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NUSA DUA, Indonesia: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday called for reforms to protect the "poor and weak" after the global financial crisis, as he opened a regional democracy forum.
"The crisis has forced the world to conduct restructuring that is more democratic. One of the consequences (of the crisis) is the surge in demand for more inclusive growth," he told delegates from more than 20 countries.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and senior officials from as far afield as Europe and the United States attended the start of the two-day Bali Democracy Forum at a luxury beachside resort.
Under the broad theme of "promoting synergy between democracy and development in Asia", the forum is the second in an initiative launched last year by the Indonesian government.
In his keynote address, Yudhoyono said that as the world clawed its way out of financial turmoil, economies had to restructure in a way that protected the weakest in society.
"Many have the opinion that democracy is not the ultimate objective. The ultimate objective of democracy as well as development is creating prosperity for the people," he said.
Hatoyama said elections this year in India, Indonesia and Japan testified to the health of democracy in the region.
But he said challenges remained in countries like China, Myanmar and North Korea.
On China, he said there were "great expectations" that Beijing would "continue to make progress as a responsible power on the issues of democracy and human rights".
He said Japan would "continue to encourage rather than impose" democratic change in Myanmar, and called for the junta to ensure elections scheduled for next year are held with the "blessing of the international community".
In bilateral talks, Yudhoyono and Hatoyama urged negotiators at UN climate talks in Copenhagen to clinch a deal and agree to bold targets for cutting carbon emissions.
"We should make certain that COP15 (the Copenhagen talks) will not fail, so the two of us have come up with very bold targets," Hatoyama told reporters after the talks.
Hatoyama has pledged to cut Japan's carbon emissions by a quarter by 2020 from 1990 levels, the most ambitious mid-term target set so far by a large, advanced economy.
Yudhoyono has promised a 26-percent cut from 2005 levels by 2020.
Indonesia is generally considered the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, largely due to the rampant destruction of its vast forests for timber products and palm oil plantations.
Hatoyama announced that Japan had agreed to extend loans worth 425 million dollars to help mitigate the effects of rising temperatures in Indonesia, one of the developing countries that could be worst hit by climate change.
Hundreds of police were on hand to secure the forum, which took place a day after anti-corruption protests across Indonesia in response to a series of scandals which have damaged the credibility of Yudhoyono's government.
Yudhoyono warned the protests could be hijacked by hidden forces bent on ousting him from power. Critics dismissed his comments as "paranoid".
Photographs of Yudhoyono were torched in the country's second largest city, Surabaya, and in Palu where up to 2,000 protesters gathered on Wednesday. In the capital Jakarta, thousands rallied outside the presidential palace. - AFP/de
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