Military personnel questioned on Monday over 1996 PDI attack

JAKARTA (JP): A joint military-police team assigned to investigate the July 27, 1996 attack on the PDI headquarters will start questioning on Monday military personnel about their possible roles in the violent crime, police and military officers said on Friday.

Sr. Supt. Makbul Padmanegara, a police member of the team, refused to identify the military personnel to be quizzed, but said that they would include both low and top-ranking officers.

Next week's questioning will be based on the results of the National Police final investigation, Makbul said.

A reliable source at the National Military Police Headquarters (Puspom TNI), who is also a member of the joint investigation team, identified five of the military officers to be grilled next week as Col. Haryanto, Lt. Col. Erwin, Lt. Col. Leonard, Maj. Adi and Capt. Purwo.

He, however, did not give details of the officer's positions at the time but said that Haryanto was a member of the city military command's intelligence unit.

The team, according to Makbul, has already questioned some 30 to 40 civilians as witnesses in the case.

"They were some of the people believed to be at the spot when the attack took place. The others include members of the youth organization Pemuda Pancasila," Makbul explained.

Makbul, also the National Police deputy chief of detectives for general crimes, said Fatimah Achmad, former executive of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) under Soerjadi, was among the civilian witnesses.

A group of supporters of the PDI's splinter faction, reportedly backed by the elements of the former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), raided and took over the party headquarters from the supporters of toppled PDI leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, now the country's Vice President.

The senior officer refused to disclose the number of civilians already quizzed by the joint team.

"The number of witnesses will grow in line with the investigation's progress," he said.

There has been no security personnel declared as suspects, following the completion of the police investigation of the attack, even though the police investigators also questioned several (former) military generals.

The May results named 11 suspects in the PDI attack, all of whom are civilians.

Last month, the military and the police formed the team to determine any possible involvement of military personnel in the violation.

The July 1996 unrest, according to the official record, left five people dead and 23 others missing, but many believed the real number was much higher. (asa)