Yogie questioned over July 27 incident<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former home affairs minister Moch. Yogie S.M.
\nwas grilled for about seven hours on Friday by a joint military-
\npolice team over the violent takeover of the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party (PDI) headquarters on July 27, 1996.<\/p>\n
Yogie, who is widely believed to be the one who engineered the
\nPDI's party congress in June that year to oust the elected
\nchairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri, refused to talk much about
\nthe questioning.<\/p>\n
\"I was only questioned as a witness since I attended the
\ncongress and the coordinative ministerial meeting on politics and
\nsecurity affairs,\" Yogie told reporters before rushing to his
\ncar.<\/p>\n
Yogie was referring to a ministerial meeting which was held
\ntwo days before the bloody attack which concluded that the
\nongoing free speech forum at the PDI headquarters should be
\nstopped since it had caused public disorder.<\/p>\n
Yogie's lawyer Maj. Nurazizah said the meeting concluded that
\nparticipants at the forum should be persuaded to stop their
\nactions.<\/p>\n
Nurazizah also said Yogie attended the congress as he had been
\nordered by former president Soeharto to be there.<\/p>\n
\"Former president Soeharto ordered Yogie to open and close the
\ncongress,\" Nurazizah told reporters.<\/p>\n
Following the congress, a mob, allegedly backed by elements in
\nthe police and military, violently attacked the headquarters on
\nJl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta which at that time was occupied
\nby supporters of Megawati, now Vice President and chairperson of
\nPDI's splinter party, PDI Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party
\nof Struggle).<\/p>\n
Prior to the attack, Megawati's supporters had been holding
\nfree-speech forums, at the headquarters, condemning the regime of
\nSoeharto, the ruling power at that time.<\/p>\n
The violence, which involved supporters of a PDI breakaway
\nfaction led by Soerjadi, left five dead -- according to official
\nrecords -- with 23 others reportedly still missing.<\/p>\n
The attack triggered mass unrest in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, police officially named 11 military and seven
\npolice officers as suspects in the case.<\/p>\n
They include former chief of the then Indonesian Armed Forces
\n(ABRI) sociopolitical affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) Syarwan Hamid;
\nformer chief of Jakarta Military Command Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso,
\nwho is currently Jakarta's governor; former chief of the Armed
\nForces Intelligence (BIA) Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim; and
\nformer city police chief Insp. Gen. Hamami Nata.<\/p>\n
Separately on Friday, Sutiyoso refused to comment on his
\nstatus as a suspect in the case saying he had yet to receive a
\nformal notice on the matter.<\/p>\n
\"I only found out about it from the newspapers but the
\ninvestigation team has yet to inform me officially,\" Sutiyoso
\ntold reporters at a police function in the Monas area in Central
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
The governor refused to comment on calls for him to be
\ntemporarily relieved of his official duties as he would have to
\nprepare for the case. (jaw\/dja)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/yogie-questioned-over-july-27-incident-1447893297",
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