Maluku students demand Made Yasa trial
MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi (JP): A student rally in Makassar welcomed the latest Indonesian Military (TNI) reshuffle on Tuesday, with some 100 Maluku students studying in the South Sulawesi capital demanding that outgoing Pattimura Military Commander, Brig. Gen. I Made Yasa, be tried for human rights violations.
At one point the students, grouped in the Maluku Muslim Students Alliance (AMMM), attempted to block access to the Sultan Hasanuddin airport but police pacified the group and allowed them to protest near the airport's entrance.
The two-hour rally only caused minor congestion along the airport route.
AMMM spokesman Rafiq Arifuddin said the replacement of Yasa was not nearly enough considering the human rights violations he had committed during his term in the troubled Malukus.
"If necessary he has to be dismissed from the military," Rafiq said in his speech.
Another protest related to Yasa was also conducted in Yogyakarta, where some 100 Maluku students studying in the sultanate accused the military commander of treating Muslims unfairly and doing nothing to combat the separatist movement fighting to establish a South Maluku republic.
"Twenty-two civilians and one soldier were killed in a raid by the TNI Joint Battalion on Thursday. It is just a small example of Made Yasa's unfair policies as the military commander in Maluku," Syamsuddin Swasamu, representing the Yogyakarta Maluku Muslim Students Association (HIPMAMMAYO), told local councillors on Monday.
Yasa was among 111 military officers involved in a major reshuffle of the Indonesian Military (TNI) announced on Tuesday. Yasa is expected to fill an educational post at the Bandung-based cadet school, leaving his post to Brig. Gen. Mustopo, the current chief of staff at Wirabuana Military Command overseeing Sulawesi.
The TNI headquarters announced on Tuesday the retirement of 30 high-ranking officers, including Air Force Deputy Chief Vice Marshal Mudjiono Said, chief of the Siliwangi Military Command overseeing West Java Maj. Gen. Zainuri Hasyim and Military Academy Governor Maj. Gen. M. Noor Aman.
Several officers will also be promoted as a result of the reshuffle, including Col. Noer Muis. Muis is a former East Timor military commander who has been named as a suspect in human rights violations occurring after a UN-sanctioned popular consultation in the former Indonesian province in August 1999.
Muis will be promoted to brigadier general following his appointment as the Military Academy Deputy Governor. (02/23/27)