Wiranto once saved my life, says Wahid

JAKARTA, FEB. 7. The Indonesian President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, said he was sure a coup would not be staged by his Cabinet Minister and former military chief, Gen. Wiranto, who is refusing orders to resign, local newspapers said today.

They quoted Mr. Wahid, touring Europe, as telling a gathering of Indonesians in Italy that Gen. Wiranto had saved his and Vice- President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri's lives when they were Opposition figures under the former President, Mr. Suharto's rule.

``I trust Pak (Mr) Wiranto,'' Mr. Wahid said. He said the general, then head of the Kostrad strategic reserve, called him in 1997 to say he had received an order to `terminate' Mr. Wahid and Ms. Megawati.

``Gen. Wiranto was told that the order had come from the top,'' Mr. Wahid was quoted as saying. ``Gen. Wiranto said he checked with Mr. Suharto about the order, and Mr. Suharto said he never gave it.'' Mr. Wahid last week ordered Gen. Wiranto to resign from his Cabinet post of Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, after an official investigation into last year's violence in East Timor implicated the former military chief.

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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