Damning accusations dog Wiranto's bid
Tiarma Siboro and Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
The challenges to Wiranto's presidential bid have taken another twist after his former aide in the Indonesian Military (TNI) Maj. Gen. (ret) Kivlan Zein revealed that the Golkar Party candidate had a key role in the deployment of civilian guards during national assembly meeting in November 1998.
Kivlan, then the chief of staff of the Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad), said he was ordered by Wiranto, who was the TNI chief, to hire youths to block the demonstrating students from disrupting the Special Session of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). The MPR legislators endorsed the appointment of B.J Habibie as the president, formally replacing Soeharto, who had stepped down six months earlier.
"Wiranto said it was a secret operation and he asked me to cover the expenses myself with the assumption that I would be reimbursed later," Kivlan said.
Clashes erupted between the civilian guards, who were armed with sharpened bamboos, and the students.
The operation was initially discussed between the two, but later it involved former Jakarta Military Commander Lt. Gen. Djadja Suparman and former Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. (ret) Nugroho Djajusman, Kivlan said.
He said he hired 30,000 people from, among other places, Jakarta, Lampung, Makassar and Banten as civilian guards, known as PAM Swakarsa, for the operation that cost him around Rp 5 billion (US$543,000).
"I've already told Wiranto several times that we have unsettled business. He cannot just contest the presidency," Kivlan said, adding that he had done his thesis on the PAM Swakarsa to obtain his master's degree from the University of Indonesia.
But Wiranto's top campaign strategist Lt. Gen. (ret) Suaidi Marasabessy denied the accusation and chalked it up as another attempt at character assassination of Wiranto.
Wiranto, who is contesting the presidential election from the Golkar Party, has been linked to a number of past crimes against humanity while he was the TNI chief.
"This most recent accusation is aimed at assassinating Wiranto's character to foil his presidential bid because the PAM Swakarsa thing is already an old issue. Why does he raise the issue now, during the election?" asked Suaidi, who was Kivlan's classmate in the Military Academy.
Suaidi said he met Kivlan two weeks before the Golkar convention in April to discuss the matter.
"I offered him Rp 200 million as a friend to help him deal with his financial problem," said Suaidi.
But Kivlan said he refused the money because Suadi did not want to give him a receipt as a proof of money transfer.
Kivlan said he had sold his two houses in Jakarta and Surabaya and cars to pay the debts incurred from the 1998 operation.
He said Habibie had allocated sufficient funds through Wiranto for the recruitment but he had never been reimbursed.
Kivlan said only Rp 1.25 billion was given to him, and that came from the Jimly Asshiddiqie -- then Habibie's aide and the current Constitutional Court chief.
The House of Representatives has found no indications of irregularities in the use of Rp 10 billion in state funds for the operation to secure the MPR special session in 1998.
Suaidi said his team was considering a lawsuit against Kivlan.