Six generals deny role in student killings<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Six retired Army generals denied responsibility
\non Wednesday for the mystery surrounding the student killings at
\nTrisakti University and the Semanggi cloverleaf in 1998.<\/p>\n
The retired generals -- Feisal Tanjung, a former coordinating
\nminister for political and security affairs, Wiranto, a former
\nchief of the Indonesian Military (TNI)\/defense minister, R.
\nHartono and Syarwan Hamid, two former home affairs ministers,
\nFachrul Razi, a former TNI Chief of General Affairs, and Zacky
\nAnwar Makarim, a former chief of the TNI's intelligence service
\n(BIA) -- asserted that they had never adopted any policy nor
\nissued any orders authorizing the security forces to shoot
\nstudent demonstrators at the time.<\/p>\n
Speaking before the House special committee investigating the
\nso-called Semanggi and Trisakti tragedies, Wiranto, spokesman for
\nthe six retired generals, questioned the committee's recent claim
\nthat the retired generals must be held responsible for the
\nstudent killings.<\/p>\n
\"There's no point in us coming here to testify if it has
\nalready been decided that we must be held responsible for these
\ntraumatic incidents,\" he said, adding that the special committee
\nshould issue a clarification about the matter.<\/p>\n
Panda Nababan, who chaired the meeting, admitted to making a
\nstatement recently saying that the generals should be held
\nresponsible for the incidents. But he said on Wednesday that this
\ndid not necessarily mean they were guilty.<\/p>\n
Four students of Trisakti University were killed when the
\nsecurity forces opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators on May
\n12, 1998, an incident that led to the mid-May riots and the fall
\nof Soeharto's regime on May 21, 1998.<\/p>\n
The Semanggi incident, known as Black Friday, took place on
\nNov. 13, 1998, when 12 people died in a clash between student
\ndemonstrators and the security forces. More than 150 were
\ninjured, mostly by gunshots.<\/p>\n
\"I held a meeting on Nov. 17, 1998, with all ministers and
\nmilitary officials under my coordination to discuss the
\nincident,\" Feisal said.<\/p>\n
\"We came to the conclusion that certain groups were launching
\nsubversive actions to bring about the failure of the special
\nsession (held by the People's Consultative Assembly from Nov. 6
\nto Nov. 13) and, therefore, the meeting recommended that the
\nNational Police investigate the incidents.<\/p>\n
\"Later, the police halted its investigations because it had
\nnot enough evidence to bring the cases to court,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Syarwan concurred and said that the government had no plan to
\nemploy a repressive approach in handling the student
\ndemonstrations.<\/p>\n
\"The incident occurred after the student demonstrators had
\nforced their way from the cloverleaf to the Senayan complex where
\nthe special session was being held,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Volunteer Team for Humanity criticized the
\nspecial committee for being too slow in concluding their work,
\nespecially as they had not been able to reach a conclusion in
\nrespect of the tragedies.<\/p>\n
It also criticized some of the committee members whom it said
\nwere not serious in carrying out the investigation and some
\nothers who did not know much about the incidents and lacked
\nunderstanding of the 2000 Law on Human Rights.<\/p>\n
Munir, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and
\nVictims of Violence (Kontras), dismissed the retired generals'
\ntestimony.<\/p>\n
\"It is impossible to blame anyone else other than the military
\nfor these major incidents that left dozens of civilians dead and
\nhundreds of others injured,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Outside the conference room, dozens of students staged a
\nprotest demanding an ad hoc trial for the retired generals and
\nother military officials for the human rights violations
\ncommitted during the tragedies, as well as in Aceh, East Timor
\nand Maluku.(rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/six-generals-deny-role-in-student-killings-1447893297",
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