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.