‘Ready To Arrest Sukarno’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31277, 25 January 1967, Page 13

‘Ready To Arrest Sukarno’

(N.Z.P.A.-Reut er— Copyright)

DJAKARTA, January 24.

The campaign to oust President Sukarno from office reached a peak today when Major-General Amir Machmud announced that he was ready to arrest the President if the order was given.

General Machmud joined a growing band of high ranking figures, including the Foreign Minister, Mr Adam Malik, and the army strong man General Suharto, to put pressure on Dr. Sukarno.

At the same time students again plastered cars in the capital with anti-Sukarno stickers while armoured cars guarded the President’s palace.

In a dramatic broadcast over the State-controlled Radio Djakarta, General Machmud said he was ready to arrest the President if given the order. But he did not elaborate. The Attorney-General, MajorGeneral Sugih Arto, said last

night he would soon give General Suharto all details relating to the President’s possible complicity in the Communist coup attempt of 1965. General Suharto, who is responsible for restoring national peace and security, would pass the relevant information on to Congress, General Sugih Arto said. Congress would then decide whether the President should be dismissed and then investigated or vice versa. The Attorney-General’s remarks appear to give official

backing to the demands being made by the students for the President’s removal from office and trial by a military court.