Soeharto can be tried in absentia, says President

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)