Wiranto, Xanana meet behind closed doors

Wiranto, Xanana meet behind closed doors

I Wayan Juniartha and Muninggar Sri Saraswati,
The Jakarta Post, Seminyak/Jakarta

Gen. (ret) Wiranto held a closed door meeting with East Timor
President Xanana Gusmao in Bali on Saturday night, just two weeks
after the Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) in Dili issued an arrest
warrant for the Golkar Party candidate.

However, Wiranto announced after the meeting that they the two
were merely reminiscing about past experiences, when Xanana led
East Timor's resistance movement fighting against Indonesian
troops in what was then considered Indonesia's 27th province.

"We did not talk about the warrant because the East Timor
Attorney General has already annulled it and we have to honor
it," claimed Wiranto, who is preparing for the July 5
presidential election.

It was been reported earlier that Dili's top prosecutor wished
to have the warrant "reviewed", but that the SCU decided that it
would not be reviewed and the warrant apparently still is in
effect.

Wiranto's media team earlier said that the rights abuse
allegations would be included on the meeting's agenda.

Wiranto, however, admitted that the East Timor authorities
were still investigating the bloody rampages and killings before,
during and after the 1999 United Nations-sponsored popular
consultation in the former Portuguese colony.

"We did not talk about the issue since it has been discussed
between President Megawati and Xanana and so the issue has become
a government-to-government problem," Wiranto said.

The United Nations-assisted Serious Crimes Unit issued an
warrant of arrest against Wiranto early this month after
indicting him in February 2003 on charges of rights abuses in
1999.

The warrant prompted President Megawati Soekarnoputri to
hastily arrange a meeting with Xanana on May 15 but details of
the meeting were not made public.

TNI chief Gen. Endriartono had said earlier that Indonesia was
lobbying East Timor so that it would not bring up the alleged
human rights abuses during the elections, a move that could anger
Wiranto's supporters and destabilize the country's political
situation.

The meeting on Thursday night started at around 8:30 p.m.
local time and ended at 10:30 p.m.

Accompanying Wiranto were former justice minister Muladi and
retired Army generals Suaidi Marasabessy and Zacky Anwar Makarim
as well as lawyer Juanda Saputra.

Xanana was accompanied by his aide Manuel Serrano.

At one corner of the hotel, the Wiranto's wife, Rugaiya
Wiranto, was seen chatting with Xanana's wife, Kristy Sword.

In Jakarta, Wiranto told reporters before leaving for Bali
that he was going to meet his "best friend" Xanana to talk about
old times.

"It's a talk between two best friends who once fought (one
another) due to state duties. I and Pak Xanana often met in the
mountains, we hunted one another.

"It was something inevitable because we did that as a matter
of state duties," he said after a meeting with the Constitutional
Court.

He also said that he was glad that the bloody conflict had
ended.

"Indonesia has actually entered the reconciliation process (of
the East Timor mayhem) but East Timor still faces problems in
finishing their reconciliation proceedings," Wiranto said.

He also said that he would not offer anything to Xanana during
the talk because he has no authority to do that.

"I have no authority to offer anything. It's been discussed
by both countries. Ibu Mega and Pak Xanana have talked about a
more concrete cooperation between the two countries," he said.

Wiranto said that both Indonesia and East Timor had entered "a
new period to help each other".

"This is a more important thing to increase the welfare of
both countries," he said.

East Timor Foreign Minister Ramos Horta advised Xanana not to
meet Wiranto before the country's presidential election on July 5
because "it could send the wrong message to both countries".