The Western military attacks were in line with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1973 that approved a no-fly zone over Libya and authorized "all necessary measures" for protecting civilians there from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi`s forces.
The phrase "all necessary measures" was like giving a "blank check" to the Coalition countries, therefore Russia, China (both permanent members of the UNSC), Germany, Brazil, and India (non-permanent members) abstained from the voting, explained Indonesian Permanent Representatives in the United Nations Hassan Kleib in an interview with TVOne recently.
The UNSC Resolution 1973 was passed in the UN Headquarters in New York on March 17, 2011, and the Indonesian government said it would abide by the UNSC resolution.
AFP reported on Wednesday (March 23) that British Air Vice Marshall Greg Bagwell said US, French and British forces involved in the strikes that began Saturday (March 19) had "taken away (Kadhafi`s) eyes and ears" and "destroyed the majority of his air force".
The Arab League on Sunday (March 20) criticized Western military strikes on Libya, a week after urging the United Nations to slap a no-fly zone on the oil-rich North African state.
"What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians," Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa told reporters in Cairo.
Following the western military strikes, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa, said in Jakarta, Monday (March 21), that "The Indonesian government has all along emphasized the importance for the international community to protect innocent civilians in Libya and the protection given by the international community must not run against international law and also be in line with the UN Charter."
He said UNSC Resolution 1973 had the potential of protecting civilians if carried out fully and correctly. "However we certainly wish the problem could be solved peacefully through dialogs and democratic means prioritizing the rights of all Libyans to determine their future," he said.
"We wish innocent civilians be protected and certainly in giving the protection we must not at the same create new violence because the conflict should resolved in a peaceful way," he said.
On Tuesday (March 22), Minister Marty made another statement regarding the situation in Libya. "I am concerned that the situation in Libya has led to a justification of violence as a tool to solve the problem there."
The minister called on the coalition forces, in executing its mandate from UNSC, to make civilians` security in Libya their top priority.
"The implementation of the UN resolution about Libya must be in line with the spirit of protecting civilians and not create new problems," he said.
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia`s largest Islamic organizations, has expressed opposition to foreign intervention in the political crisis in Libya.
"PBNU (the NU executive board) condemned and strongly opposed foreign intervention for whatever reasons, moreover military actions," NU Chief Said Aqil Siroj said in Jakarta, Monday (March 21).
"The military action would be fatal for the country and nation concerned as has been shown in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq where it has left political problems until now besides reducing those countries` sovereignty," he said.
Another condemnation came from the Indonesia-Libya Friendship Institute (LPIL), which has urged the US and other Western countries to stop their aggression against Libya.
"LPIL condemns and strongly objects to the aggression whatever its reasons or purpose," LPIL Secretary General Mahyuddin Nawawi said at a press conference held at the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Building in Jakarta, Wednesday (March 23).
LPIL believed the political crisis in Libya should be dealt with political and diplomatic means through negotiations.
Grouping 12 Islamic organizations, LPIL called on the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to take a proactive measure to find solution to the Libyan problem.
"The Indonesian government`s stance (on Libya) currently is not stern enough," Said Agil Siroj, a LPIL chairman concurrently NU chairman, said in the press conference.
Said Agil considered the involvement of foreign military in Libya is a tragedy for Islamic people.
He suspected that the Western military strikes against Libya was motivated more to control the country`s rich oil fields rather than to help the Libyan people.
"For Palestine, the (Western) reaction has been very slow because there is no oil (in Palestine). But for Libya, (the Western`s) main intention is to control the oil, like in Darfur Sudan. (Moammar) Qadafi is number two," said the NU chairman.
In Padang (West Sumatra), Sunday (March 20), Buya Mas`oed Abidin, a prominent Muslim figure of West Sumatra, said the mobilization of Allied forces to implement the UN resolution was inappropriate, and it resembled the Allied forces invasion of Iraq.
Mas`oed agreed that Libyan President Muammad Khadafi was brutal against his own people, but he questioned the use of brutal attacks to deal with similar brutality. "Does the UN guarantee that the Allied forces attacks will not harm civilians?", he asked.
He said the UN should review its policy before more civilians would become victims of the Western strikes.
