DATE=2/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / WAHID (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258708
BYLINE=LOURDES NAVARRO
DATELINE=LONDON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid is
demanding the immediate resignation of his former
military chief, General Wiranto, who now heads
Indonesia's security ministry. President Wahid says
he telephoned his defense minister from London Tuesday
and ordered the general's removal, after an official
inquiry implicated the military leader in human-rights
abuses in East Timor. Lourdes Navarro reports from
London.
TEXT: The Indonesian leader confirmed that he has
asked his security minister General Wiranto,
Indonesia's most powerful military leader, to resign
immediately. Speaking at a London news conference,
President Wahid said he has urged the general to act
quickly, and spare himself further embarrassment.
/// 1st WAHID ACT ///
I phoned the Minister of Defense today [Tuesday]
to ask General Wiranto to resign from his
ministership today, to avoid further harassment
by the people who oppose him.
/// END ACT ///
President Wahid's intervention comes after an
Indonesian human-rights report recommended that
General Wiranto and 32 other officers be prosecuted
for human-rights abuses in East Timor.
General Wiranto has already said he will not resign,
raising fears of a political battle between
Indonesia's first democratically-elected leader in 40
years and the once-dominant military. The general has
denied any part in the violence in East Timor, which
claimed hundreds of lives last September and sent
hundreds of thousands fleeing the province.
President Wahid dismissed suggestions that his action
against General Wiranto could trigger military action
against his government. The president vowed the
general will be forcibly removed from office if he
does not step down by the time Mr. Wahid returns to
Indonesia, in mid-February.
/// 2nd WAHID ACT ///
Well if he doesn't resign when I go back to the
country, then I'll ask him to resign, and after
that I will remove him from office. If he is
examined or brought before the courts there will
be an interim co-ordinating minister -- not him.
And if he is found guilty then it will be
permanent.
/// END ACT ///
General Wiranto was an ally of Indonesia's former
dictator Suharto before playing a key role in his
removal in May 1998. Popular with Indonesians, the
actions of his troops in East Timor are seen to have
discredited his reformist reputation.
After East Timor voted for independence at the end of
August, militias trained by General Wiranto's army
went on a rampage that only halted when international
peacekeepers arrived. (Signed)
NEB/LN/WTW
01-Feb-2000 17:46 PM EDT (01-Feb-2000 2246 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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