REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia decided to abstain on the UN General Assembly's approval of the first Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), as it fears of "one sided" position on some points.

"We cannot accept the treaty," Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marty Natalegawa, said during a press conference on Wednesday. 

After under discussion for seven years, the UN members failed to reach consensus. The ATT was agreed through voting on April 2. but some points mention that arms exporters have the rights to assess the human rights conditions in the buyer countries. In other words, Indonesia finds ATT does not accomodate the demands of both exporter and importer. The UN members can start signing the treaty on June 3. 

"The draft treaty will allow exporter countries to unilaterally assess the condition of other countries. The assessment will affect the condition of other countries," Natalegawa said.

Natalegawa asked UN to consider the revision of the discriminative concept. "We still have time before it will be ratified in June," he added.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Minister of Defense Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the treaty violated Indonesian laws on defense industry. "We have our own regulation on arms trade," he said.

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