Bush Ends Trip at Careful Stop in Indonesia

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BOGOR, Indonesia, Nov. 20 — President Bush made a six-hour, carefully orchestrated visit to Indonesia on Monday, praising the country’s first directly elected president and seeking to defuse the widespread anger here, in the most populous Islamic country, over the continued American presence in Iraq. Mr. Bush, whose visit to Indonesia three years ago was consumed with talk of counterterrorism, this time appeared focused on fighting bird flu, bolstering a small program to aid Indonesian schools and promoting growth. And in an afternoon of meetings at an ornate presidential palace that is a legacy of Dutch colonial rule, Mr. Bush held a closed-door session with what the White House called “civic leaders” of Indonesia. Protestors and their “Stop Bush Now” placards could get no place near the Bogor palace, which is an hour outside of Jakarta and heavily protected by troops and fences. But Mr. Bush turned the Jakarta protests into a example of how far Indonesia has come in allowing free expression. “It’s not the first time, by the way, where people have showed up and expressed their opinion about my policies,” Mr. Bush, looking tired at the end of a grueling trip, said with a smile. “But that’s what happens when you makes hard decisions.” State Department surveys show that the percentage of Indonesians who say they have a favorable view of the United States has declined to 30 percent, from 75 percent six years ago. The Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, gave only the most gentle public prod to Mr. Bush, talking about a “proper timetable” for withdrawal from Iraq, but then echoing Mr. Bush’s view that the timetable had to be linked to national reconciliation there and the training of new security forces. When a reporter asked Mr. Yudhoyono whether he had urged Mr. Bush to begin a withdrawal of forces from Iraq, Mr. Bush interjected: “I’ll be glad to answer it for him — no, no he didn’t. But he can answer it for himself.” In Mr. Bush’s struggle to demonstrate that he can still achieve his initial objective in Iraq — a stable, democratic government in a demographically diverse Islamic nation — he often holds up Indonesia as an example of success and proof that Islam and democracy are compatible. Since Suharto’s departure from power in 1998, a real democracy has begun to take root. In its recent report card on the country, Freedom House judged that “the political system is open and democratic in its basic structures,” even while some of its institutions still “function poorly or are sanctuaries of undemocratic and abusive behavior.” But to Mr. Bush, Indonesia’s greatest accomplishment has been to suppress extremist groups, especially Jemaah Islamiyah, considered an affiliate of Al Qaeda. “I believe the vast majority of people want to live in moderation and not have extremists kill innocent people,” he said at a news conference in the ornate receiving rooms of the palace. Despite the country’s recent progress, however, Mr. Bush once again did not stay the night in Indonesia, at the insistence of the Secret Service. On his previous visit, he stopped in Bali, a Hindu resort island in a nation of Muslims, and held what turned out to be a contentious session with Indonesian scholars and religious scholars. He was criticized after that visit for failing to come to the heart of Indonesia. So on Monday he flew into the airport in Jakarta, the capital. But he never ventured into the city. Instead, he stayed behind the fenced wall of the palace compound, save for his helicopter ride from and to the airport, where Air Force One was standing by for the trip onward to Hawaii. Protestors were kept away by troops and rolls of barbed wire. In Jakarta, the authorities appeared to have jammed some cellular telephone networks. At one point during the news conference, Mr. Bush was asked to describe the risks of adding more forces to Iraq, a step that Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, is pressing. Mr. Bush, who has described in detail the risks of pulling out of Iraq too soon, sidestepped the question. “I haven’t made any decisions about troop increases or troop decreases, and won’t until I hear from a variety of sources, including our own United States military,” he replied. Among the groups expected to present their recommendations to the president are the joint chiefs of staff and a bipartisan study group led by a former secretary of state, James A. Baker III, and a former congressman, Lee H. Hamilton. So far, Mr. Bush has used those groups’ ongoing studies to justify declining to talk about his plans for the Iraq mission. “There’s no need to comment on something that may not happen,” he said. “But if it were to happen, I will tell you the upsides and the downsides.