“Dear James,” begins a letter Clinton wrote to the younger Riady in July 1993, “Thank you for sending me the great Indonesian goddess.” Just a routine note, the White House says. But at the bottom Clinton scribbled: “I enjoyed my visit with President Suharto.” In 1992 Clinton had called the Indonesian leader’s suppression of human rights “unconscionable.” However, aides now acknowledge that at an Oval Office meeting in April 1993, James Riady asked Clinton to meet Suharto in Tokyo. Clinton did–though the White House insists Riady had no “disproportionate” influence on his decision. Still, the Riadys seem to have felt comfortable lobbying the president on just about anything. One four-page letter from Mochtar Riady in March 93 suggests normalizing relations with Vietnam–and thanks Clinton for “the very private personal time you and Hillary gave to my family . . . on Inauguration Day.”
Just before the election, The Washington Post asked the administration if any such correspondence existed. Though White House aides had already turned up the letters, the press office never responded–leaving the Clintonites with something else to explain.
