PROMINENT European anti-apartheid activists are angry over President Nelson Mandela’s failure to condemn human rights abuses in Indonesia.
Recent revelations of a little-publicised visit Mandela made to Jakarta in 1991 have split the loyalties of members of the anti-apartheid movement, many of whom have spent years condemning the Indonesian government.
Mandela’s three-day visit to Jakarta was at the invitation of President Suharto. He was a guest of honour in a country described by Amnesty International as “one of the worst human rights abusers in the region”.
Mandela refused all requests to speak out on behalf of Indonesia’s estimated 500 political prisoners and the people of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, which has been occupied by Indonesia since 1976.