0 US Embassy Expansion Upsets HTI

The hard-line Islamic organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia has called on Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo to reject a request by the United States to expand its embassy building in Jakarta, even as Australia announced plans to expand its mission here to make it the largest Australian embassy in the world. Farid Wadjdi, chairman of the HTI’s central executive board, said that the United States would increase its intelligence-gathering activities if the governor allowed the expansion of the embassy on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan. 

“As the US Embassy gets bigger, its intelligence, economic and political functions will also grow,” Farid said after meeting with the governor on Tuesday at City Hall, just across the street from the US Embassy. The US government wants to turn the embassy into a 12-floor building, but according to Farid the project will threaten the nearby historical Syahrir Building. “How can a threat to a historical building be condoned for American interests? We want Joko to show his courage — to not only hide behind a law, but to show his political stance,” he said. 

“I ask Jakarta to have the courage to not issue [a building permit]. But actually, the US Embassy should not have existed in Indonesia in the first place, because it’s used to occupy Indonesia,” he added. Farid also said that Joko had promised to take the HTI’s wishes into consideration and would convey the message to other stakeholders in the matter. Meanwhile, Australian Ambassador Greg Moriarty said on Tuesday that a new embassy building to be built in Jakarta would be Australia’s largest. 

Moriarty said after meeting with Joko that the Australians are looking forward to working with Indonesian authorities, including in building the new Australian Embassy building that “will be our largest embassy in the world.” The ambassador said that the new embassy would be built in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta, where the current Australian Embassy is also located. He said the construction was set to begin soon and the building was expected to be completed in 2015. 

The ambassador had earlier said that the embassy would be built on a plot of land of some 40,500 square meters. Previous reports have put the price tag of the planned construction at around A$230 million ($240 million). Moriarty said that his meeting with the governor was to meant discuss cooperation between Indonesia and Australia, and also to share experiences in sustainable development and management.

source : the jakarta globe