Air Force backs search for truth about 1965 coup
JAKARTA (JP): The Air Force leadership said it was giving its full support to the writing of a book by former senior servicemen aimed at countering suggestions of the force's involvement in the Sept. 30, 1965, abortive coup blamed on the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
The Air Force is giving moral, material and financial support "to make the writing of the book a success", Chief Air Marshal Hanafie Asnan said after the celebration of the force's 53rd anniversary at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta on Friday.
As well as financial support, assistance was also given by providing historical information, he added.
He said that a number of former officers, including former Air Force operations commander Sri Mulyono Herlambang, were writing their version of the communist coup and the role the Air Force played in the incident which claimed seven victims, including six Army generals.
Hanafie said the book was to be completed next month, and that a discussion would be held involving historians and witnesses.
The New Order version of the coup led to suggestions of involvement of the Air Force through a number of its officers, a stigma the Air Force still shoulders.
Former Air Force chief Omar Dhani along with former deputy prime minister Soebandrio were released from the Cipinang penitentiary on Aug. 16, 1995, after serving 29-year jail sentences for their roles in the coup. The two pledged to stay away from politics. Research for the book started last year.
Sri Mulyono has said that, while the Soviet AK-47's used in the coup belonged to the Air Force, he said the weapons had been stolen from the Air Force's ammunition warehouse at the Halim Perdanakusumah air base.
The ceremony, presided over by Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Force Commander Gen. Wiranto, was a simple affair, without the usual air, which was dropped because of the crisis.
Wiranto declined to comment much on the forthcoming book, saying only that consultation with authorized parties was necessary to avoid confusion.
Vice Marshall Irawan, an assistant to the Air Force chief on operation affairs, said the force was waiting for the arrival of Another 16 200-Hawk fighting jets ordered from Britain.
They would be stationed at the Supadio air base in West Kalimantan.
Indonesia received 26 100- and 200-Hawk trainer and bomber jets purchased from British Aerospace for around US$32 million per unit five years ago.
The government canceled purchases of Russian-made Sukhoi bombers and helicopters from the Russian government because of the crisis. (rms)