Dewi accuses Soeharto of plotting coup attempt<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A widow of Indonesia's founding president
\nSukarno, Ratna Sari Dewi, alleged again on Wednesday that former
\npresident Soeharto had plotted his own coup in order to wrest
\npower from Sukarno in the mid-1960s.<\/p>\n
\"Soeharto betrayed Sukarno. He justified, on the pretext of
\nred-hunting, killing more than one million people in four years,\"
\nDewi, who was Japanese-born Naoko Nemoto, charged at a packed
\nmedia conference at her house in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Dewi alleged that Soeharto -- then head of the Army's
\nStrategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) -- had done nothing to stop
\nthe assassination of six top generals on the night of Sept. 30,
\n1965, as part of a plot to topple Sukarno.<\/p>\n
Soeharto knew of the planned assassinations but failed to take
\naction, said Dewi, who became Sukarno's fifth wife in 1962.<\/p>\n
\"After only one day, Soeharto claimed that the PKI (the then-
\nlegal Indonesian Communist Party) was behind the incident when
\nthere was still no real evidence or witnesses,\" Dewi said.<\/p>\n
The bodies of the six men were later found in a disused well
\nin Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta. Soeharto, who led the military's
\ncounter-coup campaign and later rose to the presidency, accused
\nthe then-powerful PKI of being behind the uprising.<\/p>\n
\"The real coup took place on March 11 (1966). Unidentified
\nsoldiers were present at the state palace, so Sukarno was told by
\nhis guards, who feared for the president's life, to escape by
\nhelicopter to the Bogor presidential palace,\" Dewi claimed.<\/p>\n
\"When he got to Bogor, three generals were already waiting for
\nhim,\" Dewi added. The official version of this event states that
\nthree generals went to see Sukarno in the Bogor palace that day
\nand were given authorization to hand over power to Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Dewi also showed copies of two documents on Wednesday. One
\ndated Jan. 22, 1965, appeared to be a telegram sent from
\nJakarta's American Embassy to the U.S. Department of State. The
\ndocument has some parts erased with one sentence saying: \"(blank)
\ntold me today in strict confidence Army is developing specific
\nplans for takeover of government moment Sukarno steps off stage\".
\n(byg)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dewi-accuses-soeharto-of-plotting-coup-attempt-1447893297",
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