Clinton hammers home Obama message in Asia

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-19 14:47

JAKARTA, Indonesia – US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham on Thursday relentlessly hammered home the Obama administration's message that America is under new management and ready to listen and engage the world.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, is greeted by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono prior to their meeting at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009. [Agencies]

"When the United States is absent, people believe that we are not interested and that can create a vacuum that destructive forces can fill," she told a group of journalists after meeting with Indonesia's leader on the second leg of a weeklong Asia tour. "We don't want to be absent. We want to be present."

Earlier, she took to the airwaves, appearing on the most popular youth show in the world's most populous Muslim nation to deliver her message and bring greetings from US President Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood here.

"There is so much excitement in the air here," she told an enthusiastic studio audience on the MTV-style "Dahsyat" show, which translates in English to "Awesome." She said she had just spoken with Obama who wished them all well, drawing cheers.

Much of her appearance was lighthearted banter about her favorite music - the Beatles and Rolling Stones - and her poor singing abilities, but she also made clear that Washington wants to address Muslim concerns about US policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Asked about the topic, which has deeply troubled Indonesians, Clinton took a shot at the Bush administration when explaining why she and Obama had appointed a special envoy to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict immediately after taking office.

"We felt like the United States had not been as active in trying to bring the parties together to resolve the conflict," she said. "We're going to work very hard to resolve what has been such a painful and difficult conflict for so many years."

Clinton also said she would attend a donors' pledging conference for rebuilding Gaza to be held in Egypt on March 2.

She met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday, but made no comment after 45 minutes of talks in his office.

Though most of Indonesia's 190 million Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith, public anger ran high over US policy in the Middle East and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush years, fueling a small but increasingly vocal fundamentalist fringe. The country has been hit by a string of suicide bombings targeting Western interests in recent years, but experts say an effective police crackdown has sharply reduced the terror threat.

Clinton praised Indonesia for its efforts to fight terrorism while respecting human rights and for its hard-won multiethnic democracy.

Her message was received warmly as it was by officials in Jakarta a day earlier, although small and scattered protests were held in several cities, with some Islamic hard-liners setting tires on fire and others throwing shoes at caricatures of Clinton.

After talks with Indonesian officials on Wednesday, Clinton said her choice of Asia for her first overseas trip as top US diplomat was "no accident" and a sign of a desire for broader and deeper relations with Indonesia, Southeast Asia and the rest of the continent on regional and global issues.

Clinton, who arrived from a stop in Japan, heads later Thursday to South Korea and China, announced plans to restart Peace Corps programs in Indonesia. The programs were suspended in 1965 after volunteers were accused of espionage and expelled.

She also stressed the growing importance of Southeast Asia, a region that often felt slighted by the Bush administration.