July 27 tragedy probe reopened
July 27 tragedy probe reopened
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
The joint team investigating the bloody takeover of the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)'s offices on Jl. Diponegoro,
Central Jakarta, on July 27, 1996, announced on Monday that it
plans to accelerate the currently stalled investigation.
After almost two years of moving at a snail's pace, the team
is gearing up for the prosecution of suspects in the attack that
claimed five lives, injured 149 and left 23 others missing.
Military Police Commander Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. said on
Monday that his institution, the police and the Attorney
General's Office (AGO) had decided to speed up the resolution of
the case.
"We solidified our commitment to continue the legal process
in the case as too much time has passed without any significant
progress. We want to finish it as soon as possible," said
Sulaiman.
He said the team would finish all of the dossiers on the
suspects and would submit them to the prosecutor's office this
week.
This new urgency on the part of the investigating team comes
in the midst of campaigning for the country's first ever direct
presidential election, and raises suspicions over the motives and
timing of the renewed commitment to investigating the case.
Political analyst from Airlangga University, Surabaya, Daniel
Sparringa said Monday that he doubted the reemergence of the case
was free from political motives.
"The case has been frozen for months and it suddenly
reemerges. I don't believe that all of a sudden the police and
the AGO have suddenly become strongly committed to enforcing the
law," said Daniel.
At least one presidential candidate, the Democratic Party's
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, could be implicated in the case.
Susilo, who picked former coordinating minister for people's
welfare Jusuf Kalla as his running mate, has topped all public
opinion surveys over the past few months.
But Daniel warned that the case did not concern only Susilo
but also the military as a whole. He argued that Wiranto could
also be affected by the case.
Susilo was the chief of staff of the Jakarta Military in 1996
when the incident occurred. He was, however, not in the suspect
list released by the military police in 2002.
Of the 22 suspects announced by the team, 10 come from the
military, including former Jakarta military chief Let. Gen. (ret)
Sutiyoso -- now the Jakarta governor -- former Jakarta Police
chief Insp. Gen. Hamami Nata, and former chief of National
Intelligence Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim.
The most recent developments in the case were back in March
2002 when the team, which was established in July 2000 at the
suggestion of the House of Representatives, reportedly submitted
nine dossiers to the prosecutor's office.
In December 2003, the court tried for the first time five
suspects in the case, including two mid-ranking officers and
three civilians. Only one of these -- a civilian -- was found
guilty and sentenced to two months in jail. All the others were
acquitted.
Sulaiman, however, denied suggestions that political motives
were behind the team's renewed commitment to investigating the
case, arguing that law enforcers now had sufficient evidence
against the suspects. He did not elaborate.
He also said that he did not know if there had been a specific
instruction from President Megawati Soekarnoputri to resume the
investigation into the case.
"This is a purely legal matter. It has nothing to do with
politics. I don't know about any specific instruction or negative
campaigning," said Sulaiman.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman admitted that
there was a specific order from "someone above" to finish the
case as soon as possible but denied that the reemergence of the
case had something to do with the presidential election.