The Asia Director of Human Rights Watch has serious doubts about therecently appointed attorney-general, MA Rachman, considering his trackrecord. She believes that he obstructed completion of the cases about humanrights abuses.

"The recently appointed attorney-general is the most disappointing appointment in President Mwgawati's cabinet," said Sidney Jones in Jakarta on Sunday. She referred to the time when he chaired the investigation team regarding the East Timor and Tanjung Priok cases, when the team took such a long time to complete its work.

"As chair of the team, he obstructed the work of the other members and gave no consideration for ideas and alternatives suggested by the other members of the team," she said.

As an example, she mentioned its investigation regarding the perpetration of human rights in East Timor when some of the perpetrators, including people from the TNI, were excluded from the list (of suspects). As deputy attorney-general, he even sought the acquittal of Eurico Guterres at his trial. "It was really up to him to be responsible for upholding human rights in Indonesia," she said.