Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has disappointed observers in Jakarta by appointing as Attorney-General a low-key prosecutor who failed to pursue senior military officers over atrocities in East Timor.

The surprise appointment of Mr Muhammad Abdurrachman, better known in Jakarta as M.A. Rachman, came after intense lobbying by the main political parties and the military. The Attorney-General will determine the outcome of corruption and human rights cases that former president Abdurrahman Wahid tried but failed to have prosecuted.

Mr Rachman served as the executive chairman of a special team formed last year to investigate human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. But the team failed to recommend the prosecution of high-ranking officers including the former armed forces chief, General Wiranto, who had been named by an independent investigating panel.

Mr Rachman, a career prosecutor in Indonesia's corrupt legal system, was deputy attorney-general during the 1998-99 presidency of Dr B.J. Habibie.

"As an insider, Rachman will have a difficult task in cleaning up the Attorney-General's office from the bad practices of the past," said Mr Asmara Nababan, a member of the state-sponsored Human Rights Commission. "If the Attorney-General cannot bring the big corruptors to trial, that will reflect negatively on Megawati's administration."

The United Nations has warned that it will consider setting up an international tribunal to hear cases if Jakarta fails to prosecute those responsible for the military-sponsored violence in East Timor.

General Wiranto, who was touted last month as a candidate for vice-president, was one of the first people to meet Ms Megawati after she took office three weeks ago, indicating she does not favour his prosecution.

A former crusading anti-corruption prosecutor, Mr Antonius Sujata, said the Attorney-General needed to be an experienced, independent outsider. Asked about Mr Rachman's capability, Mr Sujata said: "Nothing special."But officials in the Attorney- General's office and some human rights activists said they hoped Mr Rachman's knowledge of the main human rights and corruption cases would lead to breakthroughs in having them prosecuted.

One human rights campaigner and lawyer, Mr Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, said Mr Rachman was among the best career prosecutors, and called him "modest and relatively honest".

Ms Megawati won wide praise last week when she named several respected technocrats to key economic jobs in her 31-member Cabinet. The currency rose to an 11-month high and financial markets were buoyed as a result.

Analysts said the choice of attorney-general was a barometer of the Government's sincerity in upholding the law, including the eradication of corruption and seeking justice in human rights abuses.