekend, will adopt a more open attitude so that the international community can learn what kind of relief aid the disaster`s victims now need, a foreign ministry spokesman said here on Friday.
The statement was made by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo in response to the Myanmar government`s policy of refusing to let Indonesian journalists enter the country to cover the delivery of humanitarian assistance for the cyclone victims.
"We hope that Myanmar will adopt a more open attitude so that with that openness we can learn what kind of assistance is needed in the field," Legowo said.
On Thursday, a number of Indonesian journalists and foreign correspondents based in Indonesia intending to cover the delivery of relief aid for Cyclone Nagris victims in Myanmar were denied entry into the country for security reasons.
The office of the Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare had tried to send seven photo journalists and TV cameramen to Myanmar but they were refused entry at the last minute, a spokesman for the office, Mukhsin, said on Thursday.
He said the seven journalists who had been assigned to cover the dispatch and delivery of Indonesian humanitarian assistance for cyclone victims in Myanmar, represented ANTARA news agency, TVRI, Kompas daily, TVone, AFP and Reuters.
Mukhsin said the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta had previously already issued visa for an AFP photographer while still processing the visa applications of the six other journalists.
But when the Indonesian humanitarian assistance was about to be flown to Myanmar, the Myanmar embassy canceled the departure of the seven journalists on the ground that the Myanmar government could not guarantee their safety in Myanmar.
As a result, the seven journalists who were already at Halim Perdanakusuma airport for their flight to Yangon failed to leave and were only able to cover the handing over of the assistance by Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah.
Myanmar`s military junta which called for international assistance to mitigate the impact of Cyclone Nargis has barred foreign media journalists from entering the country and expelled the BBC correspondent for Asia, Andrew William Harding.
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