Indonesia protests fatal shooting of Sgt. Lirman

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): Despite the official protest by the government, Udayana Military chief Maj. Gen. Willem T. da Costa said on Monday that the shooting of an Indonesian Army soldier by a UN peacekeeper was "understandable".

"Based on (initial) site investigations, the deceased had acted against military regulations. He left a security post to enter the neutral zone, not in military uniform -- though armed -- without the permission of the picketing officers," Willem told The Jakarta Post. "Based on the facts the Indonesian Military (TNI) has to accept the incident."

First Sgt. Lirman Hadimu, a member of Indonesian Infantry Battalion 726 in Belu regency, was shot to death on Saturday in the village of Alas, Belu, East Nusa Tenggara, close to the East Timorese border.

Initial reports indicated that Lirman was not in military uniform at the time and a victim of an unprovoked attack by the United Nations Peace-Keeping Force (UN-PKF).

Udayana Military Command handles the regions of Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara.

Willem later confirmed that the shooting was in accordance with procedures. "In such a neutral zone around the border, security is very tight. Nobody is allowed to conduct any type of activity unless permission is granted from military troops (from the two countries) guarding the area."

"He (Sgt. Lirman) might have been behaving irrationally, he had been stubborn by deciding to go alone through the neutral border zone, although he knew about military procedure," Willem said.

The government of Indonesia strongly protested to UNTAET the fatal shooting in Indonesian territory.

The Directorate of Foreign Information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in its written statement made available to the media on Monday, said that Indonesia attached enormous importance to a full scale probe into the shooting to ensure that those responsible for this act be held fully accountable.

It said that Indonesia had submitted a formal complaint to UNTAET.

"In view of the gravity of the matter, we expect a prompt and serious response from UNTAET so that urgent steps are taken to prevent a recurrence of such an incident," the media announcement read.

TNI and UN-PKF have agreed to set up a joint investigation into the incident.

TNI's East Timor border task force commander Lt.Col. Magna Chandra said on Monday that UN-PKF admitted they carried out the shooting.

According to Willem, the UN-PKF chief, Lt. Gen. Brondsman, had also admitted that one of the UN-PKF's soldiers had shot Sgt. Lirman.

"When shot, he (Lirman) was only about two meters from the bank of a river, which is acknowledged as the border, while the UN-PKF patrol were about 75 meters away," said Willem.

However, he said that legally the two countries, Indonesia and East Timor did not actually have a very clear border.

"Officially a clear border has yet to be set up. The existing (acknowledged) border is based on a map made by Portugal."

In a related development, chief of Wirasakti Military Resort Col. Budi Heryanto said he would lodge an official complaint with the United Nations about the shooting.

"Lirman was still in Indonesian territory. The UN-PKF soldier violated procedures," Budi said. (30/sur)