State Visit from Indonesia to The Netherlands: October 6-9, 2010 {Cancelled}

[lucien]

By invitation of HM Queen Beatrix His Excellency the President of Indonesia,Mr.Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and
Mrs.Ani Yudhoyono will pay a State Visit to The Netherlands in october 2010.

Indonesia is not only our former colony of the East-Indies,but,then as now,the largest muslim state in the world.

The State Visit was long awaited but due to the EU ban on aircraft of its National carrier Garuda was postponed.
Recently Garuda was removed from the EU "black-list" and resumed its flights to Amsterdam Schiphol International
after it aquired new A 330-200 aircraft and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines takes up maintainance.

This State Visit has been on the wish-list,if one can call it that,of HM for a long time and now finally will take place.

[lucien]

HM The Queen will receive HE President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Mrs.Ani Bambang Yudhoyono
for a State Visit from wednesday october 6th till saturday october 9th 2010.

The details of the program for the visit will be announced later.

Thank you Jess!

http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/

[lucien]

Originally Posted by lucien

HM The Queen will receive HE President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Mrs.Ani Bambang Yudhoyono
for a State Visit from wednesday october 6th till saturday october 9th 2010.

The details of the program for the visit will be announced later.

Het Koninklijk Huis

Thank you!

[lucien]

Wednesday October 6th

The President and Mrs.Yudhoyono will arrive very early wednesday morning october 6th with a Garuda flight
from Jakarta via Dubai,and will be taken to Noordeinde Palace.

HM will officially welcome the President and his wife at 11.00AM at Noordeinde Palace where HM will host a State Banquet that evening.

The President will meet the Chairs of the Senat and The Second Chamber as well as PM J-P Balkenende.
After the meetings the delegation of Indonesia and a dutch delegation will sign the so-called "Comprehensive
Partnership" ,a deal on close cooperation in many fields like foreign policy,stability and safety,economical
relations,sustaineble development etc.

State Banquet Noordeinde Palace hosted by HM with TRH The Prince of Orange,Princess Máxima and
Princess Margriet and Prof.mr.Pieter van Vollenhoven in attendance.

Thursday october 7th

The President and Mrs. Yudhoyonowill lay a wreath at the National Monument,Amsterdam,followed by a meeting in
Cruquius on fighting waterlevels and the challenges on climate change.HRH The Prince of Orange will attend this meeting.

The Hague,TRH The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will accompany President and Mrs. Yudhoyono
at a meeting with the Dutch corporate world.

The President and Mrs. Yudhoyono will vist the University of Leiden where HE will deliver a speech.

The President and Mrs.Yudhoyono will host a contra program consisting of a dinner (Rijsttafel......)...and a culturel program.

Friday october 8th

The President and his wife will visit Wageningen (Agricultural-) University & Research Centre accompanied of
HRH Princess Margriet and Prof.mr.Pieter van Vollenhoven.Wageningen UR and Indonesia already work
together in a wide range of fields,fishery and health,food production and biomasse.
There will be a meeting with Indonesian students as well.

Concluding ceremony of the State Visit.

[lucien]

The State Visit has been cancelled at the last minute by Indo's President.
No reason was given,why should he......and no new dates were announced either....I think I know why the guy dropped out but it's not even worth mentioning here.Very sneaky and bad manners,but then hey,what would one expect from this ...Yes,I am "cross"!!Very. HM will be off for a few days then.Just as well,allthough it will be a huge disappointment to Her and the other members of the RF.It was regarded with the highest importance and each and every day the president and his wife would have been accompanied by members of the RF as to emphasize the importance and value HM attached to this visit.She might have very well reconsidered any importance to a next plan and try.

[Marengo]

The newspapers are speculating that the state visit was cancelled/ postponed as there is a possiblity that president Yudhoyono will be arrested. Today the president of the Republic of the South Moluccas (John Wattilete) would have demanded the arrest of Yudhoyono in The court of The Hague, as he accuses the Indonesian president of violation of human rights. As the president has diplomatic immunity I can't imagine that he would have been arrested if he came here though.

The president was supposed to arrive at 1.00 this night.

Apparently the members of the Indonesian press and the staff of the president already boarded Garuda airplane in Jakarta, but the president cancelled all of a sudden. Officially 'The Hague' doesn't know the news yet as the government has not been informed. It would have been the first state visit of an Indonesian president since 1970.

[lucien]

His staff and journalists were allready checked-in and on board of the Garuda A330-200 to Amsterdam via Dubai.He made the mess himself.He can´t be arrested here,as you say too,because he has immunity even though the RMS government in exile wants him to account for the death of a RMS activist who just died in prison probably due to torture ao.The same request ,arrest,was done at previous visits of former Indo president Suharto,but then all was silenced and he still visited,among protests tho,but that was in 1970.It would be the first visit in 40 years and it´s a complete surprise and blow in the face of The Netherlands and HM Queen Beatrix.Unacceptable mess ...Must be quite the confusion at Jakarta airport right now......They never know what they want down there...Oh...I could long for the good old days of Indiè and Batavia,our Gordel van Smaragd.

