Megawati urges military to respect laws, human rights

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri told leaders of the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Thursday to obey the prevailing law in order to restore TNI's tarnished image.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of TNI's two-day leaders meeting, Megawati said that the good image and dignity of soldiers relied on their determination to uphold the law and respect for human rights.

"As the guardian of the country, TNI must respect and honor the existing law," Megawati said.

Megawati's statement came amid controversy on whether or not military and police generals believed to be responsible for the Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II fatal shootings had to comply with summonses issued by the Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM), a commission set up by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Aug. 27, 2001 to investigate possible human rights violations in the three incidents.

It also came after Vice President Hamzah Haz had urged the generals on Friday last week to comply with KPP HAM's summonses for the sake of the public's sense of justice.

KPP HAM has sent two summonses to each of nine military and police generals believed to be responsible for the shootings, but all of them have consistently defied the summonses, raising fears of military impunity.

KPP HAM has threatened to exercise its right of subpoena to force the generals to comply with the summonses and has sought the Supreme Court's legal opinion. Chief Justice Bagir Manan has given the go-ahead, but advised KPP HAM to ask the Central Jakarta District Court to summons the generals.

Military Chief Widodo A.S. said on Thursday that TNI wanted to uphold the supremacy of the law, but insisted it should be done with due process to avoid abuse of power.

"TNI wants the law to be upheld in line with due process of law," said Widodo, adding that he had not received any summons from KPP HAM.

Meanwhile, the Central Jakarta District Court asked KPP HAM on Thursday to complete the documents required to force the military and police generals to comply with its summonses.

Judge Andi Samsan Nganro said that the court would examine the request only if KPP HAM submitted supporting documentation, including the legal document stating that KPP HAM had been formed by Komnas HAM and letters proving that the commission had summonsed the generals twice.

"We must be sure that KPP HAM is part of Komnas HAM since the institution which has the right of subpoena is Komnas HAM," Andi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He also asserted the court should also be convinced that KPP HAM had already summonsed the officials twice.

"If there are no documents to prove that KPP HAM had summonsed the officers twice, the officers could say that they had not been properly summonsed," Andi said, adding that documentation was essential within the legal domain.

On Wednesday, a KPP HAM delegation, led by its head Albert Hasibuan, asked the court to issue a ruling on a subpoena to several defiant military officers.

Central Jakarta District Court Deputy Chairman Rusdy As'ad said on Thursday that the court could issue the ruling up to two weeks after complete documentation had been submitted.

However, he did not elaborate further.

Rusdy also revealed a letter from the military/police attorney team, saying that KPP HAM was not eligible to summons the officers and that Komnas HAM had to suspend its inquiry into the Trisakti, Semanggi I, and Semanggi II killings as a military court had convicted some low-ranking officers for the incidents.