ABRI needs time: Habibie
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie is asking for the public's patience to allow the Armed Forces (ABRI) to conduct "internal consolidation" and thorough investigations into the recent highly publicized occurrences of the Trisakti shootings, disappearances of political activists and widespread riots.
Members of the National Commission on Human Rights, speaking after a more than two-hour-long meeting with Habibie yesterday, said the President acknowledged that the credibility of his government depended heavily on the resolution of the cases.
He requested the public's patience in the meantime, saying that he had ordered Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto and other top brass to uncover the truth.
"'Give ABRI an opportunity to conclude its internal consolidation'. That was the President's statement," commission deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman told media after the meeting, attended by 13 members of his organization.
Marzuki did not elaborate on what the President meant by "internal consolidation".
But he added that, "we are now beginning to understand that the resolution of the (mystery of the) missing people, the Trisakti incident and the riots are strongly related to ABRI's internal consolidation".
When journalists pressed him to elaborate on the meaning of the term, Marzuki replied: "It has a broad meaning. I hope that we can just understand".
He said the commission warned Habibie that his government would be dogged by a lack of credibility if it failed to put to rest questions about the incidents.
Public attention has been riveted to the series of shocking incidents, which began with the mysterious disappearances of several activists and opposition figures.
The commission concluded they were kidnapped by a well- organized group.
Several months of vocal but peaceful student demonstrations were shattered when four Trisakti University students were shot to death outside their West Jakarta campus on May 12.
Habibie met with parents of the slain students Monday and called their sons "reform heroes".
Eighteen police officers, allegedly responsible for firing on the students, are currently facing a military tribunal. However, none is charged for direct involvement in the students' death, but instead for committing an undisciplined act.
The nation suffered another trauma during an orgy of looting and violence which followed the Trisakti shooting.
The Armed Forces put the death toll from the four days of mayhem at 499 in Greater Jakarta alone.
But the commission announced its findings recently that at least 1,118 people died, most of them alleged looters who perished in burning shopping centers.
In a meeting with 151 senior Armed Forces officers on June 11, the President ordered them to investigate allegations that an organized group had incited people to burn and loot buildings throughout the country last month.
"The public's impression is that the slow handling of these cases is related to ABRI's internal consolidations," Marzuki noted.
During their meeting yesterday, Habibie also briefed commission members on the progress of his effort to democratize the country, which includes the ratification of the United Nations' conventions on antidiscrimination and antitorture.
Commission members praised Habibie's efforts to protect press freedom and assure better protection for laborers by allowing them to set up their own organizations.
"We noted this as impressive progress," Marzuki said. (prb)