THE HAGUE, Oct 5, 2010 (AFP) - Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono postponed Tuesday a visit planned this week to The Netherlands, citing a human rights trial in the host country that could rule to arrest him.
Yudhoyono cancelled the visit more than an hour after he was supposed to leave on the three-day diplomatic trip to the former colonial power.
"My visit there would coincide with trials related to the RMS (South Maluku Republic) in The Netherlands, in which at the time there would be a ruling whether to arrest the president of Indonesia," Yudhoyono said.
Jakarta crushed the RMS shortly after it declared independence in 1950 but the movement was revived following the fall of authoritarian president Suharto in 1998.
"If the trial takes place during my visit, then this is tied to the dignity and honour of the country, therefore I have decided to postpone this trip," the president said.
If he went ahead with the visit, it might create "misunderstanding" and a "bad psychological reaction," he added.
The Dutch foreign ministry said it had been informed that Yudhoyono's visit had been postponed, and hoped "for a speedy ruling by the court so that the visit can be allowed to go ahead."
"Presidents and heads of state enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution in The Netherlands, the president of Indonesia as well," said the spokeswoman for the justice ministry.
The court in The Hague was due to examine the complaint filed by the RMS government against the Indonesian president for human rights violations on Tuesday from 3:00 pm (1300 GMT).
"We are attacking the president because we want him to release 19 Moluccan prisoners," John Wattilete, RMS president in exile, told AFP.
"We have been told by the organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that one of them has died recently," he added.
According to Amnesty, 52-year-old Yusuf Sapakoly "died from kidney failure in a hospital in Ambon (one of the three main island of the South Moluccas) after prison authorities had refused him the relevant medical treatment."
He died on September 13, Amnesty's website said.
The Indonesian president was due to arrive in The Netherlands overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. Queen Beatrix was scheduled to welcome him in the royal palace, followed by a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
Indonesia has fought numerous separatist insurgencies throughout the sprawling archipelago and remains sensitive to breakaway movements.
