Clinton says Soeharto's fate rests with Indonesia

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters): U.S. President Bill Clinton urged Indonesia yesterday to embrace political reform but said the fate of President Soeharto rested with his people.

Clinton made his comments at a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto ahead of a Group of Eight summit in the central English city of Birmingham.

"We're both very concerned about the situation in Indonesia. The loss of life and other destructive developments have been heartbreaking," said Clinton, who was flanked by Hashimoto.

Asked if the time had come for Soeharto to step down, Clinton replied: "The question you asked is one the Indonesian people have to decide. What we do believe is important is that the present government open a dialog with all the elements of society and that it lead to genuine political reform."

In Singapore, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said he is concerned about the situation in Indonesia but it is an internal matter, the Straits Times said yesterday.

Goh said in an interview that he is strongly concerned that the crisis had turned from economic to political.

But Goh stressed politics was an internal matter and it was up to Jakarta to decide how best to deal with the situation.

In Canberra, Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke called for President Soeharto to step down, saying he was too reliant on his cronies to effectively govern the strife-torn archipelago.

"He should step down. The time has come, I believe now, for a change of regime," Hawke told Channel Seven television.

Hawke, Labor prime minister from 1983 to 1991, said the latter part of Soeharto's 32-year rule had become increasingly inadequate because he was not able to respond to new issues.

Australia's former foreign minister Gareth Evans also called for Soeharto to quit.

"Soeharto's time has come. The first family's time has come," said Evans, who as foreign minister between 1988 and 1996 developed a deep friendship with Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas.

"The only question now is whether a transition can be managed without too much more chaos and bloodshed, or whether it can be done reasonably smoothly," said Evans, now deputy Labor opposition leader.

Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer both declined to call on Soeharto to relinquish power. "We've tried to be a good friend over recent times ... but at the end of the day it is for the Indonesians to work out who is the president," Howard told a Melbourne radio station.

"But it is always the case that in the end the desire for personal liberty and the desire for political freedom eventually overwhelms those forces that are working against it and that is a lesson that history has taught us immemorial," he said.

But both Downer and Howard said Australia could work with whichever government was in power in Indonesia.

"If the government changes, I'm sure we'll work well with a successor government," Downer said. "But I don't have any information that President Soeharto might stand down."