Feisal Tanjung points at Soeharto
Feisal Tanjung points at Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): Former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) chief Gen.
(ret) Feisal Tanjung testified on Thursday that former president
Soeharto implicitly ordered the halt of a free speech forum at
the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters in July 1996.
The fact was aired by Feisal's lawyer, Col. A.B. Setiawan,
after his client had been questioned as a witness by a joint
Military Police/National Police investigation team at the
National Police Headquarters over the violent takeover of the
party headquarters on July 27, 1996.
"The former president asked 'Will you really allow the free
speech forum to continue?'," Setiawan told reporters.
Feisal's testimony echoed the statement of former chief of the
Jakarta Military Command and now Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, after
being questioned over the case in September.
Sutiyoso said that the former president gave an implicit order
to stop the forum during a meeting with several military officers
at the latter's residence on Jl. Cendana in the Menteng area,
Central Jakarta, on July 19, 1996.
Feisal, however, declined to give any comments to reporters.
When he arrived at the National Police Headquarters in the
morning, the retired four-star general reportedly even punched a
photographer from Media Indonesia daily.
In a press statement made available to the press, the daily's
executive director Imam Anshori Saleh urged the punched
photographer to sue Feisal.
Setiawan said that a special ministerial coordination meeting
on political and security affairs had been held following
Soeharto's order. The meeting eventually recommended that the
forum be stopped because it had disturbed public order.
"But the meeting only recommended that the forum be
persuasively stopped and according to the law," Setiawan said.
Setiawan said that the meeting was attended by then
minister/state secretary Moerdiono, then minister of education
and culture Wardiman Djojodiningrat, then minister of defense and
security Edi Sudradjat, then attorney general Singgih, the late
coordinating minister for political and security affairs Soesilo
Soedarman, and then State Intelligence Coordination Body (BAKIN)
chief Moetojib.
Moerdiono and Edi have also been questioned by the joint team
over the case.
A free speech forum was held at the PDI headquarters on Jl.
Diponegoro in Central Jakarta by supporters of the party's ousted
chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri. Most speakers of the forum
condemned the Soeharto regime.
The forum stopped when a mob, backed by elements of ABRI,
violently attacked the headquarters.
The move, which involved supporters of a PDI splinter group,
led by Soerjadi, left at least five dead and 23 others reportedly
still missing.
The attack triggered mass unrest in Central Jakarta. (jaw)