Vice President to Receive Adam Malik Award

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla will receive the Adam Malik Award in recognition of his key role in a peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and the separatist Free Aceh Movement.

"We are planning to hold the event to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Adam Malik. Hence, we want to confer the Adam Malik Award on Vice President Jusuf Kalla who played a key role in the negotiation process between the Government of Indonesia and the separatist Free Aceh Movement," Maliks daughter Antarini remarked here on Thursday.

On August 15, 2005, the conflict, which lasted for about three decades in the resource-rich province of Aceh, ended after the signing of a memorandum of understanding sealing peace between the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement in Helsinki, Finland.

Antarini pointed out that the ceremony will be held by the Adam Malik Center to commemorate Maliks 100th birth anniversary. Malik was born in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, on July 22, 1917.

The Adam Malik Award ceremony will be held in October or November at the Pancasila Building, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta.

"We will also seek permission from Foreign Affairs Minister Retno L. P. Marsudi," Antarini noted.

In addition, Antarini cited other figures who had played a role in the peace agreement between the government of Indonesia and the separatist Free Aceh Movement, including former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former minister of justice and human rights Hamid Awaludin as Indonesias representative in the Helsinki negotiations.

"Malik Mahmud and others from the separatist Free Aceh Movement have also met the criteria according to the vision and mission of Adam Malik," Antarini stated.

The selection of the recipients of the Adam Malik Award was made by the Adam Malik Center team comprising observers of international relations, diplomats, and academics from several universities in Indonesia.

Malik was Indonesias foreign minister from 1966 to 1977 and vice president from 1978 until March of 1983 when he left President Suhartos Cabinet.

In 1937, he had founded the Indonesian News Agency Antara, which originally served as an organ of the nationalist press. (WDY)