In support of a peaceful settlement to the spat between Indonesia and Malaysia, 220 students from a high school in Central Java have written letters of friendship to Malaysian students.
In their letters, the Pertama Keluarga High School students expressed their hope of seeing the easing of the tense situation, the Indonesian weekly Sunday Post reported yesterday.
“We agreed to write friendship letters to students there (Malaysia), and through these letters we want to encourage them to strengthen the bond of friendship between Indonesian and Malaysian students,” Ardi Satya, a student told the newspaper.
He said declaring war against Malaysia was not the best solution to overcome problems between the two countries as there were other peaceful means.
An official of the school told the newspaper that the letters would be sent to the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta today.
The newspaper also quoted the high school headmaster Basuki as expressing hope of seeing more students in both countries making similar efforts.
“We say no to war,” he was quoted as saying.
A number of Indonesian politicians have over the past three weeks, urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to declare war against Malaysia as the final solution to resolving problems between the two countries.
Bilateral relations between Malaysia and Indonesia have been strained over the maritime border incident off Riau islands on Aug 13, when Malaysian marine police arrested three Indonesian officials, while the Indonesian authorities detained seven Malaysian fishermen.
