Supersemar statement 'meant for study'<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The defendant in a case over the March 1966
\npresidential order, known as Supersemar, said in his trial on
\nTuesday in Yogyakarta his public statements on the process of the
\nissuance of the instruction was not meant to be a testimonial,
\nbut was supposed to be material for a scientific study and
\ndiscussion in a forum formed by the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Sukardjo Wilardjito, former member of special security guards
\nfor the late president Sukarno, told the Yogyakarta District
\nCourt, that in his particular case, what he had revealed was not
\na crime but merely a difference in opinion between him and the
\ngenerals who were witnessing the signing of the Supersemar.<\/p>\n
The Supersemar led then Army chief Lt. Gen. Soeharto to power,
\nending Sukarno's 21 years of rule.<\/p>\n
Sukarno was reportedly forced to sign the Supersemar as he was
\nunable to handle the country's uproar following a coup attempted
\nby the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).<\/p>\n
In August 1998, Sukardjo made public statements that president
\nSukarno was threatened at gunpoint by Maj. Gen. Basuki Rahmat and
\nMaj. Gen. Maraden Panggabean when signing the Supersemar, while
\nanother officer, Brig. Gen. M. Yusuf, presented the draft of the
\nSupersemar for Sukarno to sign.<\/p>\n
Sukardjo is accused of inciting public unrest and is charged
\nwith violating Articles 14 and 15 of Law No 1\/1946 which holds a
\nmaximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Accompanied by a team of lawyers from the Yogyakarta Legal Aid
\nInstitute (LBH), Sukardjo, who became crippled in his right leg
\nwhile he was in prison during the New Order era, said that only a
\nmilitary tribunal could try him, claiming that he had never been
\nofficially discharged nor had he ever retired from the military.
\nHis last rank before he was sent to prison in 1966 was second
\nlieutenant in the Army.<\/p>\n
\"Yet the person(s) who have lost and falsified it (the
\nSupersemar) were not brought to court. Why then do I have to
\nattend this trial?\" Sukardjo said, referring to the fact that the
\noriginal copy of the Supersemar is missing.<\/p>\n
Sukardjo's lawyers then asked the panel of judges, presided
\nover by Izaac Jurgen, to take the case as a social and historical
\nfact, not as a crime.<\/p>\n
The lawyers also insisted that the Yogyakarta District Court
\ndoes not have the right to try their client because the defendant
\nmade the so-called controversial statements at his home in
\nGancahan V Village, Sidomulyo, Godean, Sleman.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, only the Sleman District Court has the right to
\nhold the trial,\" said Budi Hartono, one of the defendant's
\nlawyers.<\/p>\n
Sukardjo had earlier said that all members of the presidential
\nsecurity guard, including himself, were arrested and accused of
\nbeing members of the PKI by Soeharto's New Order administration
\nin 1966.<\/p>\n
The trial was adjourned until next Tuesday to hear the
\nprosecutor's response to the defendant's objections. (swa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/supersemar-statement-meant-for-study-1447893297",
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