Embassy Row

Pacific Century fades

When the September 11 terrorist attacks changed everything, they also dashed the hopes that the 21st century would be the “Pacific Century,” the Indonesian ambassador noted this week.

The vast Southeast Asian archipelago-nation, with 6,000 inhabited islands and about 224 million people, was hailed as one of the world’s largest emerging democracies in the 1990s.

“Those were the years when the economy was the top international priority, when globalization was unquestionably a fair wind to ride, and when ’free trade’ was the most sacred mantra,” Ambassador Soemadi D.M. Brotodiningrat told the World Affairs Council at an Indonesian Embassy reception.

First-world governments were confident that the Asia-Pacific region would be an economic powerhouse and the “21st century would be the Pacific Century,” he said.

“It is ironic that when we actually entered the 21st century, the expression … has almost completely lost its echo,” Mr. Brotodiningrat said.

After the terrorist attacks on the United States, Indonesia’s image “suddenly changed from one of the largest democracies to the largest Muslim country in the world.”

Indonesia has also been targeted by Islamic terrorists, who bombed the resort island of Bali in 2002 and a Marriott hotel in the capital, Jakarta, last year.

The ambassador said that State Department travel warnings, front-page news of the terrorist attacks and stories on the “small extremist minority of Indonesian Muslims” have created the “misperception [that] Indonesia … is drifting toward Islamic extremism.”

The truth is that Indonesia is consolidating its democracy, he said. Indonesians voted for national and local legislators April 5 and will hold their first direct election for president on July 5.

Indonesians and foreign observers judged the legislative elections to be generally free, fair and peaceful, “in spite of some rather serious logistical hiccups, as well as some criticism, complaints and even protests over the counting of the votes,” Mr. Brotodiningrat said.

He noted the “impressive dimension” of organizing the election: Ninety percent of the country’s 147.5 million registered voters cast ballots at 585,000 polling places to elect 2,500 lawmakers, choosing from about 50,000 candidates representing 24 political parties.

“The whole series of these elections requires almost 1 billion ballot papers, 2.3 million ballot boxes and some 5 million [electoral] workers,” he said.

Israel stands tall

Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon yesterday marked the annual Holocaust remembrance by warning that anti-Semitism remains a threat not just to Israel, but to all democracies.

“Nazi atrocities didn’t stop with the persecution of the Jewish people. … Today, this same hatred and anti-Semitism that is manifested in terrorism is a real and acute threat not only to Israel and the Jewish people, but to all peace-loving and freedom-seeking democracies,” he said at a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda.

“Terrorist organizations and anti-Semites exploit the freedoms of democracy in order to destroy our civilization.”

Mr. Ayalon praised the “courageous and decisive leadership of the United States” and warned against appeasing terrorists, as many European nations did with the Nazis.

“Since the establishment of Israel, we have continued to pay a terrible price to preserve our independence in the face of violence, incitement and terror,” he said. “But Israel is strong … and we are not alone.”

Mr. Ayalon added, “We stand tall in Israel — proud to be Israelis, proud of our heritage and proud to be the Jewish nation, where all people can live freely and with human dignity.”

The gathering attracted 450 guests, including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and author Elie Wiesel of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison@washingtontimes.com.