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