Military asks for list of leaders
Military asks for list of leaders
JAKARTA (JP): Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hartono ordered regional military chiefs yesterday to list the leaders of any clandestine movement that could undermine the nation's stability.
Hartono said that the Jan. 12 killing of six people in Liquisa, East Timor, occurred because standard military procedures were not followed. He added that the incident should serve as a reminder that the Army needs to maintain close surveillance on clandestine movements.
"This (list of underground leaders) is necessary because clandestine actions such as those occurring in East Timor are more dangerous than normal rebel activity," he said.
The general made the remarks after inaugurating Maj. Gen. Purwantono, the new governor of the military academy in Magelang, Central Java.
He said that by "clandestine" he was referring to double-agent rebels. Such people, he said, could be good for the government and the military but also use their position to support GPK, the military's term for rebels.
Hartono placed the GPK movements in East Timor into three categories: "korsa, selula and clandestine. Of the three, only clandestine are undetectable since they mingle with the people. The other two groups can be easily identified from their weapons.
"Clandestine may be anything from government to private employees. 'Clandestines' can pose a problem and deserve our full attention," he said.
Responding to questions on the army's recent decision to court-martial two of its members for the killings of six East Timorese in Liquisa, Hartono stressed that the court would be the one to have the last say on whether or not the ABRI officers were guilty.
The two officers are currently being held and awaiting trial at the Udayana military command, which oversees security in East Timor, Nusa Tenggara and Bali.
Hartono said the house which was burnt by the leader of the military team Lt. Jermias Kasse during the incident was used as a meeting place.
The burning of the house, which was considered evidence in the case, was denounced in an investigation conducted by the National Commission on Human Rights.
"According to military operations everywhere in the world such a place must be destroyed so it cannot be used again," he said, adding that it was not a house but a hut located in the middle of the forest.
Hartono yesterday installed Maj. Gen. Purwantono as the Military Academy's new governor to replace Maj. Gen. Yusman Yutam. Purwantono was previously the academy's deputy governor.
Hartono asked the academy to continue developing a dynamic educational concept and to join hands with other institutions in various forms of cooperation.
"The military academy is a place to develop young military officers with wide academic perspectives in defense and security and in social and cultural knowledge," he said in the ceremony.
The military must also aim at creating "professional, effective, efficient and modern" military men, he said.
Purwantono was born in Malang, East Java in 1942 and graduated from the academy in 1965. He is the academy's 17th governor.
He attended various military training courses including a continued course for military officers, army staff and command school, ABRI staff and command school and senior staff training.
He was previously the West Java military district commander and education and training director at the army staff and command school in Bandung.
The ceremony was attended yesterday by a number of military district chiefs and Commander of the Strategic Reserve Command Maj. Gen. Tarub, Commander of the Army Special Force Brig Gen. Soedibyo, governors of the army, navy, air force and police academies and government officials from Central Java and Yogyakarta.(pwn)