JAKARTA: Nearly 10,000 Indonesian Muslims staged a demonstration outside the Myanmar Embassy in central Jakarta on Wednesday to protest the violent crackdown against Rohingya Muslims.
The protesters also urged Indonesia to sever its bilateral ties with Myanmar.
Police had put up barbed wires around the embassy perimeter to prevent the protesters from getting closer to its building in the upscale Menteng area while traffic was rerouted as a precautionary measure.
Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono told Arab News at the rally that security had been stepped up around the embassy since last week.
Protesters held a moment of prayers for the victims of the ongoing military crackdown. Others were seen smacking on an effigy that donned a mask of Ashin Wirathu, the hard-line Buddhist monk. Some of the protesters demanded the police to take down the Myanmar flag from the embassy compound. They also burned Myanmar flags.
Ade Bhakti, executive director of the Jakarta-based Center for Radicalism and Deradicalization Studies, who was observing the rally, told Arab News that the Rohingya issue “is fluid and touches upon various elements in Indonesia.”
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, meanwhile, concluded her two-country diplomatic trip in Dhaka to seek solutions to the Rohingya refugee crisis. Marsudi arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day after visiting Myanmar on Monday.
In Myanmar, she held talks with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, National Security Adviser U Thaung Tun, Myanmar Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Senior Gen. U Min Aung Hlaing and two other ministers. The talks were aimed at easing tension in Rakhine state and boosting humanitarian aid to communities affected by the conflict.
Marsudi also held bilateral talks with her Bangladeshi counterpart Mahmood Ali and representatives of UN refugee agency UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Dhaka.
During her meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Marsudi said she conveyed Indonesia’s appreciation of Bangladesh for coping with a massive influx of Rohingya refugees into its territory.
“In accordance with President Joko Widodo’s directives, Indonesia is offering support to the Bangladeshi government to ease its burden in handling this humanitarian crisis,” Marsudi said in a video statement from Dhaka, made available to journalists in Indonesia by the Foreign Ministry on late Tuesday.
She said Sheikh Hasina welcomed Indonesia’s gesture to support Bangladesh in tackling the refugee crisis. The Indonesian ambassador in Dhaka will hold a follow-up meeting with Bangladeshi authorities to discuss more details on Indonesia’s role, the minister added.
During her bilateral talks, Marsudi said Ali briefed her about the challenges faced by the refugee camps. She said the representatives of UNHCR and IOM confirmed those challenges during her talks with them.
It was Marsudi’s second visit to Bangladesh to address the Rohingya crisis that has caused tension on both sides of the border.
In December 2016, she met Ali to promote communications between Bangladesh and Myanmar. The two foreign ministers then visited the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar.
During her meeting with Suu Kyi on Monday, Marsudi proposed 4+1 formula to end to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state.
Marsudi also described her trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh as “marathon diplomacy for humanity.”
The minister said her Dutch, Iranian, and British counterparts had contacted her during the course of her trip to express their support for Indonesia’s diplomatic efforts to address the Rohingya crisis.
Rohingya crisis: Indonesia offers to ease Bangladesh’s burden
Rohingya crisis: Indonesia offers to ease Bangladesh’s burden
UK government publishes files about the appointment of Epstein friend Mandelson to ambassador post
- The government has said the files will show that Mandelson misled officials about the extent of the relationship
- Starmer is facing a political storm over his decision to give him the Washington job
LONDON: The British government on Wednesday published a batch of documents related to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, as police investigate potential misconduct stemming from the ex-diplomat’s ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein.
The 147-page release was published Wednesday on the government website.
Lawmakers have forced Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to disclose thousands of files about the decision to name Mandelson to the key diplomatic post at the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term, despite a past friendship with the convicted sex offender.
The government has said the files will show that Mandelson misled officials about the extent of the relationship. But Starmer is facing a political storm over his decision to give him the Washington job.
Mandelson, 72, a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, was arrested Feb. 23 at his London home on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has been released without bail conditions as the police investigation continues.
He has previously denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.
Cabinet minister Darren Jones said the “first tranche of documents” will be published Wednesday afternoon.
The documents are being published in batches after review by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. Police have asked the government not to release files that could compromise their criminal investigation into Mandelson.
“The documents that will be published today later to Parliament will provide full transparency about the appointments process, bar one document that has been held back by the Metropolitan Police because of an ongoing criminal investigation,” Jones told broadcaster ITV.
Starmer fired Mandelson in September after an earlier release of documents showed he had maintained contact with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sexual offenses involving a minor.
Further details about Mandelson’s ties with Epstein, revealed in a huge trove of files published by the US Department of Justice in January, drove opponents and even some members of Starmer’s Labour Party to call for the prime minister’s resignation. Starmer survived the immediate danger, but his position remains fragile, even though he never met Epstein and is not implicated in his crimes.
Starmer has apologized to Epstein’s victims and said he was sorry for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.”
The Epstein files suggest that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the UK government’s business secretary after the 2008 financial crisis.
That includes an internal government report discussing ways the UK could raise money, including by selling off government assets. Mandelson also appears to have told Epstein he would lobby other members of the government to reduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses.
Mandelson is also facing a separate probe by the European Union’s anti-fraud office for the time he spent as the bloc’s trade representative.