[ancj1234]

Why is HM placing such a high level of importance on this visit if President Yudhoyono has a track record of civil rights violations and maintains a domestic policy contrary to Dutch values?

[Katrianna]

What a mess up and after months of planning. It is a major snub and slap in the face of the Queen, the Royal Family, and Netherlands. Surely, the Indonesian President knew about the threat of "arrest" months, even longer ago and he had to be well aware he had diplomatic immunity or is he that stupid? The President doesn't have to worry as I doubt any more invitations to visit Her Majesty and the Netherlands will be forth coming during his term.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by ancj1234

Why is HM placing such a high level of importance on this visit if President Yudhoyono has a track record of civil rights violations and maintains a domestic policy contrary to Dutch values?

Not just HM,the Foreign Office officially invited the president.It is ,as you know,one of our former colonies and we,HM,the FO and parliament lay great value in good relations between Indonesia and us.The RMS is a dream that never came true and the supporters are systematically surpressed by the consecutive indonesian governments.Yudhoyono should have known he has immunity,and he knew,yet he made typical indische streken statement,indo streaks as we call it,among much theatre he declared the republic of indonesia was insulted by the request to arrest.He knew he was going to do that before he left his palace,he knew it all,yet waited like a mediocre drama queen till all were on board the aircraft,and then made all the hullabaloo,really,resentfull little critter.

He just made a complete arse of himself,and his republic,by his acts.

HM is very keen on maintaining excellent relationships with all former colonies,but it's them that mess up.If HM,and the government,was to be taken aback by each mediocre head of state in asia and other parts of the world that have a different view on values then we have here,there would hardly be a state visit in- or outgoing left.Yet all and everyone maintain the "befriended states' thing,as is usance among civilised nations.But civilised here is different to civilised there.We knew that already when they were ours...those them good old days....

[rubies]

Thanks for the info lucien.
The egg rests on his face. I just feel bad for all the people on both sides who worked hard putting it all together for nothing! I hate that kind of drama.

[David V]

Originally Posted by ancj1234

Why is HM placing such a high level of importance on this visit if President Yudhoyono has a track record of civil rights violations and maintains a domestic policy contrary to Dutch values?

Originally Posted by lucien

Not just HM,the Foreign Office officially invited the president.It is ,as you know,one of our former colonies and we,HM,the FO and parliament lay great value in good relations between Indonesia and us.The RMS is a dream that never came true and the supporters are systematically surpressed by the consecutive indonesian governments.Yudhoyono should have known he has immunity,and he knew,yet he made typical indische streken statement,indo streaks as we call it,among much theatre he declared the republic of indonesia was insulted by the request to arrest.He knew he was going to do that before he left his palace,he knew it all,yet waited like a mediocre drama queen till all were on board the aircraft,and then made all the hullabaloo,really,resentfull little critter.

He just made a complete arse of himself,and his republic,by his acts.

HM is very keen on maintaining excellent relationships with all former colonies,but it's them that mess up.If HM,and the government,was to be taken aback by each mediocre head of state in asia and other parts of the world that have a different view on values then we have here,there would hardly be a state visit in- or outgoing left.Yet all and everyone maintain the "befriended states' thing,as is usance among civilised nations.But civilised here is different to civilised there.We knew that already when they were ours...those them good old days....

The South Moluccas issue is a sensitive one in the Netherlands, owing to the large number of South Moluccans who live there and the fact that many never accepted incorporation into the Republic of Indonesia (and they weren't the only region to have unease about it too).

SBY is a democratically elected leader. Both of the elections, in 2004 and 2009, are considered to be free and fair. There is no doubt that human rights violations have taken place in South Moluccas over the years- certainly long before SBY was elected.

[anirac]

At least there is one positive "ending"/point/thing (call it what you want): HM donated all the flowers to hospices and rest homes and part of the dinner went to the Salvation Army. Good thing :thumbu:

[ancj1234]

Thank you for the clearification! As an outsider looking in it appears this is an intentional snub on the part of President Yeudhoyono. As I am sure he was aware that a lawsuit would be filed and that he had dipolomatic immunity. I agree he is looking for attention.

[maria-olivia]

Is a cancellation of a State Visit at the last minute and their coast covered by an insurance company ??

[jonc93]

What a shame they canceled, it really is a bummer! :/

[lucien]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Is a cancellation of a State Visit at the last minute and their coast covered by an insurance company ??

Yes,the State...

He made it known he still wishes to come on another date....
as if He decides the agenda alone,he doesn't,and he will feel that...

[Marengo]

It is rather sad that the visit was canceled this way, but considering this is the 2nd time that there is an issue I would prefer if he stayed away all together.

The RMS issue is a sensitive one indeed. There is large group of immigrants (and their descendants) from the South Moluccas, some of whom never gave up the hope to create an independent republic there (something which was promised by the Dutch government during the decolonilisation of the Dutch East Indies. In the 70-ties a small group of them radicalized, they took hostages in a train and several people died. I believe they even had a plan to occupy Soestdijk Palace (and Queen Juliana). Around 10 years ago there were some rumors in the press about a small group having plans to kidnap more people in trains, but fortunately it was a false alarm.