Envoy summoned over use of riot control equipment

Envoy summoned over use of riot control equipment

By Rikza Abdullah

LONDON (JP): The British Foreign Office has summoned
Indonesian ambassador to Britain J.E. Habibie, questioning him on
the recent use of British-made military equipment for controlling
riots in Jakarta.

"I explained to the foreign office officials yesterday that
the riot control equipment has been used properly by security
personnel to overcome riots, in order to restore order," Habibie
told Indonesian reporters here on Friday.

The Independent newspaper reported Friday that the riot
control equipment used by Indonesian security personnel to
overcome the recent rioting in Jakarta included Tactica armored
personnel carriers made by Glover Webb of Hamble, part of the
British defense network, and electric shock batons manufactured
by a South African associate of SDMS Security Products of London.

Ambassador Habibie said that the foreign office officials were
"actually very cordial and friendly". He said they summoned him
when pressured by an opposition party, which alleged that the
equipment had been used to suppress "peaceful protests" in
Indonesia.

The riots caused the death of three people, injured many
others and damaged several buildings and motor vehicles.

The riots were believed to have been triggered by the
military-backed takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party's
headquarters in Central Jakarta on July 27. It was reported that
supporters of Soerjadi, who was elected chairman in a government-
sponsored congress last month, evicted supporters of the party's
ousted chairwoman, Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The ambassador said the British officials could understand his
explanations.

The Independent reported that the British foreign office had
received assurances from the Indonesian government that the
British-built Scorpion 90 tanks would not be used for internal
repression.

Hawk

Habibie said the British officials had also asked for his
comments about this week's acquittal by a Liverpool jury of four
women who had damaged a Hawk jet fighter originally intended for
delivery to Indonesia.

According to the ambassador, the women axed the fighter out of
concern that the aircraft might be used to attack people in East
Timor, a former Portuguese colony integrated into Indonesia in
1976.

The damage was estimated at 1.5 million pounds.

"I told the British officials that the women's case is an
internal affair in which Indonesia does not want to interfere,"
he said.

"Furthermore, because the aircraft has not been delivered to
Indonesia, it is still the responsibility of Britain."

Indonesia has ordered 24 Hawk fighters, eight of which were
delivered recently. The remainder will be delivered within the
next four years.

"I wondered how those women could have such a negative
presumption on the possibility of using the fighters aircraft to
attack East Timor," Habibie said, pointing out that the
Indonesian government will never resort to such action.

"We hope the incident will not affect relations between
Britain and Indonesia," he said.

He said bilateral relations with Britain have been improving.
In commerce, for example, Britain's two-way trade increased by
24.43 percent to 1.43 billion pounds last year from 1.14 billion
pounds in 1994, he said, quoting data from the Overseas
Statistics of the United Kingdom.

During the first quarter of this year, the two-way trade rose
2.9 percent to 351.5 million pounds from 341.4 million in the
same period of 1995.