REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia protested an insult on the third Indonesia president, BJ Habibie, Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa said. Government will send protest over an article made by Malaysia's former information minister Zainuddin Maidin that mentioned Habibie as a traitor and a dog of imperialism.

"We know it is his personal point of view, but we cannot accept the idea," Natalegawa said on Tuesday. 

However, he said that Indonesia did not have to send protest note. The right solution is to directly state Indonesian objection to Malaysia's government.

Maidin wrote an article entitled 'Perwatakan Sama, Tugas Sama dan Nasib pun Sama' (Same Behavior, Same Task and Same Destiny) in his private blog on Sunday. His article was changed into 'Persamaan BJ Habibie dengan Anwar Ibrahim' (The Similarities of BJ Habibie and Anwar Ibrahim) and published in Utusan Malaysia and The Malaysia Insider on Monday.

In his blog, he criticized Habibie, saying that Habibie would not have fallen from presidency if he had have done the right thing. Maidin also accused Habibie as an accomplice of US. Habibie, he wrote, helped Anwar Ibrahim to topple the former Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Maidin claimed that he was not the only one calling Habibie as a traitor. He said that Soeharto, also the former of Indonesian President, called Habibie as a traitor in his book entitled 'Soeharto The Life and Legacy of Indonesia's Second President'.

Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Pramono Anung, said the House would officially send a letter to Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak over the insult.

The son of Habibie, Ilham Akbar Habibie, said Maidin's statement bore political contexts as Malaysia faced general election. Moreover, Habibie visited Malaysia in December 5, upon the invitation of Universitas Selangor. Yet, in that occasion he met People's Justice Party.

"Implicitly, it (his visit –Ed) strengthened Anwar's position," Ilham said. 

While the think tank, the Habibie Center, said that Indonesia would not respond exaggeratedly over Maidin's article. Executive Director of the Habibie Center, Rahimah Abdulrahim, said that Habibie did not want to hinder others to have different perspective.

"This is quite ‘funny’, but Habibie does not take it seriously," Abdulrahim said.

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