Megawati urges military to respect laws, human rights

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.