Washington has no qualms on Sintong's appointment

WASHINGTON (Agencies): Indonesian President B.J. Habibie's decision to appoint a retired general who oversaw troops that killed protesters in East Timor to a top advisory position will not harm Indonesia's relations with the United States, AP reported the State Department as saying Friday.

Sintong Panjaitan, a retired Army lieutenant general, will act as an adviser to Habibie "as opposed to a formal role in the Cabinet or something like that", spokesman James P. Rubin said.

American lawyers representing a New Zealand women whose son was killed in the 1991 massacre sued Sintong in a federal court in Boston and won a 1994 judgment that he should pay US$14 million in damages to their client.

Michael Ratner, one of the lawyers, said the State Department should let Indonesia know it was unacceptable to let Sintong serve as a high government official.

"One way for the U.S. to show its commitment to enforcing human rights law and the authority of our own courts is by requiring Indonesia to pay this judgment," Ratner said.

The State Department disagreed. Rubin said there was no treaty in force requiring the payment of court judgments. And he said U.S. aid to Indonesia would not be reduced to cover the judgment.

"If every time a court judgment existed in every country in the world that people tried to reduce our foreign assistance, we wouldn't be able to do business," Rubin said.

Habibie, who succeeded president Soeharto and his authoritarian rule, has drawn the Clinton administration's enthusiastic support.

Habibie assigned Sintong last week to be secretary for management of operational development, a post usually held by active or retired military officers. He replaced Hendropriyono, a three-star general who was appointed a Cabinet minister.

"We believe that it is important that President Habibie fully consider the backgrounds of his appointees, and he should do so," Rubin said when asked about the appointment at the State Department's daily news briefing.

"We have repeatedly urged the government of Indonesia to ensure that all those guilty of human rights abuses are held responsible."

However, Rubin said, "On a practical level, we don't expect that this particular person's role as a personal adviser to the president should affect bilateral relations."

Sintong was once regarded as one of Indonesia's most promising Army officers. His career soared after he led a commando operation to free passengers from a hijacked Garuda Indonesia plane in Bangkok in 1981.

In 1985 he was appointed commander of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus).

His Army career ended abruptly after the Dili clash in which officials said 50 people were killed.

Sintong at that time was commander of the Udayana Military Command which oversees Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor.