Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Indonesian Naval Officers must be Involved in Namru-2 - Minister
Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian naval officers must be involved as supervisors in the activities of the US Naval Medical Research Unit 2 (Namru-2) in Indonesia, Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said.

"We want Indonesian naval officers to be involved in the activities of Namru-2," the minister said here on Wednesday.

The minister said Indonesia and the United States were still negotiating several points for the resumption of Namru-2 cooperation.

"The discussions are now focused on the United States request for diplomatic immunity for 20 Namru-2 staff members," the minister said.

He said Indonesia had refused to give diplomatic immunity to all 20 Namru-2 staff members and was prepared to grant it to only 2 of them.

"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," Juwono said.

He said Namru-2 activities were expected to be transparent and useful for both nations with the involvement of Indonesian naval officers and a restriction in the number of US staffers obtaining diplomatic immunity.

US Health Minister Michael O Levitt during a working visit in Indonesia recently asked the Indonesian government to give diplomatic immunity to Namru-2 staffers.

The US minister`s request was made in connection with a plan to extend Namru-2`s work contract in Indonesia after it expired in 2000.

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.