A strategic delay

Congratulations to the legal team of Gen. Wiranto. By changing the date of his official questioning from Dec. 22 to Dec. 24, the general was able to stall immediate substantive news reports about his testimony, since most leading papers were not published on Christmas Day.

The following day was Sunday, generally a "soft" news day for newspapers, with little news analysis. Thus, Wiranto's legal team was able to engineer a strategic three-day delay in the commentaries on Wiranto's testimony. They no doubt realize that news that is not reported for three days tends to lose some of its impact.

Monday, continuing his efforts to deflect press scrutiny, the general clothed himself in strange public relations camouflage -- offering his ideas on immigration reform. Instead of dealing with Ambon, as the minister of political affairs and security might be expected to do, Gen. Wiranto now attempts to inject himself inappropriately into the area of diplomatic reciprocity.

If immigration reciprocity interests Gen. Wiranto this much, he might want to reflect on the fact none of the countries who enjoy visa-free entry into Indonesia impose an exit tax on resident Indonesians who depart their countries. Why doesn't Gen. Wiranto address that issue? And why is Gen. Wiranto still "General" Wiranto? Weren't the military appointees to the Cabinet instructed to resign their military commissions? General-Minister Wiranto exhibits an ominous tendency to believe he is above the law. To what excesses did this delusion lead, in East Timor and Aceh in 1999 and Jakarta in 1998?

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra