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.