Council urged to probe other military units

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)