Gus Dur backs down on Wiranto

Gus Dur backs down on Wiranto

JAKARTA (JP): An anticlimax was the result of the high-profile
standoff between President Abdurrahman Wahid and Coordinating
Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto when the
President stated on Sunday he would allow the minister to remain
in the Cabinet, pending a probe into his alleged involvement in
last year's East Timor violence.

But Abdurrahman, fresh from his 16-day whirlwind trip
overseas, defended his decision, saying he had to give Wiranto
the opportunity to go through the legal process.

Abdurrahman, who during his two-week trip abroad had
repeatedly called for Wiranto's resignation, said the former
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief had requested that due process of
the law be allowed to run its course before any decision was made
on his position as minister.

"Pak Wiranto just prefers to go through the legal process. I
am sure he doesn't want his career tainted," Abdurrahman said.

Abdurrahman met with Wiranto, Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Attorney General Marzuki Darusman only hours
after touching down at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in the early
hours of Sunday.

TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S. and chief of the State Intelligence
Coordinating Board (Bakin) Lt. Gen. Arie J. Kumaat were also
present at the emergency meeting.

Abdurrahman told a media conference upon leaving Bangkok for
home on Saturday that the fate of Wiranto would be determined on
Monday.

The President asserted on Sunday that Wiranto would be removed
from his post only if the Attorney General's Office found in its
investigation that Wiranto was responsible for what transpired in
East Timor following the August ballot, which resulted in
overwhelming rejection of Jakarta's offer of wide-ranging
autonomy.

A government inquiry has named Wiranto as being accountable
for the post-ballot violence, prompting Abdurrahman to announce
he would dismiss Wiranto. The President assigned Minister of
Defense Juwono Sudarsono to relay the message to Wiranto.

Wiranto, however, refused to bow to the calls, saying he would
wait until the President returned home.

A UN inquiry has also implicated Wiranto, with the UN Human
Rights Commission advocating he be tried by an international
tribunal. But UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will arrive
here on Tuesday, has said an international tribunal would be
unnecessary if the Indonesian process of law was seen to be
adequate in dealing with those named as responsible for the
violence.

Abdurrahman denied on Sunday he had compromised or been under
pressure to back down on his earlier decision.

"There has been no compromise. I do have the prerogative to
replace Wiranto," the President said, adding, however, that he
did not want to "ruin someone's career".

He also denied that Megawati had urged him to retract his call
for the resignation of Wiranto, a former adjutant of former
president Soeharto and the TNI chief during the East Timor
violence.

"No. I just asked Mbak Mega to talk to him (Wiranto). It was
learned later that the problem was Pak Wiranto's wish to go
through a legal process," Abdurrahman said.

"No problem. Pak Wiranto and I are good friends. Only the
media describes us as foes."

Abdurrahman said his decision had nothing to do with the
international community, to whom he relentlessly announced his
plan to drop Wiranto from his Cabinet.

"I won't think about it too much. I'm not dealing with the
international (community), but the law."

Meeting

Later in the day, Wiranto held a regular meeting with lawyers
defending TNI top brass implicated by the government-sanctioned
inquiry into the East Timor debacle. None of the lawyers,
including Adnan Buyung Nasution, responded to media requests for
comments on Abdurrahman's latest move.

In an earlier media briefing that followed the emergency
meeting, Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak said there would
be no decision on Wiranto's future before the attorney general's
report was handed to the President.

He said the attorney general's investigation should be
completed within a month, although no deadline had actually been
set.

In response to Abdurrahman's announcement, Minister of Law and
Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra said in Bandung that the ball
was now in the attorney general's court.

"It's up to him whether or not Wiranto's case will be
continued."

He expressed rejection of the possibility of an international
tribunal trying Indonesian military officers, citing national
sovereignty as his reason.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, Wirabuana Military Commander Maj.
Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah said Wiranto did not represent the
military.

He told reporters here that such a clarification was necessary
due to a growing impression that the call for Wiranto's
resignation faced a hurdle because Wiranto represented TNI.

"That's not true. Wiranto is already out of the TNI system,"
he said.

"Coordinating minister for political and security affairs is a
very strategic position. However, with all due respect as his
junior, I wish Wiranto would resign."

According to Agus, Wiranto could achieve his political
ambitions in the Golkar Party. "I see a possibility for him to
regain his image."

Meanwhile, chairman of the United Development Party Hamzah Haz
said in Medan, North Sumatra, that presumption of innocence must
be respected in the case.

Hamzah said that Indonesia was facing big challenges in the
future. "We cannot waste time with the past. We have economic
problems which are at a standstill." (25/39/27/sur/das/byg)