(12 Feb 2000) English/Nat
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has told reporters that he expects his Security Minister, General Wiranto, to resign on Monday.
Wiranto is under pressure to step down because of Indonesian and United Nations (U-N) probes into the East Timor violence that found Wiranto responsible in his then-role as armed forces commander.
Wahid was speaking in Bangkok, in Thailand, where he is attending the U-N Trade and Development conference.
Indonesia's president Abdurrahman Wahid has been calling for his security minister to resign for over a week.
But Wiranto has continued to attend Cabinet meetings and has refused to quit.
He says it would amount to admitting guilt and leave him open to prosecution by a war-crimes tribunal.
But the Indonesian president says that he will sit down with the former armed forces chief when he gets back to Jakarta, and convince him to step aside.
He indicated that his vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri will also attend the meeting to support his position.
She has met with Wiranto and spoke to Wahid on Saturday morning.
There has been heavily reported anxiety that Wiranto might engineer a coup d'etat in order to keep from losing his government position and go to trial.
However, both Wiranto and Wahid have denied this possibility.
The president is counting on diplomacy to end the impasse.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"As soon as we talk, I will say to him the things that are very dear for me in his character, then I think he will resign. I am glad that vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri will join us also in the talks. So, you may expect that the day after tomorrow there will be an announcement of his resignation."
SUPER CAPTION: Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian President
The president continued by praising the general's character, but that his resignation would benefit the nation.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It's better for him to resign now. Why? Because his resignation will be seen in the other countries as a sign that we are serious, that they can invest in Indonesia, that Indonesia's territorial integrity can be preserved. So, I think, because of his sense of patriotism, because of his loyalty to the interests of the country, that he will resign."
SUPER CAPTION: Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian President
Wahid is in Bangkok to deliver a speech to the U-N Trade and Development conference.
He has met with U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan, along with eight other Southeast Asian heads of state.
Annan has talked down calls for an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor - he wants Indonesia to carry out justice itself.
Wahid will leave the conference for Jakarta on Saturday night, a day earlier than scheduled.
Wiranto was Indonesia's military commander in 1998 and played a key role in the removal of longtime dictator Suharto.
He became a power-broker in the country at a time of political and economic turmoil.
But last year, Wiranto allowed his troops to arm and train anti-independence militias in East Timor, just as the territory headed for a U-N organised referendum on independence.
The militias, aided by Indonesian troops, sowed terror before the vote.
After East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to end a quarter-century of Indonesian rule, the militias went on a rampage of burning, killing and forced displacement.
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