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)