ABRI not involved in May riots, says BIA chief

ABRI not involved in May riots, says BIA chief

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces Intelligence Agency (BIA) chief
Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim said on Wednesday that the Armed
Forces (ABRI) was not involved in the May riots which left 1,200
people dead and led to the downfall of veteran ruler Soeharto.

A member of the fact-finding team set up by the government,
Bambang W. Soeharto, quoted Zacky as saying that he nevertheless
admitted there were a number of agitators behind the deadly
unrest.

Bambang, who leads the team's subcommittee on the unrest which
hit Jakarta and other cities in the country, questioned Zacky at
the BIA headquarters in Kalibata, South Jakarta, to learn about
the activities of the intelligence agency prior to and during the
riots.

Zacky was the fourth government official questioned by the
investigation team. Last week, the team questioned former Jakarta
military commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso and former city police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami
Nata.

"The most important thing is that all four officials admitted
that there were agitators present during the riots," Bambang told
a media conference at the Ministry of Justice shortly after the
three-hour interview with Zacky at the BIA's Kalibata
headquarters. Bambang quoted Zacky as saying that some of the
agitators had been arrested by the city police.

He added that Zacky said he had done his utmost to monitor
rising tension in the country from as far back as April 9.

"The intelligence agency had "detected" signs (of trouble) and
warned all units to be on the alert back in April," Zacky was
quoted by Bambang as having said.

Zacky said that his organization predicted that "something"
would happen on May 20, the day Moslem leader Amien Rais planned
to stage a march involving one million people to demand
Soeharto's resignation. However, Amien canceled the rally for
fear of clashes between marchers and the security forces.

When pressed further by the press as to why the military were
non-existent during the riots, despite Zacky claims that all
units had been placed on the alert, Bambang said: "Zacky
revealed that the troops were tired and depressed ... they had
been almost constantly on the alert since the election (last
year) and the general session of the People's Consultative
Assembly (in March)."

Bambang said the meetings so far held were not sufficient and
added that the team plans to question other officials to
establish if the riots were masterminded or not.

Bambang also said that the four officials already questioned
could be brought before the team for follow up sessions in the
near future.

Also present during the questioning were team members Bambang
Widjojanto, Saparinah Sadli, Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, Catholic
priest Sandyawan Sumardi, Rosita S. Noer and Sriharjo. (byg)