President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia abruptly postponed a state visit to the Netherlands on Tuesday after three Dutch citizens supporting Indonesian separatists filed a claim accusing him of human right abuses and demanding that he be arrested on Dutch soil.

Because the visiting president would have been protecting by diplomatic immunity during his visit, the claim was widely seen in the Netherlands as a publicity stunt by the supporters of the indigenous Indonesian separatists known as Moluccans

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen of the Netherlands said his government had assured Indonesia that the president’s immunity could not be challenged by a mere claim filed in a district court. “As head of state he would be legally untouchable,” Mr. Verhagen said.

A flurry of diplomatic activity leading up the president’s scheduled departure  the visit was to have begun on Wednesday  failed to save the situation. Indonesia demanded that the Dutch government void the claim filed by the citizens group, while Dutch officials explained that this was up to an independent court, not the government. At the same time, the Dutch government, through its lawyers, pressed the local court in The Hague to speed up its ruling, but the court said it could reach a decision no earlier than Wednesday morning.