Jakarta - The Indonesia-Malaysia Eminent Persons Group (EPG) forum will hold a second consultative meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 8 and 9, 2008, to boost bilateral relations.
"The meeting will discuss the continuation of the agenda of the first meeting," Indonesian spokesman for the EPG Musni Umar told ANTARA here Tuesday.
The first meeting took place in Jakarta on August 28 to 30, 2008.
The result of the meeting, Umar said, will not affect the two countries‘ political relations.
"We will not discuss things the two governments had already discussed," he said.
"Our priority is to make the people of both countries understand each other and bring them closer," Umar explained.
Meanwhile, member of EPG Des Alwi said urged the group to solve their social problems.
"It was hoped, through the informal discussions, relations between the Indonesian and Malaysian people would become closer, and sensitive issues between them could be settled through government actions based on EPG‘s recommendations," said Try Sutrisno, an EPG member representing Indonesia and one-time Vice President under the Soeharto regime.
In the annual meeting of both countries, Sutrisno said, the inputs from the EPG can be an advice for the two governments on how to boost their relations.
"EPG meetings are hoped to produce a number of action programs called "Inter-Society Contact Programs" to narrow the existing inter-generation perception gap through dialogs between culture and history experts, students and youth organizations of the two countries.
A program to project the two countries‘ images in the media would provide for the holding of dialogs between the media of the countries, he said.
The Indonesia-Malaysia EPG will be presented by seven Indonesian EPG members--Try Sutrisno, Ali Alatas, Quraish Shihab, Des Alwi, Musni Umar, Pudentia MPSS, Wahyuni Bahar and seven Malaysian EPG members--Tun Musa Hitam, Tan Sri Dato Seri Mohd Zahidi Haji Zainuddin, Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim, Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali, Tan Sri Amar Haji Hamid Bugo, Datuk Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas, and Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
The Indonesia-Malaysia EPG was formally established on July 7, 2008 based on an agreement reached at a meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on January 11, 2008.
Source: http://www.antaranews.com (October 08, 2008)