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".