AG's office receives Sutiyoso's dossier after two-day delay

Abdul Khalik and Suherdjoko, Jakarta/Semarang

The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office received on Tuesday the last two dossiers of the July 27 case from National Police headquarters, including that of Governor Sutiyoso.

The case revolves around the violent takeover of the headquarters of the then Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) on July 27 1996, then led by the incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri. The case was recently reopened, raising suspicions of underlying political motives in connection with the ongoing presidential election campaign.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman said that the prosecutor's office had received two dossiers which included Sutiyoso's name and 11 other suspects.

Sutiyoso was Jakarta military commander at the time of the incident.

"We received the dossiers at 1 p.m. today. So, all six dossiers of the 27 July case, which contain a total of 23 suspects, are in the hands of our prosecutors," said Kemas.

Earlier in the day, National Police deputy chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Dadang Garnida had said that his officers had sent on Monday all the six dossiers to the prosecutor's office.

"We sent all of them last night at 9:30 p.m. because we don't want to delay them even for a day," said Dadang.

Kemas said that the first dossier contained 11 names including Let. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso, the former Jakarta Police chief the late Insp. Gen. Hamaminata, former Jakarta Military intelligence assistant chief Col. Haryanto, and chairman of Pancasila Youth Yorris Raweray.

The second dossier contained four names, namely Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) secretary-general Butu Hutapea, former PDI deputy treasurer Alex Widya Siregar, and former PDI deputy secretary-general R. Sihombing.

The prosecutor's office has 14 days to decide whether to bring the dossiers to the court or return them back to the police.

National Police general crimes division director Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi said that as the Jakarta Military commander Sutiyoso was declared a suspect not because he failed to maintain security and order in his area but because several witnesses saw him conducting "criminal acts".

"We are not going to charge him for failing to restore order because that is not a criminal act. We have gathered several witnesses willing to testify that he violated the Criminal Code," said Aryanto without specifying further.

The attack on the PDI headquarters claimed five lives, injured 149 people, and left 23 others missing, according to official findings.

Earlier, some analysts suggested that the timing of the investigation was intended to discredit presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Democratic Party. He was the chief of staff of the city's military command when the incident occurred. He had been questioned as witness twice in 2000 and 2001.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said in Semarang on Tuesday that there was no instruction from the President to reopen the case.

"The case has been investigated by a joint team from the military, the Attorney General's Office and the police. So, the police can't decide on their own. It is the authority of the team to continue investigating the case," said Da'i.

He added that the team would decide whether it was necessary to summon Susilo.