BBC News Online: World: Asia-Pacific

Indonesian president 'to learn' from Chile

The Indonesian president, Abdurrahman Wahid, has said he hopes his current visit to Chile will provide advice on how to ease the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy.

Mr Wahid said as he arrived in Santiago for a meeting with President Ricardo Lagos that he had come there to learn; he hoped in particular to study Chile's handling of human rights concerns.

Correspondents say Indonesia and Chile share similar political profiles: both have elderly former authoritarian rulers accused of serious wrongdoing, who have escaped trial claiming ill health.

The former Chilean military leader, Augusto Pinochet, is accused of murder and torture, while former President Suharto of Indonesia is accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service