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 ranks of the army to become military chief in the final days of the strongman's 32-year rule -- to run in Indonesia's first direct presidential elections in July.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, has been indicted by UN-backed prosecutors in East Timor of failing to stop his soldiers and their proxy militias from killing nearly 1,500 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. Before being named military chief in 1997, Wiranto served as Suharto's personal adjutant for several years.
"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 that in the race for the top job, Wiranto trails far behind front-runner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Nonetheless, Wiranto will likely capitalize 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.
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."
Neighboring Australia, whose peacekeeping efforts in Timor after the 1999 violence led to strained ties with Indonesia, declined to comment directly on Wiranto's victory.
"If we start attacking General Wiranto now it might turn out to be a bit of an election winner for him," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp Radio. He did not elaborate.
East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri also declined to comment, saying that doing so could affect ties between the two countries.
"The relationship between East Timor and Indonesia is more important than my commenting on Indonesian presidential candidates," he said in Dili, East Timor's capital.
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 US State Department has placed Wiranto on its visa watch list, which would bar his travel to the US.
Still, Deputy Defense 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.
The July elections will be the first direct election for president. Previously, lawmakers chose the head of state.
"This is a serious setback to the cause of human rights in Indonesia," said Munir, who heads Jakarta's Imparsial human rights group. "I fear democracy will suffer as a result."
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