Indonesia Plays Down Australia's Arrest Warrant for Ex-General.

The Indonesian government will not respond to an arrest warrant issued by the Australian Court for a former general -- who allegedly ordered the killing of five foreign journalists in 1975 -- a spokesman said Friday. "For the Indonesian government, the case has been closed. We don't have anything more to say," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Legowo told a press conference here.

The warrant was issued Thursday for Lt. Gen. (ret.) Yunus Yosfiah, (pic) who led an operation by Indonesian troops in East Timor to crush a militia group on Oct. 16, 1975, during which the five Australia-based journalists were killed. Indonesia has maintained that the journalists were killed accidentally in a cross fire.

The warrant was issued after Yunus failed to appear at the inquiry into the death of British-born Brian Peters, one of the slain five journalists. Kristiarto said the Australian court has no jurisdiction in the Indonesian territory, making it impossible for the arrest warrant to be effective.

Earlier Thursday, Yunus expressed anger upon hearing the arrest warrant. "Under no circumstance can they summon me," Yunus, a soldier turns politician, was quoted by leading news website Detikcom as saying. Yunus said he had clarified the case to then Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab and the Indonesian House of Representatives and would by no means repeat the same clarification to other parties.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony later in 1975 but the tiny half-island region seceded from the Jakarta rule in 1999 under the UN-sponsored referendum and now becomes Timor Leste. (Xinhua)
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