Soeharto critic may become Aussie envoy

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)