Friday July 3, 2009

Indonesia's Megawati defends VP pick on rights issue

By Ed Davies and Sunanda Creagh

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri defended on Friday her choice of a running mate accused of human rights abuses, saying he had taken responsibility and there was a need to move on.

Former president and presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri waves to her supporters during a rally through the streets of Jakarta June 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Beawiharta/Files)

Indonesians go to the polls on July 8, with incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono well ahead of Megawati and a third candidate, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in most opinion polls.

Megawati, 62, is running with Prabowo Subianto, who was fired from the army in 1998 after troops under his command kidnapped and tortured pro-democracy activists during President Suharto's rule. He is barred from entering the United States.

"Don't forget that Prabowo has been stigmatised as a human rights abuser, but he has taken full responsibility for that and has moved on," she told a lunch with foreign correspondents.

The pairing of former president Megawati and Prabowo would once have seemed unthinkable.

As chair of the PDI-P party, Megawati was Indonesia's leading opposition figure in the dying days of the Suharto era.

Prabowo, a former head of the special forces, was once married to one of Suharto's daughters and was an integral part of the so-called "New Order" establishment under Suharto.

In a recent televised presidential debate, Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's charismatic first president Sukarno, said she was the victim of human rights abuses in the past, but had "never retaliated".

Several members of her party, PDI-P, were among the activists kidnapped and tortured by the troops under Prabowo's command but at least three have since joined his political party.

Asked about the kidnappings, Prabowo had told foreign correspondents in February "my conscience is clear. I took full responsibility. I came before a military tribunal."

The Megawati-Prabowo pairing took weeks of wrangling because both wanted to be president, with Megawati finally winning out. Both needed the support of each other's party to run.

Their platform is secular and nationalist, while they have been seeking to win support of farmers and fishermen by pledging to push pro-poor policies.

Megawati, who has previously said she would take a tougher line on foreign investors, said that investors from overseas were welcome as long as it was on fair terms.

"Please, come to Indonesia to see what can be done here. But of course we know that in the past there were many weaknesses," added Megawati, who has previously questioned the impact on Indonesia of a huge copper mine run by a unit of U.S. firm Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold in Papua.

The mine has previously been a source of controversy over its environmental impact and the share of revenue going to Papuans.

"If we want to continue contracts, we need a shift and to create contracts that are have a strong voice on the issue of the environment," she added.

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