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)