----------------------------------------------------------
Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage:
http://www.indo-news.com/
and click banner our sponsor
----------------------------------------------------------

   Indonesia's Suharto visits wife's grave in Solo

   SOLO, Indonesia, Jan 22 (AFP) - Indonesia's fallen president Suharto, his
family and former aides on Friday visited the grave of the former
president's
wife at a family mausoleum in this Central Java town, witnesses said.
   Protestors who had dogged the veteran leader's visit to Solo were absent
from the area, the witesses said.
   Accompanying the Suhartos were ex-armed forces commander Benny Murdani,
former army chiefs of staff Hartono and Wismoyo Arismunandar, noted Moslem
scholar Quraish Shihab, and business tycoons Probosutejo and Sudwikatmono.
   Shihab, who was religion minister before Suharto resigned in May, led an
almost six-hour long religious ritual commemorating the 1,000th day since
the
death of Siti Hartinah Suharto, better known as "Madam Tien," an AFP
photographer said
   Only photojournalists were allowed to enter the mausoleum after a
stand-off
between journalists and plainclothes security guards.
   The veteran leader's visit to his wife's hometown to celebrate the Eid
al-Fitr Moslem holiday has been greeted by scattered protests.
   Some 100 residents and students demonstrated near the Kalitan palace, the
mansion of Madam Tien's family, late Monday shortly after Suharto and his
family arrived.
   The protestors were demanding that Suharto apologise for his past
mistakes
and that he be brought to trial, the state Antara news agency said.
   On Thursday, more than 100 farmers who were evicted from their land by
the
government in the early 1990s to make way for a dam project in Boyolali
district, staged a sit-in protest in front of the family mansion.
   The protestors said they only wanted to tell Suharto that his dam project
had caused them great suffering, but were refused admittance.
   However, on Tuesday when Suharto and his family were performing the Eid
prayers, protestors were absent.
   Tien died of a heart attack in April 1997.
   Since resigning as president on May 21 last year, Suharto has spent most
of
his time at his residence in Jakarta.
   Despite widespread calls for his house arrest while he is being
investigated for alleged corruption, collusion and nepotism during his
32-year
rule, the government of his succesor and protege B.J. Habibie has made no
move
to restrict his movements.
   str-tn/kw/jd

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Didistribusikan tgl. 23 Jan 1999 jam 03:27:14 GMT+1
oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.Indo-News.com/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Kirim email ke