Sintong's visit provokes Aussie

Sintong's visit provokes Aussie

SYDNEY (Agencies): The current visit by Indonesian Maj. Gen.
Sintong Panjaitan to Australia has sparked a controversy because
many still remember him as the man responsible for the bloody
incident in Dili, East Timor, four years ago.

Sintong arrived on Saturday, as a member of the advance party
preparing for a visit later this year by State Minister of
Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.

Sintong has been seconded as an aide to the minister.

He will leave on Tuesday together with other members of a
high-powered delegation which has also been involved in official
talks aimed at increasing cooperation with Jakarta on defense
technology, AFP reported yesterday.

The news agency also reported that Sintong's visit was
expected to prompt protests from Australia's East Timorese
refugee community, as well as its numerous supporters in churches
and civil rights groups who have frequently condemned what they
see as Canberra's policy of appeasing Indonesia over East Timor.

Australian foreign affairs spokesman Paul Molloy said the
government was aware of the controversy surrounding Sintong.

"But we decided to grant a visa to all members of the
delegation in the view that even though Sintong Panjaitan could
be considered a controversial visitor, his visit was warranted in
order to prepare the ground thoroughly for the visit by Minister
Habibie.

"Minister Habibie is a very important visitor and is the
minister primarily responsible for technological development in
Indonesia," Molloy said.

Sintong was chief of the Udayana Military Command, which
oversees the security in East Timor, when troops clashed with
protesters on the streets of Dili on Nov. 12, 1991, leaving at
least 50 people dead.

The incident sparked an international outcry, and a military
investigation held Sintong responsible for the incident along
with a number of other officers and soldiers. Although Sintong
was not in Dili at the time of the incident, he was considered
the most senior officer responsible for East Timor affairs.

Sintong, at the time considered as one of the Army's most
prominent officers with prospects of an even higher career in the
military or the government, was removed from his post but
remained active in the Army.

He was later sent to the United States for training and
subsequently returned to Indonesia and appointed as an aide to
Habibie, with an office at the Agency for the Assessment and
Application of Technology, which is headed by Habibie. (emb)