'Not a single name yet for ambassadorial post'
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas has refuted reports that the government had selected a candidate to serve as ambassador to Australia.
"At this time not a single name has been forwarded to the President, in fact the foreign ministry has not even processed it yet," Alatas said during a hearing with the House of Representative's Commission I on foreign affairs and defense late Wednesday night.
When later confronted with reports that former East Nusa Tenggara governor Ben Mboi is a hot favorite for the post, Alatas told journalists not to speculate.
The ambassadorial post in Canberra has been indefinitely vacated after Jakarta withdrew the nomination of Lt. Gen. (ret.) H.B.L. Mantiri in July.
Though the nomination had already been accepted by the Australian government, several parliamentarians questioned the nomination in connection with a past remark Mantiri made over the 1991 Dili incident.
In a magazine interview, Mantiri said the actions of security forces in a clash which killed over 50 demonstrators were "quite proper."
Wide scale public furor erupted there which lead Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans to demand Mantiri's apology.
Jakarta said there was no need for the retired general to apologize and then withdrew his nomination, thus leaving the charge d'affaires, Zakaria Sumintaatmadja, as the highest ranking official at the embassy.
After a meeting between President Soeharto and Prime Minister Paul Keating in Bali on Sunday, Indonesian Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said a new ambassador would be appointed in "not too long a time."
Alatas on Wednesday explained that Moerdiono's statement should not be interpreted as meaning that Jakarta would immediately send a new ambassador there.
Various media reports have tipped former governor Ben Mboi and the vice chairman of the National Resiliency Institute (Lemhannas) Juwono Sudarsono as possible nominees for the post.
"There aren't any names yet," Alatas said.
Commenting on the various comments by Australian politicians and cabinet members which are at times indifferent to Indonesia, Alatas told legislators that domestic demands often prompted unfavorable exertions.
"Australian foreign policy is ambivalent because, like other western democratic states when they near an election, comments made are aimed at making a domestic impression," Alatas explained.
"The fact that it also creates an impact outside is considered a secondary consequence," he added.
To legislators, Alatas also affirmed Soeharto's attendance at next month's Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Cartagena, Colombia.
He said that 48 heads of state had confirmed their attendance at the summit which will see Indonesia passing the chairmanship to Colombia. (mds)