Kostrad commander apologizes to Acehnese
Kostrad commander apologizes to Acehnese
JAKARTA (JP): The Army's Strategic Reserves Commander
(Kostrad) Lt. Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah apologized to the
Acehnese on Saturday for his troops' involvement in last year's
mass killings in the province.
But he insisted that senior officers should be held
accountable for the killing of Islamic teacher Tengku Bantaqiah
and more than 50 of his students.
"The soldiers just followed orders from their commandants," he
said on the sidelines of the 34th anniversary celebration of
Kostrad's Airborne 17 in Cijantung, East Jakarta.
Ten Kostrad troops were among 24 soldiers and a civilian
sentenced to between eight and a half years and 10 years in
prison by a joint military-civilian tribunal on Wednesday after
being found guilty of killing the teacher and his students last
year. A captain was the highest ranked officer convicted, while
the rest were mostly low-ranking soldiers.
Many have criticized the verdict, saying it excluded the real
culprits and the trial itself served more as a public relations
exercise.
Agus said the hunt for the intelligence assistant to
Lilawangsa Military commander, Lt. Col. Soedjono, the key witness
and suspect in the case, had yet to bear fruit. Agus added that
the search for Soedjono, who went missing in November last year,
had been conducted in North Sumatra and West Java.
Some of the defendants testified during the trial that it was
Soedjono who ordered the massacre. Although possible, the trial
of Soedjono in absentia did not materialize.
Bantaqiah and his students were shot dead in an antirebel
operation which followed an intelligence report stating they
possessed 100 firearms.
Agus also appealed to the Acehnese, especially relatives of
the victims, to pardon the soldiers and seek clemency from
President Abdurrahman Wahid for the troops.
"We appeal to the relatives of the victims to request clemency
because in any case of this kind no low-ranking soldiers can take
the guilt, mainly because they carry out orders," he said.
Kostrad plans to provide financial assistance to the families
of the victims, including scholarships for their school-age
children, Agus said.
He said if the Acehnese were ready to pardon the soldiers he
would also appeal to the President for clemency for them.
"Kostrad will appeal to a higher court and provide maximum
legal assistance for the 24 soldiers," he said.
Agus said he was proud of the Kostrad soldiers who
demonstrated respect for the supremacy of the law by accepting
the verdict.
"I am personally proud of the soldiers because they accepted
the verdict without reservation to show their compliance with the
law. This attitude is a good example to all citizens," he said.
He also confirmed that two Kostrad soldiers were killed when
trying to stop violence that re-erupted in the Maluku capital of
Ambon on Wednesday.
He said the renewed violence indicated that the sectarian
conflict in Maluku and North Maluku should be settled by the two
provinces themselves.
In the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh, the Bantaqiah family said
the verdict was unacceptable and demanded that the court be
reopened to try senior officers who it is believed gave the
orders in the antirebel operation, which ended up with the mass
killings.
"It is unfair to see low-ranking officers stand trial and
convicted for the murders, while their superiors who gave the
order escape prosecution," Andi Suwandi BR, the Bantaqiah
family's lawyer, said in a media statement.
The Bantaqiah family ruled out the possibility of testifying,
citing a lack of security guarantee.
The Coalition of Acehnese Rights Defenders will also issue a
statement rejecting the verdict on Sunday. (50/rms)