If I'm no longer trusted, no problem: Soeharto<\/p>\n
CAIRO (JP): President Soeharto says it would not be a
\n\"problem\" if people no longer trusted him to lead the country,
\nand that he would not use armed forces to hold on to his
\nposition.<\/p>\n
Speaking in a gathering of some 300 members of the Indonesian
\ncommunity here yesterday, Soeharto said \"if I am no longer
\ntrusted, that's okay...I will not use the force of arms, right?\"<\/p>\n
\"If I am no longer trusted (to lead the country), I will
\nbecome pandito (a sage) and endeavor to get closer to God. I will
\n(spend) my time to guide my children so they become good people,
\n(guide) the community, and give advice. I will do tut wuri
\nhandayani (guide from behind),\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"So, there's no problem at all if I'm no longer trusted,\" he
\nsaid at the one-hour gathering held at the end of his visit to
\nthe Egyptian capital to attend the G-15 summit. He is reportedly
\nflying home tomorrow.<\/p>\n
He was accompanied yesterday by Minister of Foreign Affairs
\nAli Alatas and Minister\/State Secretary Saadilah Mursjid.<\/p>\n
The President also accused the foreign media of slander in
\ntheir report that he was the world's fourth wealthiest person
\nafter Queen Elizabeth, King Fahd and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of
\nBrunei.<\/p>\n
\"That's slander,\" he said. \"There are accusations (against me)
\nthat the national development has been monopolized by the family
\nof Soeharto... of the Cendana family. They (the accusations) are
\ncompletely untrue.\"<\/p>\n
Earlier yesterday, Soeharto sent a personal message of
\ncondolence from Cairo yesterday over the death of four Trisakti
\nUniversity students during a protest in Jakarta Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"On behalf of the government and in my personal capacity, I
\nexpress my deepest condolences over the incident that left a
\nnumber of students dead and injured,\" Soeharto said in a message
\nrelayed by the office of Vice President B.J. Habibie.<\/p>\n
\"I'd like to express my sincere sympathy to the relatives of
\nthe students and to the academic community,\" said Soeharto, who
\nhas been in Cairo since Sunday.<\/p>\n
He appealed to the nation, especially the country's youth, to
\nexercise restraint and preserve stability, which he said was
\ncrucial to the road to reform needed to lift Indonesia out of its
\ncrisis.<\/p>\n
Similar messages of condolences were also sent yesterday by
\nMinister of Defense and Security\/Armed Forces Commander Gen.
\nWiranto, Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata and chief of
\nthe Jakarta Military Command Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.<\/p>\n
Wiranto and Sjafrie vowed that the Armed Forces (ABRI) would
\nconduct an investigation into why the shooting took place, while
\nHamami, who apologized for the shooting, also maintained that his
\nmen never used live ammunition when dealing with rioters or
\nprotesters.<\/p>\n
\"We use blanks and rubber bullets. That's all. We conducted a
\nspecial briefing on that in Cilangkap (ABRI Headquarters) Monday
\nnight,\" Hamami said.<\/p>\n
However, he admitted that \"rubber bullets could be fatal if
\nused at a specific range, for instance 25 to 50 meters.\"<\/p>\n
Asked whether the students were shot at close range, he said:
\n\"Probably\".<\/p>\n
Procedures dictate that police must first fire warning shots
\nwith blanks, but witnesses said there were none preceding
\nTuesday's shootings. The students also insisted there were no
\nclashes to provoke the soldiers to fire at the students,
\nregardless of whether they used rubber bullets or live
\nammunition.<\/p>\n
Hamami also said officials were waiting for a postmortem
\nreport.<\/p>\n
Abdul Mun'im Idris, a forensic expert at the University of
\nIndonesia, has examined the bodies of the students who were shot
\nrespectively in the neck, head, and lower abdomen.<\/p>\n
Sjafrie confirmed ABRI had set up a special team to
\ninvestigate the shooting to be chaired by chief of the Jakarta
\nmilitary police Col. Hendardji.<\/p>\n
No details have yet been provided as to how the team would go
\nabout the investigation or when it would start.<\/p>\n
Wiranto said earlier in the day that the National Commission
\non Human Rights was welcome to join the investigation. Commission
\nmember Asmara Nababan said he appreciated the offer but suggested
\nthat his organization hold its own investigation and that all
\ninstitutions involved in the investigation could share
\ninformation.<\/p>\n
Wiranto also guaranteed an honest probe into the incident,
\nsaying that soldiers found to have violated laws and procedures
\nwould face legal action.<\/p>\n
\"However, we'd like to implement the same treatment if (we
\nfound) the students were also (in the) wrong,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters after installing Lt. Gen. Agum Gumelar
\nas the new governor of the military think tank, the National
\nResilience Institute, Wiranto said the bloodshed would not have
\ntaken place had the students remained on their campus when
\nstaging their protest.<\/p>\n
He said there could be even more casualties if the students
\ninsist on holding future demonstrations outside of their
\ncampuses.<\/p>\n
\"There will be more victims, more who die needlessly,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The ABRI chief said he would order his troops to leave the
\ncampuses alone if he received an assurance from either the
\nstudents or campus authorities that the students would not take
\ntheir protests to the streets. (team)<\/p>",
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