Rumsfeld gets Indonesia caution

[MSgt213]

Jakarta (dpa) - Top Indonesian leaders met with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Tuesday, warning him not to be "overinsistent" in the way other countries handle security issues.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono and Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sutjipto in Jakarta as the last stop on a three-country Asia tour.

The leaders discussed ways to boost US military assistance to Indonesia, the nation with the world's largest Muslim population, increase security in the Malacca Strait, through which half of the world's oil and one-third of its trade pass, and fight terrorism.

"In the application of security ... it's best to leave the main responsibility for implementing measures to each country and not be over insistent," Sudarsono told reporters during a joint press conference with his counterpart after the meetings.

Sudarsono last week said he would tell the defence secretary not to force their methods in the fight against terror on other countries or it will "only create more anger and antipathy against America."

The defence minister said Tuesday that the global power of the US has led to the "misperception that the US is overbearing, overwhelming."

"The US is very powerful, so it lends to this misperception, not just in Indonesia, but across the world," he said.

Rumsfeld defended US dealings with other countries on security issues and its "war on terror," saying that the point "was not unreasonable at all" and that the US has never pushed other countries to things that "they are not comfortable with."

"I've never indicated to any country that it should do something that it's not comfortable with," Rumsfeld said. "There are different countries, different governments, so it's necessary to allow that degree of flexibility so they can participate (in the fight against terrorism) in a way that they're comfortable with."

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