Gus Dur-Clinton meeting set for Friday

By Kornelius Purba

HANOI (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid is set to meet his American counterpart Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C on Friday despite earlier concerns about scheduling conflicts.

News of the planned meeting was disclosed by Abdurrahman himself -- only 24 hours after he said the meeting was off -- during a media briefing with Indonesian reporters accompanying him on a five-day whirlwind tour of Southeast Asian capitals.

The President, who is better known as Gus Dur, is planning to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to seek medical treatment for his impaired vision.

He flew to Hanoi from Phnom Penh on Tuesday, and later to Manila. He was scheduled to leave the Philippine capital and return to Jakarta later in the evening.

Speaking after meeting with Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong at the International Conference Center in Hanoi, Abdurrahman said he received a message on Tuesday morning that Clinton was ready to meet him on Friday at the White House.

"My request for a meeting received a positive response," he said at Noi Bai International Airport before departing for Manila.

"We have stolen some time from his very tight schedule."

Confirmation of the meeting did not come from the White House.

"I received the information from the private sector," he said without elaborating.

Abdurrahman said he hoped to convince Clinton that Indonesia's decision to forge closer ties with Asian powers such as China, India and Japan would not come at the expense of its relations with the United States and the West.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab said the President and his entourage would return to Jakarta on Tuesday and rest for one day before flying to Washington on Thursday.

Although the Utah visit was a confirmed part of Abdurrahman's schedule, the meeting with Clinton was uncertain in the past few days.

Abdurrahman said on Sunday that Clinton's tight schedule meant it was impossible for the two to meet. He played down the importance of the meeting, saying that the chief objective of his visit to the U.S. was to obtain spectacles in Salt Lake City which would enable him to see again.

Abdurrahman has disclosed his wish to meet with Clinton on several occasions, with the first coming only a few days after his Oct. 20 election. On Saturday, when addressing a business luncheon in Singapore, he confidently said Clinton had agreed to see him after his medical treatment in Salt Lake City.

After the visit to Washington, the President plans to proceed to Salt Lake City for a two-day stay.

On the return journey home, he will make a brief stopover in Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie will join him for the meeting with Obuchi.

Abdurrahman and Obuchi have another meeting planned in Jakarta on Nov. 26 before they travel to Manila for an informal summit involving leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan.

President Abdurrahman's ASEAN tour, which began on Saturday, has taken him to Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The only ASEAN country not covered was Brunei.

Asked to comment on his most delightful moment during the trip, the President joked: "The exchange of gifts because they looked heavy, but the (monetary) value is actually light."

Abdurrahman said he shared light moments with many of the leaders, including when he disclosed to Laotian President Khamtay Siphandone his plan to publish a book containing about 400 jokes.

"The Laotian president enthusiastically asked me to send him a copy," Abdurrahman said.

His daughter Zannuba Arifah "Yeni" Chafsoh Rahman said in Manila she bought new shoes for her father because the President was used to wearing sandals and owned a few pairs of old shoes.

"I told him he must wear the new shoes because I bought them with my last salary as a journalist," said the former Indonesian correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Abdurrahman's younger brother, physician Umar Wahid, said he was retained as the President's personal doctor, which also meant having to cease his normal hospital practice.

"Now he is my only client, so you can imagine how my income has been cut," he added.