NZ to assist Indonesia locate Soeharto's wealth

NZ to assist Indonesia locate Soeharto's wealth

Annastashya Emmanuelle and Claire Harvey, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said here on
Monday that her government was willing to assist Indonesia locate
assets of the Soeharto family.

The family of former president Soeharto in the late 1990s
purchased a large sheep farm on New Zealand's south island, Clark
said, but she believed the farm had recently returned to New
Zealand ownership.

"Where the money is I don't know, but I don't think it's
sitting in a sheep station in New Zealand," Clark said at a press
conference hosted by the Jakarta Editors Club.

"I repeat that any time Indonesian authorities ask for support
in tracing such assets they will have our full cooperation,"
Clark added.

Battling corruption has been President Megawati's
administration's top priority.

Clark has also encouraged Megawati to attend independence
celebrations in East Timor. The President has yet to make an
announcement on her attendance.

"I understand that President Megawati's attendance at the East
Timor celebrations would not be without controversy in
Indonesia," she said, "but her attendance would be very well
received indeed."

On the two countries' ties, Clark said one of the main
irritants in the relationship had been the murder of New Zealand
peacekeeper Pvt. Leonard Manning in East Timor by pro-Jakarta
militias in 2000.

New Zealand has previously objected to the six-year prison
sentence handed down to the West Timorese man, Yakobus Bere,
convicted of Manning's murder, but Clark said she was pleased
that prosecutors were appealing the light sentence.

Nevertheless, New Zealand will not restore military ties
without more evidence that past human rights abuses are being
punished.

"We want to see some further movement yet on the tribunals
before which the human rights violators from East Timor are to be
brought and we still have some concerns about the role of the
military with respect to Aceh and Papua," Clark said.

East Timor has been a thorny issue for Indonesia, since pro-
Jakarta militias went on a killing spree in 1999, prompting the
United States, New Zealand and other countries to cut military
ties with Indonesia.

Earlier, in a joint press conference with Megawati, Clark
pledged to increase its quota on the intake of refugees to help
reduce Indonesia's burden.

New Zealand, she said, would take on around 200 refugees per
year as defined by the United Nations High Commissioner on
Refugees (UNHCR).

Around 600 Afghan and Iraqi refugees are now being processed
in Indonesia to be resettled in other countries.

Megawati in her welcoming speech, stressed the importance of
Clark's visit as a "means of consolidation between the two
countries based on mutual respect".

Illegal migrants and displaced people issues have been high on
the agenda in their talks.

Clark warned people-smugglers that New Zealand would fine
anybody NZ$500,000 who attempted to enter the territory and that
there would be no granting of asylum.

"Anyone who arrives in New Zealand with illegal migrants can
expect to face up to 20 years in New Zealand prison as well as
heavy fines, no asylum nor getting their boats back again," Clark
said following the news conference.

Clark is in the country for an official two-day visit.