Soeharto warns foreign press

Soeharto warns foreign press

NEW YORK (AFP): Indonesian President Soeharto warned that
negative press reports about his country could provoke violence
in the Southeast Asian nation, according to Newsweek magazine.

"Continuing to blow up the issues of poverty and income gaps
without offering a realistic concept for solving them may provoke
the sensitivity of our diverse community," Soeharto said in an
interview in the March 17 issue of the magazine's international
edition.

"Sometimes such sensitivity leads to riots and destruction of
property, even of our social foundations," he said.

Indonesia has been rocked by violent political, social and
economic unrest in recent months, including ethnic and religious
riots.

On Saturday, Soeharto told a group of prominent businessmen in
Jakarta that "destructive" people could use the wealth gap to
cause unrest. It was the third warning in barely a week against
dissent.