May riot precondition for Soeharto's fall: Prabowo<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto testified before
\na House of Representatives (DPR) special committee on Wednesday
\nthat the mid-May 1998 unrest was a prelude to the downfall of
\nthen president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
\"I already had a feeling on the evening of May 12, 1998 that
\nthe shootings were a sign of the end of the line for the Soeharto
\nregime,\" Prabowo, who is also the son-in-law of the former
\npresident, said while referring to the May 12, 1998 shooting
\nincident at the Trisakti University campus in Grogol, West
\nJakarta, which killed four of the university's students.<\/p>\n
He said that as a military officer, he was aware that a loss
\nof life during such a demonstration would represent a major
\ndefeat for the government.<\/p>\n
\"The dead victims, who became martyrs, played a role in
\nreducing the legitimacy of the government.<\/p>\n
\"It was like a 'knockout blow' that the government could not
\nresist,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"And it was difficult for the security forces to maintain
\nstability and order after the people became enraged over the
\nincident,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He cited the death of Arief Rahman Hakim, a University of
\nIndonesia (UI) student during the mass unrest following the
\nstudent protests in the capital demanding the resignation of
\npresident Sukarno in 1966. The founding president was unseated by
\na special session of the Provisional People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPRS) the following year.<\/p>\n
\"And Adnan Buyung Nasution was the initially-targeted martyr
\nfor the mid-May 1998 unrest,\" Prabowo, the commander of the
\nArmy's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) when the incident
\noccurred, said, referring to the noted human rights lawyer.<\/p>\n
When asked about who was responsible for the incident, Prabowo
\nsaid he could not apportion blame.<\/p>\n
\"I sent my (Kostrad) troops to help the Jakarta Military
\nCommand in restoring order in the capital. But, I had no direct
\ncontrol over them as they were attached to the military command.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not in a position to state that A or B was responsible
\nfor the incident,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The House special committee is probing the use of violence by
\nthe security forces in dealing with student demonstrations in May
\nand November 1998, events now known as the Trisakti and Semanggi
\ntragedies.<\/p>\n
The military tribunal established to investigate the Trisakti
\nincident sentenced on Aug. 12, 1998 First Lt. Agus Tri Heryanto,
\n29, and Second Lt. Pariyo, both from the police's Mobile Brigade,
\nto 10 months and four months in jail respectively for ordering
\ntheir men to shoot into a crowd of demonstrating Trisakti
\nUniversity students, killing Heri Hartanto, Elang Mulya Lesmana,
\nHafidin Royan and Hendrawan Sie.<\/p>\n
Another eight police officers were named suspects in the case,
\nbut their fate remains unclear up to the present time.<\/p>\n
Prabowo further said that the May 1998 unrest could not be
\nseparated from an internationally-orchestrated campaign for the
\ndisintegration of nations.<\/p>\n
\"John Naisbitt has mentioned in his book -- Megatrend -- that
\nIndonesia is the next target of 'Balkanization',\" he said, while
\nreferring to the appearance of new, smaller states out of the
\nformer Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n
When asked about what the special committee could do to
\nuncover the truth behind the Trisakti incident, Prabowo said the
\ncommittee could request a video recording of the incident from a
\nforeign television station.<\/p>\n
\"If we look closely at the video, we will be able to clearly
\nsee the movements of the troops and this can tell us the type of
\nbullets they were using to shoot at the students.<\/p>\n
\"The movements of people firing rubber bullets, blanks and
\nlive bullets are different. As a professional soldier, I can see
\nthe differences,\" he said.<\/p>\n
However, he admitted that the military had run out of rubber
\nbullets when the 1998 incident occurred.<\/p>\n
\"We ran out of rubber bullets...I admit that,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He also suggested that an international investigation team,
\nwith expertise in ballistics, be established to analyze the
\nbullets found in the victims' bodies.<\/p>\n
When asked further whether his Kostrad troops used M-16 A2
\nrifles at the time of the incident, Prabowo said: \"Kostrad does
\nnot use such rifles. It uses SS-1 and M-16 A1 rifles.\"<\/p>\n
The hearing was marked by a protest involving some 30 students
\nwho demanded that Prabowo be prosecuted over his alleged
\ninvolvement in the incident.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Prabowo had denied the allegations, saying that they
\nwere slanderous. (02\/imn)<\/p>",
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