Gus Dur's Australia visit could be cut short: Wimar

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid's six-day visit to Australia, scheduled for early April, could be cut short by two or three days for the sake of efficiency, a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The original schedule was six days. It could be cut short to three days or something, but everything is still being worked out," presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

He said the trip to Australia might be cut short due to several factors.

"First, we don't want the President spend too much time away from the country for obvious reasons, second we want to save money and cut costs," Wimar said.

Later in the day, chief of the state protocol Rahmat Ranudiwijaya confirmed that the trip would be cut short by "one or two days" from the scheduled six days.

"This matter is still being finalized with our Australian counterparts," Rahmat told the Post.

In a departure from usual practice, he also said that Abdurrahman would use a commercial flight to Australia instead of using the presidential plane.

"We will be flying Garuda on a scheduled flight," Rahmat said, adding that instead of taking the regular number of 50 to 60 people, there would only be some 20 people within the presidential entourage to Australia.

The statement came as Abdurrahman has been under intense pressure to step down after the House of Representatives censured the President in February for his alleged involvement in two financial scandals.

The beleaguered President has also been under fire following the disclosure that some US$300,000 in cash had been delivered from Jakarta to staff traveling with the President during his recent trip to Saudi Arabia.

Presidential aides later said that the money was used to cover "additional expenses" of the presidential entourage during the haj pilgrimage.

Wimar also said that Abdurrahman's visit to Australia was unlikely to be canceled since the trip had already been postponed several times.

"It is essential that we stick to the schedule otherwise we would have postponed the trip to Australia three times, so maybe by way of compromise this trip could be shortened," he said.

"But, it can't be too short because besides meeting the officials, the Australian public also want to hear Gus Dur," he added, referring to the President by his nickname.

Palace sources said on Monday that Abdurrahman is tentatively scheduled to leave for Canberra on April 3 and would return to Jakarta on April 9.

An Australian official said earlier in the week that Abdurrahman will leave for Australia on April 5.

Chairman of the Australia-Indonesia Institute, John Reid, said after meeting with Abdurrahman at Merdeka Palace on Monday that the President is scheduled to visit Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, and Darwin and then continue the trip to the New Zealand capital of Wellington.

Ties between Jakarta and Canberra nosedived after Australia led an international peacekeeping force in East Timor following the UN-organized self-determination ballot in August 1999.

At the time, Jakarta angrily scrapped a mutual security treaty, and plans by Abdurrahman to visit Canberra have been repeatedly postponed due to strong domestic opposition.

Abdurrahman has visited more than 50 countries, some twice, since he took office 17 months ago and has come under fire for his frequent overseas trips during times of domestic crisis. (byg)