Jakarta – United States Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbard, who has embroiled in a war of words with ministers in the Jakarta government, has returned here with a message that Washington would like to see a stable Indonesia.

Mr Gelbard returned to Jakarta on Tuesday after more than a week of home leave. He told a seminar that instability in Indonesia "would serve no national interest of the US or other friends of Indonesia". The seminar, "US-Indonesian Economic Relations and the Rule of Law" was hosted here by the powerful Golkar party.

In the statement, Mr Gelbard also lashed out at some Indonesians whom he said were claiming that foreign governments were "trying to destabilise" the country. Those people were promoting "some undefined goal of their own" and clearly had "not thought the matter through rationally", he said. "On the contrary, instability here would be an important potential regional destabiliser. A destabilised South-east Asia and Asia-Pacific region would undermine our own national security," he said.

He said Washington "firmly supports the same goals as Indonesians themselves do for this vast and diverse country". He cited the aims as "democratisation, sustainable economic growth and territorial integrity". "A democratic and prosperous Indonesia ... is not only in Indonesia's national interest. It is squarely in the US national interest as well," he added. Mr Gelbard's Indonesian critics have in recent weeks demanded that President Abdurrahman Wahid declare him a "persona non grata" for his outspoken remarks.

He has drawn the ire of legislators and some politicians, including Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab and Defence Minister Mohammad Mahfud, for his blunt condemnations of Jakarta's failure to address problems such as the militia threat in West Timor. The embassy has reopened its services after being closed to the public for two weeks as a result of a security threat.