A strategic delay

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