Army chief says Madiun victims shot by police

JAKARTA (JP): Four days after a fierce clash between members of the police and the military took the lives of three civilians in the East Java town of Madiun, a lead as to who pulled the trigger has yet to emerge.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said in a hearing with members of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday that the three teenagers killed in the clash were shot by the police.

When asked to comment on the matter, National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said that a ballistics test was required to arrive at a conclusion.

"I have never heard of such a report. We have to undergo a ballistics test in labfor for that," Bimantoro told The Jakarta Post, referring to the police's forensics laboratory after he emerged from a hearing with House Commission II for home and legal affairs.

In the meantime, both feuding parties in the Madiun attack kept silent over who pulled the trigger.

Sources told the Post that a policeman was stopped and beaten in the street by members of the military after midnight on Saturday. The policeman was passing on the street, oblivious to the earlier incident, and had his pistol taken. He was later released in a town about 30 kilometers to the east of Madiun.

In a hearing with legislators of Commission I for defense, foreign and political affairs, Endriartono said the shooting took place shortly after all Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) soldiers had fled the police station in downtown Madiun.

The general was referring to the Kostrad soldiers of Airborne Infantry Battalion 501 who were involved in the deadly clash with some policemen. The clash was sparked by a small dispute at a gas station late on Saturday.

"Perhaps because they panicked during the attack, they spontaneously fired their guns directly at the motorcade. Two students were killed on the spot, while others were injured. Another student died the next day," Endriartono told the hearing, referring to the police.

Kostrad members arrived in a motorcade at the police station.

Endriartono made a public apology on Tuesday over Saturday's clash.

The general was accompanied by Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu and several top military officers.

Endriartono told legislators that the shooting should be seen as a separate incident from the brawl at the gas station. When the fatal shooting occurred, he said, not one single soldier was on the scene.

Endriartono speculated that the clash might be a continuation of a minor scuffle between four policemen and two soldiers that broke out on Sept. 8 in the same town.

Although the minor clash had been resolved, he said, they might still bear grudges.

Repeating the previous denial by Ryamizard, Endriartono said that none of the soldiers were carrying guns during the clash as all the firearms were stored and secured in lockers.

Ryamizard discharged on Monday the chief of Infantry Battalion 501, his deputy and 11 battalion members, not 20 as reported on Wednesday.

Endriartono said the soldiers involved in the attack numbered 125 and not 300 as earlier reported.

Clandestine

Earlier in the session, Endriartono unveiled that the clash might have been fomented by clandestine operations between the feuding parties.

"It is no secret that they back illegal businesses in the area," he said, referring to gambling dens and the drug trade, "besides, part of the troop members had behaved badly recently."

A conflict of interest in the illegal businesses intensified between the police and the military after the police were separated from the military, he said.

The police became an independent force in April 1999.

Endriartono also said the military personnel involved in the clash might have been showing excessive pride. (09/tso/hbk)