Soeharto receives S. Africa's highest honor from Mandela
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto ended his three-day visit to South Africa yesterday and headed for Vancouver, Canada, for the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting.
He flew on board a Garuda Indonesia MD-11 aircraft from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro for a refueling stop before proceeding to the Mexican resort town of Cancun for an overnight stop, Antara said.
He is scheduled to arrive in Vancouver Sunday evening.
Soeharto bade farewell to his host President Nelson Mandela before departing for the airport, the news agency said.
Mandela bestowed South Africa's highest award, Order of Good Hope medal, on Soeharto at a short ceremony at his official Genadendal home, AFP reported.
It was given in recognition of Soeharto's "invaluable contribution to the promotion of friendly and mutually beneficial relations between South Africa and Indonesia."
Indonesia, Mandela said, had supported his African National Congress in its anti-apartheid struggle and had strictly applied sanctions against the former white minority South African government.
Soeharto repeated statements he has made to the media throughout his three-day state visit to South Africa: that Indonesia and South Africa should cooperate to help set up a world order "based on independence, peace and enduring social justice," AFP said.
On Friday, the Indonesian leader visited the cemetery of Sheik Yusuf, an adopted son of Sultan Alaudin of Gowa in South Sulawesi, to pay homage to his memory. Sheik Yusef was sent to exile and died in Cape Town by the Dutch government for opposing its colonial authorities some three centuries ago.
National hero
Sheik Yusuf was declared an Indonesian national hero in 1995.
Besides his own entourage, the President was accompanied by around 1,000 South Africans of South Sulawesi descent during the visit to the cemetery.
A South African girl who recently studied at a Moslem boarding school in Jakarta recited a verse from the Koran to open the brief ceremony, held amidst a light rain.
Soeharto related the history of the Indonesian struggle since the time of Dutch colonial era to the current struggle for national development.
He also used the occasion to offer economic assistance to the community of Indonesian descendants in South Africa to improve their standard of living. "We're not going to give you the fish, but rather the rod," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
Reports from South Africa said there had been some opposition to President Soeharto's visit, chiefly over Indonesia's policy in East Timor.
Soeharto and Mandela discussed East Timor during their talks Thursday. The two leaders, however, agreed afterwards not to disclose the details of their talks to the public.
Mandela has offered his good offices to help Indonesia and Portugal find a settlement to the East Timor question.
He began his initiative during his visit to Indonesia in July, in which he also met with jailed East Timor rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao.
The initiative turned sour when a letter Mandela had written to Soeharto to follow up on his move was erroneously sent to Portugal, and its content was later leaked to the Portuguese press.
Mandela told reporters later yesterday that he would contact UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to brief him on his discussions with Soeharto on East Timor.
"I am going to try to speak to (Annan) this afternoon and warn him that I'm sending a very confidential document to him reporting on my discussions with President Soeharto," he said.
"I have not the slightest doubt that we have made good progress with President Soeharto in addressing the difficult and sensitive issue of East Timor," he added.
"And this is all that concerns me, that we should continue to have to breakthroughs," Mandela said, adding that it was crucial the nature of the talks should remain confidential.
He said he had been acting in his meetings with Soeharto on behalf of Annan and it was necessary first to brief the UN chief before any public statement could be made. (emb)