Indonesia: Wiranto defiant: I will not resign Fri, 4 Feb 2000 09:34:23 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Joyo@aol.com Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday, February 2, 2000 Wiranto defiant: I will not resign By LINDSAY MURDOCH, Herald correspondent in Jakarta Indonesia's Security Minister, General Wiranto, yesterday defiantly ignored calls for his resignation over East Timor atrocities, raising tensions between the civilian Government and powerful elements of the armed forces that support him. Speaking after a Government report blamed him and other top officers for last year's campaign of violence in East Timor, General Wiranto said that "like a good soldier, I am going to continue to fight for the truth". Hours earlier in Davos, Switzerland, the President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, said he would demand General Wiranto's resignation because an investigation team of the National Human Rights Commission had released a report blaming him for crimes against humanity. But General Wiranto, who was the chief of Indonesia's armed forces at the time of the bloodbath in East Timor, said he would not act on "assumptions" over the calls for him to resign. The stand has thrown the international spotlight on Mr Wahid's handling of the accusations after many countries, including Australia, indicated they had confidence the Indonesian Government could bring those responsible for the East Timor atrocities to justice. A separate United Nations investigation released in New York yesterday found that Indonesian military personnel were directly involved in violence and terrorist attacks in East Timor. The UN Secretary- General, Mr Kofi Annan, said he was "encouraged by the commitment" shown by Mr Wahid to uphold the law, and that Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, had assured him that there would be no impunity for those responsible. But Mr Wahid was quoted from Davos as saying that if General Wiranto was found guilty he would pardon him. As General Wiranto spoke to journalists, one of his lawyers, Mr Adnan Buyung Nasution, called a press conference to launch a scathing attack on the commission's investigation team, saying it had acted illegally and improperly for naming General Wiranto and five serving generals. "There is no evidence that General Wiranto has done anything to violate the law," Mr Nasution said. Asked whether General Wiranto would step down from office pending an investigation by the Attorney-General, Mr Nasution said: "Certainly not." Another of General Wiranto's lawyers, Mr Muladi, a former Attorney-General, said General Wiranto would step aside only if he was found guilty by a properly constituted court or tribunal. One of the lawyers, Mr Ruhut Situmpol, shouted during an angry outburst that the Attorney-General, Mr Marzuki Darusman, who is assembling a team to pursue the commission's claims, "hates" the military generals. General Wiranto, who was forced by Mr Wahid last week to agree to abide by protocol and formerly retire from the armed forces, said the commission had presented only "raw material" to the Attorney-General. "I very much regret that what was presented by me on behalf of the military was not included or considered in the report," he said. Asked about Mr Wahid's call to resign, General Wiranto said: "I will decide based on a position that is clear and not based on assumptions." General Wiranto said the commission had ignored the fact that he had encouraged peace in East Timor and helped prepare its people for a ballot on independence. "All that I did so that East Timor could hold the ballot was not mentioned," he said. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytpac-02.04.00-09:34:20-7106