In 1995, Wattilete was appointed as a minister in the
cabinet of the
Republic of South Maluku's
government-in-exile. In 1999, he twice traveled to Indonesia and met with the presidents,
B. J. Habibie and
Abdurrahman Wahid. In April 2003, Wattilete became the Republic of South Maluku's prime minister and vice president, replacing
Pieter Thenu in those offices.
Presidency On 17 April 2010, Wattilete was sworn in as president of the
Republic of South Maluku, replacing
Frans Tutuhatunewa, and becoming the nation's first Dutch-born president. In October 2010, he filed a lawsuit in
The Hague, asking the court to arrest the
president of Indonesia,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, upon his impending visit to the
Netherlands; Yudhoyono cancelled his trip in response. In 2016 when a new Indonesian president,
Joko Widodo, was scheduled to visit the Netherlands, Wattilete did not plan to file suit, saying that Widodo instead had the goodwill to solve the Maluku issue. ==References==