Soeharto critic may become Aussie envoy

JAKARTA (JP): One of Australia's candidates for its Indonesian ambassadorial post, Miles Kupa, is a harsh critic of President Soeharto, a press report said yesterday.

Kupa, a former Australian deputy foreign minister on Southeast Asian affairs, is one of "two or three" candidates that Canberra has proposed to replace Alan Taylor whose term of office ended in April.

Quoting the Sydney Morning Herald, Antara said that Kupa, who was posted in Jakarta in 1980, once harshly criticized President Soeharto and his family.

Under the headline Harsh Critic of Soeharto Our New Man in Jakarta, the article written by the Herald's foreign editor David Lague said Kupa once wrote confidential reports critical of Soeharto and his relatives.

One of the reports was titled The Little Big Man, according to the Herald.

In one of his reports, Kupa predicted there could be a coup d'etat if the government failed to manage conflicts that arise during the leadership transition from Soeharto.

Spokesman for the Australian foreign ministry, Kirk Coningham, said Canberra has no comment on the Herald article, Antara reported.

Asked how many candidates there were for Taylor's post, Coningham replied "two or three". Another candidate is Geoff Forrester.

Last year Indonesia withdrew its ambassadorial candidate to Canberra, Lt. Gen. (retired) HBL Mantiri, after strong Australian public objection to his remarks on the 1991 bloody incident in Dili. (pan)