Soeharto can be tried in absentia, says President

NEW YORK (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid said here on Tuesday that former president Soeharto could be tried in absentia if it was impossible for him to attend his corruption trial.

"If he is summoned (again) but he still does not appear before the court then he must be tried in absentia. That is the plan in my mind and we have decided that as a punishment for him," Abdurrahman, who is in New York to attend the United Nations- organized Millennium Summit, said.

Speaking to about 200 members of the Indonesian community in New York, the President disclosed that he had received reports that Soeharto was often seen gardening in the backyard of the house of his second son, Bambang Trihatmodjo.

"The doctors said that it is improper to bring Soeharto to court, but I know that he often harvests eggplants in Bambang's hydroponic garden," Abdurrahman said and burst into laughter.

Bambang's house is located behind Soeharto's residence on Jl. Cendana.

Last week the court adjourned Soeharto's trial for two weeks after his lawyers claimed that he could not appear due to poor health.

Lawyers have repeatedly claimed that Soeharto is too brain- damaged to undergo a trial after suffering two mild strokes.

The President said last week that Soeharto's trial should go ahead despite his health.

During the dialog, Abdurrahman was accompanied by First Lady Sinta Nuriyah, foreign affairs minister Alwi Shihab and Indonesian Ambassador to Washington Dorodjatun Kuntjorodjakti.

Commenting on his meeting with world financier George Soros earlier in the day, Abdurrahman acknowledged that Soros had questioned his choices for the new economic team, including Abdurrahman's close friend finance minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo.

"We hope that Soros will understand our situation ... the market gave negative reactions because they do not understand our situation," Abdurrahman said.

Prijadi's appointment was quickly seen as controversial because he failed a central bank fit-and-proper test having been proposed by the President to head state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

The President said that Prijadi would soon file a lawsuit against the central bank's decision.

"He will file a lawsuit against BI because he feels that he was not fairly treated in the fit-and-proper test," said Abdurrahman.

Abdurrahman also said he hoped he would be able to serve the nation for another 10 years. He did not say, however, whether he planned to seek another five-year term of presidency when his current term expires in 2004.

After the dialog, Abdurrahman was asked to inaugurate a library at the Indonesian permanent office to the U.N. named after him.

"I think my name is most suitable for the name of a garage," he joked before the inauguration.

On Tuesday evening, Abdurrahman met with the U.S. State Secretary Madeleine Albright.

Indonesian State Secretary Djohan Effendy told reporters that during the meeting with Albright, Abdurrahman appealed for international assistance to help speed up the settlement of refugees in Aceh, Maluku and West Timor.

Djohan also said that Albright praised Abdurrahman's decision to hand over the technical day-to-day running of the government to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"It is only natural that Megawati gets a special assignment since her party was the winner in last year's elections," Djohan quoted the President as saying.

On Wednesday, Abdurrahman was scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Gus Dur, as the President is popularly known, will leave New York for Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday to undergo a two-day medical examination.

He is scheduled to return to Jakarta on Tuesday.

In Jakarta on Wednesday, executive director of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) Hendardi reiterated his calls that the medical treatment of Soeharto should be taken over by the state to ensure that the assessment of his health could be done in a transparent manner.

Juan Felix Tampubolon, chief of Soeharto's defense team, said on Tuesday that his client would not appear at the Sept. 14 hearing.

Lalu Mariyun, head of the judges trying Soeharto, has raised the possibility of trying the former leader at his house to bypass the medical objections that forced the trial's abrupt adjournment.

But Lalu added that to do so would require a legal opinion from the Supreme Court.(prb/bby/byg)