By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, April 25 (ANTARA) - The extension of operation with US Naval Medical Research Unit 2 (Namru2) now under negotiations between Indonesia and the United States is facing resistance from legislators and professionals.
"The government should stop and take over the operation of Namru-2 laboratory," Mutammimul Ula, member of the House of Representatives' Commission I which deals with foreign affairs, said here on Thursday.
During 30 years of operation in Indonesia, Namru-2 failed to provide the country with concrete benefits in the defense and health fields.
Mutammimul Ula claimed that other legislators agreed if the drafting process of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) released by the Foreign Ministry is terminated.
"Indonesia has now established cooperation with various institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO) to carry out researches and data transfers," he said adding that therefore the extension of cooperation with Namru-2 was not necessary.
"The government should adversely carry out investigation on allegation that the Namru-2 staffers were involved in intelligence operations," he said.
The US embassy in Jakarta should provide evidence and fact that Namru-2 is not an institution carrying out espionage activities, according to the legislator.
"In whatever case, cooperation should be based on transparency and equality which respects the nation and state sovereignty and benefits both sides," Mutammimul Ula said.
In the meantime, Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) and An Nashr Institute also urged the government of Indonesia not to extend its cooperation with the US Naval Medical Research Institute.
The appeal was voiced in a statement signed by MER-C Presidium Chairman Joserizal Jurnalis and An Nashr Institute's Chairman Munarman.
It said the presence of Namru-2 in Indonesia over 30 years now failed to benefit the people.
An agreement between the Indonesian and US governments on Namru-2 operations reached on January 16, 1970, was believed to have caused a loss to Indonesia because of the diplomatic immunity of the Namru-2 staff members, their tax exemption and free accommodation.
Namru-2 was also believed to have violated the cooperation agreement, because of their continued research work even that the contract had expired.
In addition, Namru-2 was also reported not transparent in their information for the Indonesian government and that their operations were allegedly linked to US intelligence operations in Indonesia.
The US embassy in Jakarta said that Namru-2 was a transparent organization which only conducted medical and scientific research work focusing on tropical diseases.
The biomedical research laboratory of Namru-2, according to the US embassy, conducted a series of research work on infectious diseases to serve the interest of the US and Indonesian health ministry as well as of the health of the international community.
The search work was more focused on malaria, virus-related diseases and other infectious diseases including bird flu.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said Namru-2 had begun conducting researches on communicable diseases in Indonesia in the 1970s but the results of which were not yet concrete for the elimination of contagious diseases in Indonesia.
Therefore, according to the minister, the government should deeply consider it before it decided to extend the cooperation. "Should the cooperation be extended, the government must firmly state its attitude in the new agreement," she said.
Previously, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said decision on the extension of Namru-2 cooperation had not yet been taken. "Still pending," he told reporters on Monday.
He said that the Indonesian government had proposed a draft MoU in November 2007 which the United States still was discussing.
On the diplomatic immunity requested by the United States for 20 Amru-2 staffers, the minister said that it would be restricted.
"We restrict it because it is a research activity not a diplomatic function so that we were of the opinion that not all of them should be granted diplomatic immunity," he said.
Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Thursday that the Indonesian government is persisting in its preparedness to grant diplomatic immunity to only two US Namru-2 staff members.
"We are sticking to our stance that not all of Namru-2 officers will be granted diplomatic immunity. We will give the immunity to only two of the 20 US naval officers with Namru-2," he said.
The minister said besides restricting the number of Namru-2 staff having diplomatic immunity, Indonesia was also insisting that doctors of the Indonesian Navy be assigned in Namru-2 as supervisors.
The need to assign Indonesian supervisors was due to the fact that so far the activities carried out by Namru-2 officers were not transparent.
"We want Indonesian naval officers to be involved in the activities of NAMRU-2," the minister said.
Indonesia and the United States are still negotiating several points for the resumption of their cooperation on Namru-2.
"The discussions are now focused on the United States request for diplomatic immunity for 20 Namru-2 staff members," the minister said. "If we give diplomatic immunity to all of them, we are afraid we will not be able to control or know the things they do or take in the research activities."
US Health Minister Michael O Levitt during a working visit in Indonesia asked the Indonesian government to give diplomatic immunity to Namru-2 staffers.
When the bird flu broke out in Indonesia in June-July, 2005, the Namru-2 cooperation was continued. Namru-2 assisted Indonesia in research on avian influenza virus infection and helped the government send specimens of suspected patients to the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC)laboratory in Atlanta and the WHO collaboration laboratory in Hong Kong.
Namru-2's contract with Indonesia expired on December 31, 2005 so that all activities with the laboratories were stopped on January 1, 2006.
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