Wiranto eludes protesters

SURABAYA: Gen. (ret) Wiranto, a possible presidential candidate from the Golkar Party, gave student protesters the slip in Surabaya on Saturday.

The story began when Wiranto, the former chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI), taped a talk show on the campus of Airlangga University.

As he was speaking in one of the buildings on the campus, dozens of students from various groups in Surabaya, including the National Student League for Democracy, held a protest in front of the building.

They opposed the appearance by Wiranto, who they accused of involvement in human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. The three-hour talk show, which will be broadcast nationwide on Monday night on Trans TV, ended at 1 p.m.

After the event ended, Wiranto exited through the back door to avoid the student protesters, while at the same time Wiranto's driver drove his car slowly away from the front of the building.

The student protesters chased after the car, only to discover after they caught it that there was nobody in it but the driver. -- JP