Kivlan reports Wiranto to police

JAKARTA: Former Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief of staff Maj. Gen. (ret) Kivlan Zein reported on Friday his former superior Gen. (ret) Wiranto to the Jakarta Police for alleged defamation.

Kivlan said Wiranto had made a libelous statement in the June 12 edition of Gatra magazine, which cost him a potential client.

"In the interview published by the magazine, Wiranto takes pity over me and my wife because we always fail in business," Kivlan said.

He claimed the statement had made his client cancel a one-year business contract with him.

Kivlan is the chief commissioner of a coal mining company PT Borneo Silvi Lestari.

The two former generals have been involved in a dispute following Kivlan's revelation to the public of Wiranto's role in the recruitment of civilian militiamen to secure the People's Consultative Assembly session in November 1998. -- JP