Mega meets Xanana on bilateral issues

Mega meets Xanana on bilateral issues

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Denpasar

President Megawati Soekarnoputri met with her East Timorese
counterpart Xanana Gusmao in Bali on Saturday to discuss
bilateral issues including human rights.

The most pertinent question at the moment in this regard is
the case of the Golkar Party's presidential candidate, Gen. (ret)
Wiranto, the former chief of the Indonesian Military for whom a
district court in Dili, East Timor, issued an arrest warrant last
Monday.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda has said that
Saturday's talks were aimed at forging good neighborly and
future-oriented relations in a reconciliatory way.

"For this, there are things from the past that need to be
settled," he said without elaborating.

On the sidelines of a party meeting here, Wiranto said that
although he did not know the outcome of the meeting, he had been
assured that it was not intended to thwart his presidential bid
though Megawati is a rival in the July 5 presidential election.

However, he added, "I hope President Megawati as the incumbent
will not meddle in legal affairs."

The Indonesian government has played down the arrest warrant,
saying that the Dili court had no international jurisdiction.

Wiranto and his running mate, Solahuddin Wahid, were meeting
with provincial leaders of the Golkar Party's Bali, and East and
West Nusa Tenggara chapters here.

Solahuddin has announced his resignation from the National
Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), where he had led
investigations into a number of alleged violations of human
rights implicating Wiranto.

Reliable sources from the State Palace told The Jakarta Post
that Megawati initiated the meeting and it was arranged hastily
on Friday.

Wiranto said that it would be very uncommon for a sovereign
country to hand over one of its citizen to a human rights court
in another country only to serve the short-term political
interests of its presidential aspirants.

"It would be lamentable if our government opted to do so. We,
as a country, would sink to a new nadir if this were to happen,"
he said.

One of the six presidential aspirants that will contest the
presidential election, Wiranto has been busy countering
allegations of involvement in the rights abuses that occurred
following a UN-sponsored referendum in which most East Timorese
voted for separation from Indonesia in September 1999.

Wiranto, who was then also the minister of defense, is accused
of failing to prevent the destruction and violence that killed
more than 1,000 civilians.

He has said the allegations are part of attempts at character
assassination, initiated partly by his political rivals.

After the meeting with Megawati, Xanana said his government
could not annul the arrest warrant for Wiranto.

However, he added, it would do nothing to execute it.

Xanana said earlier that good bilateral relations were still
the top priority for the East Timorese government, and it would
maintain ties even if Wiranto were to be elected president.