Indonesian rights groups attack choice of candidate

JAKARTA - Indonesia's largest political party picked a retired general indicted for human rights abuses in East Timor as its presidential candidate yesterday, drawing condemnation from critics who called him a war criminal.

The Golkar Party of ex-dictator Suharto selected General Wiranto - who rose through the army ranks to become military chief in the final days of the former strongman's 32-year rule - to run in Indonesia's first direct presidential elections in July.

Wiranto has been indicted by United Nations-backed prosecutors in East Timor of failing to stop his soldiers and their proxy militias from killing nearly 1500 people in East Timor in 1999.

Although the indictment has damaged Wiranto's image in the eyes of some voters, he has tapped into an apparent nostalgia for the Suharto era when the economy was prosperous and the country relatively secure.

"Wiranto is the enemy of humanity. If he is elected president, then it is a total failure of democracy in Indonesia," said Jose Luis Oliveira, head of East Timor's leading rights group Yayasan Hak.

Public opinion surveys show Wiranto trails far behind front-runner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Nonetheless, Wiranto will likely capitalise on Golkar's political machinery and extensive reach - it emerged as the largest party in parliamentary elections earlier this month - and could improve his ratings.

His overnight election as the nominee at Golkar's convention in Jakarta came as a surprise because he beat out the party's chairman, Akbar Tandjung, who had been expected to win.

Many in the party see the charismatic Wiranto as more electable than Tandjung, a party stalwart who has battled numerous corruption charges.

Tandjung, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court of a graft conviction this year, clearing the way for him to run, won the first round of voting in a nail-biting contest. He failed to win a majority and the voting continued into a second round.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, holds its first direct presidential election on July 5.

Golkar, the old party of former Indonesian autocrat Suharto during his 32 years in power which ended in 1998, is leading the vote tally from April 5 legislative elections and is likely to emerge as the biggest party in Parliament.

Wiranto's indictment has not had much impact inside Indonesia and is rarely mentioned by the local media. But his nomination caused immediate concern abroad.

"We are dismayed at the Golkar Party's nomination of General Wiranto for president of Indonesia," said the New York-based East Timor Action Network. "Wiranto must stand trial, not stand for office." The Indonesian Government has refused to extradite hundreds of indicted soldiers, officers and Government officials to stand trial in East Timor over the 1999 violence that accompanied the territories' vote for independence in a UN-sponsored referendum.

"Wiranto is responsible ... for the gravest violations of human rights in East Timor and Indonesia," the rights group said in a statement. It called for the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal akin to those for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to try officers responsible for the bloodshed.

Wiranto has denied all charges and said they were part of a smear campaign to sidetrack his candidacy.

According to unconfirmed reports, the United States State Department has placed Wiranto on its visa watch list, which would bar his travel to the US.

Still, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and other Bush Administration officials have pressed for lifting the congressional ban on military ties with Indonesia, broken off by the Clinton Administration because of the bloody rampage by Wiranto's troops in East Timor.

Wolfowitz, a former ambassador to Jakarta, developed close ties with Indonesia's hardline generals and sees the armed forces as important allies against Muslim radicalism in Southeast Asia.

"If he does travel outside Indonesia, Wiranto should be arrested and transferred to East Timor," the human rights group said.

"All nations should actively work to bring him to justice.

The July elections will be the first direct election for president. Previously, lawmakers chose the head of state.

"I pledge not to disappoint the people ... I will bring a better life for the Indonesian nation," Wiranto said in a speech to the convention.

Wiranto's record

* Wiranto is a colourful and suave figure renowned in Indonesia for his karaoke crooning and CDs.

* He is credited with trying to hold down violence during riots at the time of Suharto's last days and for expediting the strongman's resignation.

* His image was tarnished when, as Indonesia's defence minister and military commander in 1999, more than 1000 people were killed in the period surrounding a vote for independence in the then Indonesian-controlled East Timor.

* Wiranto has been charged in East Timor over alleged human rights abuses.

* He denies any wrongdoing.

- REUTERS