Yusril to visit the United States

Yusril to visit the United States

JAKARTA: Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
Mahendra said on Wednesday he will visit the United States on
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's instructions to meet his U.S.
counterparts.

"The President has instructed me to talk with the U.S.
attorney general over several matters related to the citizenship
of Indonesian nationals in the U.S. and also U.S. citizens
residing here," Yusril told reporters after meeting Megawati.

He did not elaborate.

Indonesia is using the Ius Soli principle in which a person's
nationality is based on his/her parents' citizenship. While the
United States is implementing the Ius Sanguinis principle that
determines a person's nationality based on his/her birthplace.

"The President has also instructed me to explain about the Ad
Hoc Human Rights Tribunal on East Timor and the Tanjung Priok
incident," he said.

Jakarta is planning a series of trials of suspects in the
violence that erupted in East Timor following the proindependence
ballot there in August 1999.

The Attorney General's Office is also investigating the
Tanjung Priok incident in which troops killed radical Muslim
protesters at North Jakarta's harbor area in 1984. -- JP