'Dozens questioned over 27 July case'
JAKARTA (JP): Police detectives are hastily questioning related witnesses in an attempt to complete the investigation into the 1996 bloody takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters within the three-month deadline set by National Police chief Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo.
"We are questioning dozens of people who were directly involved in the massive unrest that followed the takeover, and bystanders as well," city police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi told reporters on Thursday.
Asked whether the police would question Buttu R. Hutapea, PDI's former secretary general and Soerjadi, the leader of the PDI splinter group which allegedly conducted the takeover, Nurfaizi replied, "everybody who is suspected to have been involved in the takeover will be questioned".
"Don't try to rush things. All will be done according to the results of the reinvestigation of the evidence," he said.
Col. Saleh Saaf of the National Police information department said the police would summon eyewitnesses and the police officers who initially handled the case.
"The evidence includes a tape recording which has been handed over to the police by the PDI," Saleh said.
National Police detectives said on Wednesday they would have legal difficulties in completing the investigation as the Supreme Court had issued a ruling on an appeal brought by the PDI, stating that no government officials could be brought to court over the case.
"We can decide all we want about the names of the civilians and police officers who we could summon, but what is the use if they can't be tried?" a senior officer at the National Police headquarters, who requested an anonymity, told The Jakarta Post.
Supreme Court director for crime affairs Djoko Sarwoko said on Wednesday he had no knowledge of such a Supreme Court verdict.
"We have no knowledge of such a verdict, since it was never registered in the institution," Djoko told the Post.
Denial
A Supreme Court judge himself, Djoko said the body would never have issued such a verdict.
"We will not take sides with a certain group of people. All people, including government executives and the military, are equal before the law," he said.
Rusdihardjo said on Tuesday that the police would take up to three months to complete the investigation.
The police, he said, were collecting new evidence in connection with the bloody incident at the party's headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, on July 27, 1996. The takeover, which was followed by massive unrest, was allegedly conducted by the party's splinter group led by Soerjadi and backed by elements in the former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI).
At least five people died, 149 were injured and 23 others went missing during the incident.
On Tuesday morning the National Police called a closed meeting of National Police detectives and intelligence officers to decide which civilians and police officers would be summoned.
The meeting was led by the assistant to the National Police chief for intelligence affairs, Maj. Gen. Guntur Sumastopo.
"The officers to be questioned include (former Central Jakarta Police chief) Col. Aboebakar Nataprawira, (former Jakarta Police chief) Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, (former National Police chief) Gen. Dibyo Widodo and (former PDI secretary general) Buttu R. Hutapea," Col. Saleh Saaf said.
Saleh refused to comment on whether the list would include the names of former city military commander Governor Sutiyoso, a retired lieutenant general who opted for civilian status, and former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of social and political affairs Lt. Syarwan Hamid, who is a retired lieutenant general. (ylt/asa)