Agus Isrok still an active member of military: Widodo

Agus Isrok still an active member of military: Widodo

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesia Military (TNI) Commander Adm.
Widodo AS disclosed on Thursday that his institution has not yet
discharged Second Lt. Agus Isrok, the son of a four-star Army
general, over his alleged role in a drug case.

In a meeting with House of Representatives members of
Commission I on Defense and Security, Widodo explained that Agus,
also a member of the Army's elite Special Force (Kopassus), is
still a military active.

"Since the court has yet to rule on the status of the officer,
the officer remains a military active," he told the legislators.

But, Widodo conceded, TNI has already suspended some of Agus'
military rights. Agus was arrested along with a civilian friend
by West Jakarta police detectives on Aug. 8 of last year in a
Mangga Besar hotel.

From the hotel room, the police seized, among other things,
1.6 kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), 6,218
ecstasy pills, 27.9 grams of heroin and 25 sachets of Valium
pills. The civilian, Donny Hendrian, is currently on trial at the
West Jakarta District Court for the drug case.

"According to military rule, an officer won't get rank
promotion or military operational duties if he or she is under
criminal investigation," Widodo said.

His explanation came after legislator Slamet Effendi Yusuf
interrupted Widodo and filed a complaint that TNI had dragged its
feet in processing the case.

Slamet compared TNI's belabored process to the recent
expedience of the National Police force in punishing five
sergeants of the elite Mobile Brigade who were accused for having
been involved in an armed robbery that claimed one life.

As reported earlier, the five police sergeants were publicly
humiliated on Monday, five days after the robbery in South
Jakarta, by the brigade commander, who roughly took off their
berets and insignia to mark their dismissal from the police
force. On the same day, the five men were brought to the South
Jakarta Police station for further investigation.

To Widodo and the other top brass TNI officers at the work
meeting, legislator Slamet said, "The court proceeding against
Agus must be carried out immediately and transparently,
disregarding that he is the son of a general."

Agus is the son of former Army chief of staff Gen. Subagyo
Hadisiswoyo, who is still active as a TNI senior officer.

In response to Slamet's remark, Widodo vowed that TNI would
accelerate Agus' legal proceedings.

"What we are doing now is an acceleration process for the
case," he said.

Responsibility

Separately, National Military Police Commander Maj. Gen.
Djasri Marin said on Thursday that the internal investigation
over Agus in the drug case had been completed.

"We've handed over the dossiers of the case to the military
prosecutor. Thus, it's now the responsibility of the military
prosecutor to process the case," Djasri was quoted as saying by
satunet.com.

Djasri added that the presence of Agus as a key witness in the
hearing of Donny in the West Jakarta District Court was no longer
the responsibility of the National Military Police.

According to Djasri, the trial of Agus as a defendant in the
military court would be conducted once the military prosecutor
was ready to proceed with the case in court.

It's unclear when Agus would be tried.

Separately, Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Ryamizard
Ryacudu revealed that his command fired two junior officers for
different cases last month.

"One officer was fired for being guilty of consuming shabu-
shabu, while the other officer was discharged for having a secret
wife," he said on Thursday.

Government Decree No.10/1973 prohibits civil servants and
military members from having more than one wife.

Ryamizard also disclosed that the command had also jailed and
punished dozens of its personnel, mostly of the lower ranks, for
criminal and discipline offenses committed last year.

"Their cases include desertion, drug cases, shooting people
without justification and other criminal offenses," he said.

Commenting on the possibility of rampages following the
continuing tensions between President Abdurrahman Wahid and
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Gen.
Wiranto, Ryamizard insisted that his command would not make any
special precautions for the capital.

"The deployment of the troops will cost the command a great
deal considering the meals required by the troops and the cost of
the troop's positioning," he said after attending a hand-over
ceremony for the chief of Central Jakarta District Military
Command from Lt. Col. Budi Rahmat to Lt. Col. Meris Wiryadi.

He said the security in the city was to remain intact.

"There's no need to deploy troops. They are in their
respective military installations to conduct routine military
exercises, but they are ready to be deployed once the situation
requires it," he said.

The president said last week Wiranto should resign from his
ministerial post following allegations of his involvement in the
East Timor violence after the August 1999 ballot. (asa/emf)