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)