Wiranto must go for sake of the economy: Gus Dur

Wiranto must go for sake of the economy: Gus Dur

SEOUL (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid said here on Thursday
his persistent calls for Coordinating Minister for Political
Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto to resign were for the good of
the economy.

"If he refuses to step down voluntarily, then the country will
lose the opportunity to have investors, to have an economic
comeback," Abdurrahman told a news conference on the first day of
his two-day visit to South Korea.

Indonesia was among the countries hardest hit when a region-
wide economic contagion struck in 1997. Economic woes and
accompanying social upheaval led to the downfall of president
Soeharto in May 1998 and democratic elections last June.

Abdurrahman's three overseas trips since taking office last
October have resulted in the world's support for economic
recovery in Indonesia, despite security problems in several
provinces.

He continued on Thursday to downplay speculation of a military
coup, saying the Indonesian Military (TNI) had come out in
support of him.

The President said an assistant in Jakarta told him by phone
earlier in the day that several military generals expressed
support for him. He said the generals also planned to press
Wiranto to resign to take responsibility for alleged human rights
abuses by the military in East Timor last year. Wiranto was TNI
commander at the time.

The government-sanctioned inquiry into last year's destruction
and violence in East Timor named Wiranto and four top TNI
officers among those responsible for the mayhem.

Wiranto has repeatedly said he will not address the call for
his resignation until the President returns on Sunday.

Abdurrahman denied that his resolve to confront the once
untouchable military belied his decision to drop Wiranto from the
Cabinet.

"For me, confrontation is not my type of work, but it is in
the interest of Wiranto himself. I regret to him, because he is
one of the honest generals," Abdurrahman said.

"We can pay our respects to him in a capacity that we will
think of later." However, he ruled out another Cabinet position
for Wiranto.

In a hearing with the House of Representatives in Jakarta, TNI
chief Admiral Widodo A.S. renewed his assurance that the armed
forces would not stage a coup, but instead would support civilian
supremacy as part of democracy.

"There has been no intention in our mind of toppling the
government," Widodo told legislators.

In response to Abdurrahman's call for Wiranto's resignation,
Widodo said TNI would back whatever decision the government made.

Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen.
Djadja Suparman joined Widodo in pledging allegiance to the
government.

"TNI soldiers will never launch a coup because we have taken
an oath to uphold the state ideology Pancasila, the 1945
Constitution and the legitimate government," Djadja said in his
visit to a combat training camp in Kebumen, Central Java.

But Djadja warned that Kostrad "will not take a quiet stance"
in the face of attempts to discredit TNI.

Support for Abdurrahman also came from the National Awakening
Party (PKB), which the President helped found. The party's deputy
secretary-general, Yahya Staquf, told a news conference on
Thursday that TNI should permit due legal process of active and
retired military officers who allegedly committed human rights
abuse.

Yahya said the allegations dealt with individuals, not TNI as
an institution.

PKB said the standoff between Abdurrahman and former chiefs of
TNI, Wiranto and Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung, had no institutional
link to TNI as an organization.

"Wiranto and Feisal were military officers in the past who are
now connected with legal cases. They should be viewed separately
from TNI as an institution," he said.

The President blamed Feisal on Sunday for the bloody forcible
takeover of the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) on July 27, 1996. (prb/emf/jun)