In the Parliament building in Jakarta, Al Muzzammil Yusuf, coordinator of the Indonesian Parliamentary Caucus For Palestine, said Thursday (March 24), the western coalition`s military strikes that have killed many civilians, was the real face of US foreign policy.
"(US President Barack) Obama and (former President George W) Bush are the same, only the leadership style is different, the substance of their foreign policy is the same," he said.
"They want to take profit from the crisis in the oil-rich country. They don`t care about the humanitarian crisis in Libya," he added.
He even accused that the coalition forces did not help the Libyan people but demonstrated the US hegemony in the Middle East and its pragmatic interest in Libyan oil.
Military aggression would create a new and bigger problem for the Libyan people," the legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said.
"As long as the US just stands still while Israel is colonizing Palestine, don`t ever think that the US is a country which upholds human rights. The US is always applying a double standard which disadvantages Muslims in the world," Muzzammil stated.
Theo L Sambuaga, a senior politician, also condemned the Coalition attacks and considered them as blatant violation of the country`s sovereignty.
"The military action is a violation of Libya`s national sovereignty, and whatever excuses are unacceptable," Theo, deputy chairman of the Golkar Party Executive Board, said in Jakarta, Tuesday (March 22).
Theo, former president of The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)`s Political and Disarmament Commission, however, also urged Moammer Ghadafi to stop killing his own people and start dialogs with the opposition leaders, and to meet the people`s demands which have been expressed.
Theo was of the view that even if an intervention is needed against Libya, the UN is the one that should carry it out.
"For instance by immediately forming a multinational force to enter Libya and control the situation and security there," They Sambuaga said.
Another objection came from Siti Zuhro, Ph.D, a political researcher at the Indonesia Institute of Science (LIPI). "The western military operations are destroying Libya. They are similar to what the United States did in Iraq and this is unacceptable," Siti said Wednesday (March 23).
"How would the UN (United Nations) justify the military operations? That is definitely an intervention. The internal and domestic affairs of Libya should be settled by Libya itself, not by the international world," she said.
The western countries were known for their obsession towards natural resources in the Middle east and Arab countries, she said.
In view of the sovereignty violation, Siti also urged the international countries associations such as the Arab League, ASEAN and Non-Aligned Movement countries to question and stand firm against the western intervention in Libya.
"This is an important lesson for Indonesia and other countries in the world to maintain the solidity and the unity of the country," she said, adding that Indonesia in the 2011 ASEAN Chairmanship also has significant role to promote the world peace and to gain support from international world against the military aggression.
An international law expert urged the Indonesian government to call for a halt to the western coalition`s air strikes as the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 does not mandate the toppling of Moammar Gaddafi,
"The Indonesian government must call for a stop to the Coalition`s air strikes," Hikmahanto Juwono, dean at the University of Indonesia`s Faculty of Law (FHUI), said Tuesday.
The UN Resolution`s mandate had been achieved because the Coalition`s military officials had announced that the Gaddafi government`s air defenses had been paralyzed or neutralized so that Gaddafi could no longer use them to attack the opposition, he said.
Therefore, if the Coalition`s strikes continued against Gaddafi following US President Obama`s statement that "Gaddafi needs to go", the Coalition`s strikes, which initially could be considered legal, would become an unjust war, he said.
"Indonesia needs to remind the United States that the US` wish to topple Gaddafi could push Libya into a civil war," he stated.
Moreover, the US policy would once again alienate the US from the Islamic world, and Obama`s efforts to reach out to the Islamic world would fail, he said.
As the violence has escalated in Libya, Indonesia has decided to temporarily move the operations of its embassy in Tripoli to Tunis.
"The process of moving it has been done since yesterday but four embassy staff will remain in Tripoli to assure the safety of Indonesian nationals choosing to stay there," Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told newsmen in Jakarta recently.
The Indonesian ambassador to Libya and his entourage have arrived in Tunisia after crossing a border point in Ras Jedir town, Ben Guardane Province.
A total of 533 Indonesian evacuees from Libya have arrived in Tunisia so far. Up to March 19, 517 of them have been sent home to Indonesia.(*)
F001/HAJM
Reporter: Fardah
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
