Council urged to probe other military units
JAKARTA (JP): Rights activists have urged the newly- established Officers Honor Council to widen its investigation into the abduction and torture of political activists to include other military units besides the Army's Special Force (Kopassus).
Munir, the leader of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), pointed out that after their release a number of activists had told of the involvement of other military units in their abductions.
"The council must study the possibility of the involvement of other units," Munir said.
The formation of the council was announced on Monday by Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto. It started work the next day by questioning former Kopassus commanders Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono and Col. Chairawan, Commander of Kopassus Group IV for intelligence operations.
Wiranto also said that 10 other Kopassus members would be court martialled for their involvement in the abductions.
National Military Police chief Maj. Gen. Syamsu Djalal said last month that other units including the Armed Forces Intelligence Agency and the Jakarta Military Command might have been involved in the "process" of the abductions.
Wiranto apologized to the victims and relatives of those affected by the May riots at the same time as he announced the establishment of the council.
"The Armed Forces (ABRI) extends its sympathy to the victims of the May 13, 14, and 15 riots and their families," he said.
The rule of law came to an end in Jakarta and several other cities for those three days in May. Buildings were burned, people were killed and women raped in the worst rioting seen in the country for decades. The incident was the culmination of tension that had been inflamed by a number of incidents, including the abduction of political activists critical of former president Soeharto's regime.
Antara reported that Australian Defense Minister Ian McLachlan had praised ABRI's moves to investigate the kidnappings. He also said in Canberra that Australia fully supported Wiranto's efforts to bolster the peaceful transition of power from Soeharto to B.J. Habibie when the former resigned from the presidency in May.
Real
In related development, Kontras confirmed yesterday that the Herman Hendrawan sheltering in the Indonesian consulate in the southern Philippines' city of Davao was not the Herman Hendrawan the organization has been searching for.
"He is not the man we are looking for," said Dadang Trisasongko, who went to Davao to meet the man on Monday.
Dadang said he was unable to establish why the man turned up in the consulate claiming to be the missing Herman Hendrawan.
"This man was very reclusive and said that he did not want to be exposed to the media," Dadang said. "He also refused to be photographed."
ABRI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif claimed last Friday that the missing political activist Herman Hendrawan had turned up in the Philippines. Yesterday, Kontras demanded that Syamsul clarify the matter.
The missing Herman, a politics student at Airlangga University in Surabaya, was last seen on March 12 when he attended a media conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute office in Central Jakarta. He disappeared with two other students, Rahardjo Waluyo Djati and Feisol Reza, both of whom have since returned home.
Also yesterday, Munir said he had been unable to conclude whether three bodies found in the Thousand Islands north of Jakarta were those of missing activists.
A team from Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital and military police exhumed the bodies from their burial sites on Tuesday.
Zulhasmar Syamsu, a member of the team, confirmed yesterday that the bodies were all male but had decomposed beyond recognition.
Twenty one male political activists have gone missing since April last year. Nine have so far resurfaced and spoken of abduction and torture by units of the military. (byg/ivy)