Mantiri has no need to apologize: House members

Mantiri has no need to apologize: House members

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators and academics were up in arms
yesterday, dismissing any need for Indonesia's newly appointed
ambassador to Australia, Lt. Gen. H.B.L. Mantiri, to apologize
for a remark he made concerning the 1991 Dili incident.

Two prominent members of the House of Representatives, Theo
Sambuaga and Aisyah Amini, contended that an explanation about
the remark from the retired general was enough and that an
apology was not required.

"An explanation is okay, but is it really necessary to make an
apology? I don't think so," said Aisyah Amini who chairs the
House of Representatives Commission on Foreign Affairs and
Security.

Theo, head of the Indonesian delegation to the Inter-
Parliamentary Union, made a similar remark saying there was no
need for Mantiri to go beyond his explanation.

Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans on Saturday
maintained that Mantiri's explanation of a comment he made in a
press interview concerning the Dili Incident might not go far
enough.

In the 1992 press interview with the Indonesian magazine
Editor, the general regarded the clash between demonstrators and
security personnel which killed over 50 people in Dili a year
earlier as "quite proper."

At the time of the interview, Mantiri was chief of the Udayana
Military Command which oversees East Timor. However, Mantiri had
no personal involvement himself since he had not assumed the
Udayana command when the incident occurred in 1991.

Evans noted that despite expressing regret at the incident,
Mantiri "declined to apologize for those remarks."

In an apparent attempt to cool the controversy, Evans in
Melbourne on Sunday said he was trying to find a "sensible
solution" to the whole affair.

"I am sorry if I am being pragmatic but can you tell us what
we might have achieved by being more confrontational?" he was
quoted by Reuters as saying to a group of noisy protesting
students.

Speaking after the opening of an Association of Southeast
Asian Nations Inter-Parliamentary Organization meeting yesterday,
Aisyah played down the protests as a common occurrence in
Australia.

"Never mind Mantiri, even our current ambassador Sabam
Siagian, who's a journalist, is often protested there," she said
referring to the current ambassador in Australia who is often
subject to vocal criticism over the 1976 integration of East
Timor into Indonesia.

Theo said rather than be upset at Mantiri's appointment,
Australia should be flattered that Jakarta would appoint someone
of his stature as ambassador there.

"The Indonesian government's appointment of Mantiri as
ambassador should be an honor to Australia, signifying the
tremendous attention and priority placed in relations between the
two countries," Theo said.

When asked whether it was appropriate to place a military man
as ambassador to a country who's society has been critical of
Indonesian policies in East Timor, Theo argued that such a
decision was Jakarta's prerogative.

He said that such a factor was not a consideration in the
selection. "We do not look at where that person is from when
appointing ambassadors," Theo said. "According to the judgment of
the government and people of Indonesia Pak Mantiri is the right
figure."

In Semarang, Central Java, a member of the National Human
Rights Commission, Muladi, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that
he found Gareth Evans grievance over Mantiri "a bit made-up."

He said that as a serving member of the armed forces, the
organizational doctrine required Mantiri to make the kind of
observations he did. However, Muladi contends that Evans must
separate Mantiri as a diplomat and a military man.

Muladi acclaimed Mantiri as an intelligent and talented man
who will serve his country well as ambassador to Australia.

Similarly, Yassin Tarief, an international law expert from
Diponegoro in Semarang, lauded Mantiri's ability to serve as
ambassador.

He believes that one reason for Mantiri's appointment could be
his former experience as the armed forces chief of general
affairs.

Yassin also contends there is no need for Mantiri to revise or
make an apology about his statement on East Timor.

"I think all the armed forces personnel has to act like that.
The timing then compelled him to say what he did," Yassin
said.(mds)