DATE=2/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA - WIRANTO (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258811
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesia's Defense Minister says today
(Friday) he has called on General Wiranto, the former
head of the Armed Forces to resign from the
presidential cabinet. The move was made after he was
implicated in a human rights investigation into the
spate of killings and destruction in East Timor last
year. But as Patricia Nunan reports from Jakarta,
General Wiranto is not expected to step down until
after he meets with the Indonesian President.
TEXT: Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono announced he
had asked General Wiranto to resign his cabinet
posting three days after Indonesian
President Abdurrahman Wahid instructed him to do so.
The president, who is currently in Europe, told
reporters that the general should step down after a
report issued by Indonesia's National Commission on
Human Rights blamed General Wiranto for the violence
that erupted in East Timor last September.
But Mr. Sudarsono said he and General Wiranto had
agreed that the general would wait until the president
returns from Europe on February 13th before making any
final decisions.
General Wiranto, the former Minister of Defense and
head of the Armed Forces, has rejected the allegations
made in the human rights commission report, which
accused him of failing to prevent violence in East
Timor from breaking out.
The general says he will fight to bring out the truth
surrounding the East Timor crisis.
The Defense Minister's statement did little to quell
fears that a military takeover may be in the works in
Indonesia.
Speaking from the Hague, in the Netherlands, President
Wahid told reporters that a group of Indonesian army
generals had held what he called a "secret meeting" in
Jakarta. The president also said a group of "militant"
elements within the Armed Forces were planning to make
"a show of force" in the coming days.
President Wahid added that he did not know whether
General Wiranto was involved in the alleged meeting.
The Indonesian military spokesman, Air Vice-Marshall
Graito Usodo has denied that such a meeting ever took
place.
President Wahid has been locked in a power-struggle
with the military since he came to office in October,
on promises to reduce the military's influence in
Indonesian politics.
Analysts say the future of the president's reform
efforts could rest with how well the government
follows through on the East Timor investigation. The
Attorney General has three months to determine what
legal action should be taken against General Wiranto
and five other top officials named in the human rights
report.
Hundreds of people were killed and much of East Timor
was left in ruins after members of the Indonesian
military allegedly supported and in some cases
participated in a two-week rampage by armed anti-
independence militia groups. Aid workers say more than
120 thousand people are still living in squalor in
refugee camps in neighboring West Timor. (signed)
NEB/PN/PLM
04-Feb-2000 03:53 AM EDT (04-Feb-2000 0853 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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