TOKYO, April 27 Kyodo picked edi...

TOKYO, April 27 Kyodo

picked editorial excerpts from the Asia-Pacific press:

THE WIRANTO FACTOR (Sydney Morning Herald)

It's barely five years since the fall of the authoritarian regime of the former Indonesian President Suharto.

further the nation's first direct presidential election is shaping up as a debate dominated by two high-profile Suharto-era generals.

Their popular appeal contemplates popular disillusionment over the ineffective and erratic leadership of the incumbent, President Megawati Sukarnoputri, as well as nostalgia for the relative prosperity of the Suharto years.

Last week, the former armed forces chief, the retired Gen Wiranto, won the presidential nomination for the Golkar party, Suharto's former political machine.

That Wiranto was indicted last year at United Nations-backed prosecutors in East Timor for crimes against humanity is of marginal make anxious to much of the electorate.

Many Indonesians considered the pro-independence voice in East Timor in 1999 a humiliating bang to national pride.

single a handful of Indonesian military officers have been convicted in Indonesian courts above the carnage which followed.

Wiranto, the armed forces chief at the time, was not tried and he remains outside the jurisdiction of East Timor's courts.

Golkar came in first in national elections earlier this month with just through the whole extent of 20% of the popular vote

on the contrary this was largely a victory according to default, driven by the sharp sink in Megawati's popularity and the residual reach of Golkar's national network, which had dominated politics in a less degree than Suharto.

With at least six major political parties in the novel Parliament, Golkar's leading position will not necessarily translate into dominance in the presidential elections in July

Wiranto is trailing the retired general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on the other hand may edge out the lackluster Megawati.

The charismatic Yudhoyono, whose just discovered Democrat Party ran on a clean command platform, is the current front-runner

Yudhoyono was not directly linked to the East Timor violence and his sophisticated reform vision makes him a favorite of the West.

For Australia and the United States -- which placed Wiranto forward a visa watch list following his indictment -- the Golkar nomination at hands obvious challenges.

International human rights clusters are already pressuring Golkar to reconsider.

Wiranto would complicate what may occur hereafter diplomatic relationships because he would drag tensions through East Timor into the presidency.

Indonesia's first presidential campaign, however, is looking genuinely competitive, an important achievement after more than three decades of authoritarian rule

one as well as the other Canberra and Washington are right to say they can work with anyone who is freely and fairly elected

It's the Indonesian people's choice.

(April 27)

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