Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says Indonesia and Egypt have agreed to strengthen democracy in both states by increasing contact.
“Egypt sees Indonesia as having had the experience of resolving the 1998 political crisis. On that basis, both sides have agreed to intensify contact in order to strengthen democracy in both countries,” he said Thursday during his visit to Cairo.
Marty added that the Indonesian General Elections Commission (KPU) would meet with the Egyptian general elections body to exchange information on preparing and conducting fair and transparent elections.
Egypt has just gone through a turbulent political period where protesters demanded democracy. The weeks of protests finally brought about the downfall of former president Hosni Mubarak, in February.
“We would not lecture Egypt, but both sides need each other for an exchange of mindsets and ideas on how to manage democracy,” Marty said.
Egypt is scheduled to hold a parliamentary election in September 2011, followed by its first-ever democratic presidential election in November.
Marty added that he was positive that Egypt would enter a better period after the change in regime, similar to Indonesia’s experience following the forced resignation of former president Soeharto in 1998.
“We are certainly confident that Egypt will be better after the revolution,” he said, as reported by Antara news service.
No comments:
Post a Comment