Soeharto, Kohl cast work aside

Soeharto, Kohl cast work aside

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto and German Chancellor Helmut
Kohl put aside their stately worries for a while, spending a
relaxing day fishing and drinking coconut milk in the Thousand
Islands yesterday.

Kohl, who officially begins his visit here today, arrived in
Jakarta Saturday afternoon. He was immediately taken by
helicopter to Bira Kecil Island in the Thousand Islands, North
Jakarta, where he spent the night as Soeharto's guest.

The past day and a half were spent with Soeharto in a casual
atmosphere on the island. Also present were Indonesian State
Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie and Soeharto's
second son Bambang Trihatmodjo.

Kohl is in Indonesia for the first leg of his southeast Asian
tour, which includes the Philippines and Japan. He is scheduled
to depart for Manila tomorrow.

This is the third time this year the two leaders have met. The
familiarity was reflected in the ease with which they received
each other.

The day began at 8:00 a.m. yesterday with Soeharto and Kohl,
in informal attire, heading out to the docks on Bira Kecil where
they boarded a speedboat to go fishing.

Soeharto is known to be an avid angler, often going on fishing
trips during holidays.

The 400-horse-power speedboat took them about 12 miles
offshore before Soeharto and Kohl cast their hooks out to sea.

The relaxed atmosphere was heightened with smiles as one of
their hooks soon caught a large kerapu (serranus) fish.

At about noon the boat headed to nearby Pramuka Island.

There they toured a turtle-breeding center where hawksbill
turtles are hatched and released.

The center was established with the aid of Japanese funds and
aims to conserve the depleting number of hawksbill turtles in the
area. It is one of four such facilities in the world; the others
are located in Cuba, the Solomon Islands and Australia.

Soeharto and Kohl then released a batch of some 365 turtles
aged between a few days and three years old.

"Good luck, don't get eaten by the fish," Soeharto was heard
murmuring as he released the fledgling baby turtles into the open
sea.

Soeharto explained to Kohl that turtles are a commodity much
sought after for their shells which are used for various
ornaments and jewelry.

While on the island the two leaders were also seen sipping
coconut milk provided by some of the local residents.

Accompanying them to the island were Habibie and Jakarta
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja.

After a one-and-a-half-hour stay on the island, they headed
back to Bira Kecil before returning to Jakarta.

Discussion

Kohl and Soeharto are scheduled to hold a 90-minute bilateral
discussion this morning.

While trade and economic issues are expected to top the
agenda, there has been growing pressure for the German Chancellor
to bring up the issue of human rights and particularly East
Timor.

Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta, who lives in Australia,
has said that Germany is the European state with the most
influence over Indonesia and should push harder on the issue of
East Timor.

It remains to be seen whether Kohl will emphasize this issue,
especially since his visit here is designed to boost trade
relations, which have grown by some 75 percent in the past five
years. Two-way trade stood at US$4.4 billion last year.

The significance of trade relations is highlighted further by
Kohl's entourage which includes Minister of Economics Gunter
Rexrodt, Minister of Tourism and Telecommunications Wolfgang
Botsch, Minister of Education, Technology and Research Jurgen
Rutgers and nearly 70 German business leaders. (mds)

Foreign policy -- Page 4