Dossiers on July 27 case complete
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National Police investigating the July 27, 1996 attack on the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Headquarters in Jakarta, are expected to hand completed files to state prosecutors next week.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf said on Friday that police officials and state prosecutors were still arguing over the completeness of the dossiers.
Prosecutors had sent back "incomplete" dossiers to the police, several times, he said.
"Our investigators and state prosecutors just don't seem to agree on many points," Saleh told The Jakarta Post on Friday, without elaborating on the points of difference.
Saleh said that when the dossiers were transferred from the city police to National Police Headquarters for further investigation and analysis, National Police investigators completed a total of seven dossiers in May 2000, and sent them to state prosecutors.
The dossiers focused on PDI chief Soerjadi, PDI secretary- general Buttu Hutapea, PDI members Alex Siregar and Jonathan Marpaung, chief of then ruling party Golkar-affiliated Pancasila Youth (PP) organization Yoris Raweyai and his colleague Yan Rumbia.
The dossiers were sent to prosecutors, who returned them to the National Police, stating that a joint-team of military and police investigators needed to further investigate the incident, due to the involvement of both military and police officers.
Governor Sutiyoso, who was the Jakarta Military Commander in 1996, was declared a suspect in the case earlier by police.
Several military and police officers and some civilians were also named suspects in the attack on the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.
At least five people were killed and dozens of PDI supporters loyal to ousted chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri were reported missing in the incident which triggered mass rioting in the area and its surroundings.
On July 5, 2000, a joint Military Police, Indonesian Military officers and National Police investigation team was established. Investigations carried out by the team resulted in the formation of three separate dossiers, which included names of military and police officers, whom Saleh refused to mention.
In December 2001, prosecutors returned once again the dossiers to the joint-team for further completion, which were then once again returned to state prosecutors.
"Prosecutors then said that the three dossiers needed to be broken down into nine separate dossiers ... therefore, it needed further detail. So, it was sent back to us again, and we are hoping to complete the last of the nine by next week. So, we can return that dossier to prosecutors by next week."
The attack involved supporters of the then government-backed faction of PDI under Soerjadi.
They intended to seize the office, which was under the control of supporters of Megawati, PDI's democratically elected chief.
It is widely believed that the military helped Soerjadi's supporters but the military has repeatedly denied any involvement in the bloody incident.
Last year, hundreds of supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) commemorated the July 27 tragedy, despite the absence of party chief and President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Munir of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence said: "The July 27th incident should be viewed as one of the country's political monuments, or a state crime committed by the past regime, so therefore, the current administration should correct it.
"But now, the supporters are left alone leaderless."