Five names considered for ambassadorial post

Five names considered for ambassadorial post

JAKARTA (JP): Speculation about who is going to become Indonesia's ambassador to Australia surfaced again after Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono disclosed on Wednesday that five names are now being considered for the post.

Moerdiono declined to give the five names, saying that they include civilian and military figures and that a decision would be made before the end of the year.

One of the often-mentioned names is Theo Sambuaga, a Golkar member of the House of Representatives, while the name of the chief editor of the Republika daily newspaper, Parni Hadi, has also come up.

Other names suggested include former East Nusa Tenggara governor Ben Mboi and Juwono Sudarsono, the deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute. One or two senior diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have also been suggested for the position.

The post in Canberra has been vacant since ambassador Sabam Siagian ended his term in July.

Indonesia withdrew its candidate, Lt. Gen. H.B.L. Mantiri, at the last minute because of a controversy in Australia concerning remarks he purportedly made to the press about an incident in East Timor in 1991.

During their meeting in Bali in September, President Soeharto and Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating agreed that the post should be filled in the not too distant future.

Meanwhile, H.B.L. Mantiri is now being considered for the ambassadorial post in Singapore, according to Tiras magazine.

Mantiri is one of several senior Army officers who will officially be retired at a major sending off ceremony at the Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java, on Saturday.

The other retiring officers include former Army chief of staff Gen. Wismoyo Arismunandar, former chief of the military intelligence agency Lt. Gen. Arie Sudewo, Maj. Gen. Bantu Hardjijo, Maj. Gen. Aspar Aswin, Maj. Gen. Rusmadi Sidik and Maj. Gen. Yusman Yutam. (emb)