"We are monitoring and following closely the developments there," he said.
The step taken by the Indonesian government, through its representative in the UN general assembly, on Monday (Dec 19) to vote in favour of the resolution on the human rights situation in Syria was correct, Kalla said.
He said Indonesias decision was based on the urgency of the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Earlier, the Indonesian public had been outraged by a picture that spread through social media showing that Indonesia had abstained during the vote.
The Director General for Multilateral Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hasan Kleib clarified that the photo being circulated on social media was from a vote on another issue and from a different UN forum.
"The picture that has spread is about an annual vote on the human rights issue in July in Geneva, Switzerland, regarding human rights conditions in Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Myanmar, and we have always abstained," he said.
Indonesia has always abstained in the annual human rights resolution because that forum is politicized, imbalanced, and does not cover issues promoting human rights, he stated.
"That was in July. That is clear. The vote last night (Dec 19) was in the general assembly proposed by UN Committee III on Aleppo and we voted in favor," he said.
Hasan said that 116 countries voted in favor, 52 abstained, and 16 voted against the resolution.
"Indonesia was in favor in view of the situation and condition there. The fact is that the humanitarian situation there (Aleppo) has been very critical," he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
