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