Wahid-Wiranto discord again?

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, JAN. 4. The sudden replacement of Indonesia's national police chief today fuelled speculation in Jakarta about new tensions between the President, Mr. Abudurrahman Wahid, and the highest ranking Minister in his Cabinet, Gen. Wiranto.

Meanwhile, 18 more people were unofficially estimated to have died in sectarian clashes in Spice islands. But this represented an improvement because of troop reinforcement. Unconfirmed reports put the toll at over 1200 in Muslim-Christian clashes in the predominantly Christian Maluku region in the Muslim-majority Indonesia in 1999.

It was officially announced today that a police investigation was being held in respect of the alleged massacre of at least 200 Muslims in a village in Halmahera in northern Maluku sector. The main town of the Maluku region, Ambon, was however, limping back to normality. It was officially stated that an additional deployment of 8,000 troops had helped ease the situation.

With the police and the military establishment, which still has strong links with the former, being so much in focus, the change in the police hierarchy assumed unusual importance. Maj. Gen. Rusdi Hardjo was nominated to replace Gen. Roesmanhadi. The change has attracted attention also because Gen. Roesmanhadi is a close associate of Gen. Wiranto. Mr. Wahid and Gen. Wiranto, former military chief who still retains his service rank, have in recent weeks differed on issues such as the Army's alleged human rights abuses in several pockets of Indonesia over a period of time. The change has only served to heighten speculation that Mr. Wahid may soon shuffle his first Cabinet.

Mr. Wahid has held consultations with the Vice-President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri, whom he had asked to rush back home from Hong Kong, and he himself dropped a hint about some impending Cabinet changes.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Zaki Anwar Makarim today testified before the human rights panel on East Timor (KPP-HAM) about a contingency plan that the Indonesian military establishment had drawn up to meet the eventuality of a vote against Jakarta in the recent U.N.-sponsored referendum.

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Section  : International
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