Indonesian Embassy denies arrest of security officers

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian embassy in Vancouver, Canada, has denied that two Indonesian security officers were arrested for breach of the peace outside the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting on Nov. 25.

Antara quoted the embassy's defense attache Brig. Gen. J. Sudrajat as saying yesterday that the two officers were arrested by mistake.

He said that the local press had lied in reports which said the two officers had been arrested when they infiltrated the group of protesters.

"The two were part of President Soeharto's security team, assigned to help safeguard the head of state," he said.

The two, according to Sudrajat, were standing opposite and away from the about 1,500 demonstrators outside the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia where the economic leaders' meeting was held.

All of a sudden, he said, the protesters pushed forward across the security line, forcing Canadian security personnel to arrest some people, among them the two Indonesian officers who were suspected of being protesters.

"The two were detained for several minutes, but were later released after the embassy approached (the Canadian security)," he said.

Sudrajat accused the local press of exploiting the incident in its reports that from the beginning have focused on the human rights records of some countries, including Indonesia.

Hours after the incident, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told The Jakarta Post that two members of the Indonesian delegation to the APEC meeting had been arrested for breach of the peace.

The two were stripped of their APEC accreditation and turned over to the Indonesian delegation's head of security, a Canadian police officer said.

He said the two Indonesian officers were carrying walkie- talkies when they were arrested.

Separately yesterday, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung said the incident was triggered by a "misunderstanding" between the Canadian and Indonesian security officers.

He said, after addressing a gathering of the Jamaah al- Washliyah Moslem organization in Bandung, West Java, that the two were part of the Indonesian delegation assigned to safeguard the President and his entourage.

Feisal said that when they were arrested the two were wearing ski masks and earphones, and carrying walkie-talkies to "supervise the mass" of protesters.

The two officers have been sent home, Feisal said.

He said he was confident the incident would not cause problems in ties between the two countries. (43/swe)