'Wiranto is finished, with no chance of comeback': Juwono (fwd)

["M.G.G. Pillai" <pillai@mgg.pc.my>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 29 Feb 2000 07:37:37
From: tapol@gn.apc.org
Reply-To: "Conference act.indonesia" <indonesia-act@igc.org>
To: Recipients of indonesia-act <indonesia-act@igc.org>
Subject: 'Wiranto is finished, with no chance of comeback': Juwono

From: TAPOL <tapol@gn.apc.org>
Subject: 'Wiranto is finished, with no chance of comeback': Juwono 

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

Straits Times
Feb 29, 2000  

Wiranto is finished, with no chance of comeback: Juwono 

Even if no charges are brought against him, he is as good as guilty in eyes 
of public, says Defence Minister

By DERWIN PEREIRA
IN JAKARTA

FORMER military strongman Wiranto is finished politically and is unlikely to 
ever play a dominant role in politics here, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono 
said in an interview. 

He said General Wiranto -- suspended this month from the post of Coordinating 
Security Minister -- did not have the legitimacy to mount a comeback even if 
the Attorney-General's Office did not press charges against him over the East 
Timor debacle. 

"Technically, he can return to the Cabinet if the government cannot find 
anything against him," he told The Straits Times. "But... there is a 
less-than-50 per cent chance of his returning. In the minds of the public, he 
is guilty." 

A government-sanctioned inquiry implicated Gen Wiranto and 32 military and 
civilian officials for being responsible for the bloodshed and destruction in 
East Timor after residents voted in August to separate from Indonesia. 

Pressure has been building up since then to prosecute those responsible, and 
Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman has indicated that he will determine, 
within two or three weeks, who should stand trial. 

Dr Juwono said if the general escaped charges, there would be some concern 
that Mr Marzuki's office had given in to "pressure from the military". 

"So it will just be convenient for some people to keep him out for good. 
Unfortunately for Wiranto, he has become a victim of circumstances." 

But some of Gen Wiranto's supporters refuse to accept that the man who played 
a critical role in Indonesia's political transformation after President 
Suharto resigned is finished, and argue it is wrong to suggest that national 
opinion is against him. 

"The views of the intellectual elite in Jakarta are not reflective of what 
the silent majority in the country thinks. Increasingly, a lot are beginning 
to see Pak Wiranto as being oppressed by the President in a plot to 
consolidate his grip on power," an aide said. 

But senior government officials believe that it is difficult for Gen Wiranto 
to seize the initiative and turn to other sources of power. 

Dr Juwono said that aside from international pressure, especially from the 
United States, political players here would see the general as a "liability". 

Major parties in the ruling coalition would also not accept him, he added. 

Gen Wiranto might gravitate towards Islamic-based groups, as he was doing 
now, but these would also want to keep a distance when they calculate the 
political risks involved. 

Analysts also say that Gen Wiranto could no longer turn to the Indonesian 
defence forces (TNI) -- whose political influence is waning -- for direct 
political backing given the emasculation of his power base in the army by 
President Abdurrahman Wahid. 

But some in the military argue that by getting rid of Gen Wiranto and his 
supporters, Mr Abdurrahman could be undermining his own position over time. 

Said a key army general: "Not many officers are crying over Wiranto's 
dismissal and they are not going to step into the fray to champion his cause. 
But the President's continued intervention in military affairs is breeding 
resentment. 

"The Wiranto saga is the tip of the iceberg. We perceive it as a larger 
attack on all of us." 




 

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email: tapol@gn.apc.org
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Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong 
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