DKP zeros in who gave Prabowo instructions

JAKARTA (JP): The Officers Honor Council (DKP) has shortened the list of who instructed then Army Special Force (Kopassus) chief Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto to take preemptive security measures to safeguard last March's presidential election, which led to abductions and torture of political activists.

Council chairman Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo confirmed yesterday the instruction did not come from either the then Armed Forces (ABRI) supreme commander Soeharto or the ABRI chief. He did not identify the latter.

Subagyo, who is also the Army chief of staff, briefed the media after a monthly meeting of regional military commanders and senior Army officers at the Army's headquarters.

When asked whether it was possible the instruction had been issued by an Army chief of staff, Subagyo asked for the public to wait until after the council completes its investigation, slated for today.

The abductions occurred between May 1997 and May of this year. Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung was ABRI chief from 1993 to 1998. Over the period when the abductions of more than 20 political activists took place, the post of Army chief of staff was held successively by Gen. R. Hartono (to June 1997) and Gen. Wiranto.

On Tuesday, Armed Forces chief Gen. Wiranto indicated the instruction could have come from any of three ABRI officers who ranked higher than Prabowo.

Prabowo's superiors over that period were Soeharto, Feisal, R. Hartono and Wiranto.

Subagyo supported Wiranto's earlier statement that the council could eventually question the military officer who gave the order to Prabowo.

"If the evidence shows that the higher ranked officer was wrong or was connected with the kidnapping, he can be questioned," he said.

Subagyo also revealed yesterday that Prabowo had admitted that he misunderstood the orders from his superior.

"Prabowo has admitted there was a mistake and said he would take responsibility for his misinterpretation of the superior's order," he said.

Subagyo said he had checked with other witnesses, including an officer with the rank of a captain who had written down the order, and officials of the ABRI's fact-finding team, who had visited the presumed sites where the activists had been kept and tortured.

Subagyo said the council yesterday requestioned Prabowo and Muchdi simultaneously. The session started at 9 a.m. and ended just a few minutes before 12 p.m.

Subagyo said Monday the abductions of political activists were not ordered by ABRI's top brass, but were carried out because of Prabowo's misinterpretation of his superior's instructions.

He also mentioned the instruction was given under what is known in the military term as "under operational control" (BKO), in which a military unit, in this case Kopassus, was seconded unit for particular operations.

Under this scheme, the first unit was controlled by the commander of the second unit.

He also said Prabowo's instructions were only to transfer troops to another military unit and monitor the moves of political activists, especially in Jakarta.

Prabowo was replaced by Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono a few days after the 11-day General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which reelected Soeharto for a seventh consecutive term. He was promoted to lead the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad).

However, he was removed two months later, one day after president Soeharto announced his retirement on May 21, and assigned a new post as Commander of the Bandung-based Armed Forces Staff and Command School.

Prabowo, together with Muchdi and former chief of Kopassus' Group IV for Intelligence Operations Col. Chairawan, is now under investigation by the council for his alleged role in the kidnappings and torture of political activists.

Ten other Kopassus soldiers, who rank lower than Chairawan, await a court-martial for the kidnappings. The trial is expected to start soon. (imn)