Military police to question officers over July 27 case

JAKARTA (JP): Following the completion of a police probe into the July 27, 1996 attack on the PDI headquarters, the National Military Police plans to question all army officers, police officers and civilians allegedly involved in the violent incident, its commander Maj. Gen. Djasrie Marin said on Friday.

"The investigators will be comprised of military prosecutors and interrogators from the Military Police and the National Police," Djasrie told reporters after the installation ceremony of Brig. Gen. Max Markus Tamaela, who replaced Maj. Gen. Ismed Yuzairi as head of the Army's Center for Territorial Affairs.

Djasrie did not give details of the schedule but said that his staff had already started forming the agenda for the questioning.

"The Military Police will not only recommend the summoning of 15 or 20 generals. We will also call all of those (allegedly) involved in the incident in any way, including retired Lt. Gen. Sutiyoso," Djasrie was quoted by Antara as saying.

Sutiyoso, currently the governor of Jakarta, was the Jakarta military commander at the time.

The July 1996 unrest, which, according to the official record, left five dead and 23 missing, occurred after supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairman, Soerjadi, forcibly took over the party headquarters from the loyalists of the ousted PDI leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, now the country's Vice President.

Sutiyoso and former ABRI chief of sociopolitical affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid testified earlier that the country's former "political patron" was behind the July 1996 violence.

The two did not name the former political patron, but it is believed they were referring to former president Soeharto.

Former Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) Soeyono has also told police investigators that the Army did not collect funds to finance the security of the capital during the 1996 unrest that spread through the Central Jakarta area.

"We tried to protect the capital. It is not true that the Army approached certain business tycoons here, to ask for hundreds of millions of rupiah for the capital's security," Soeyono said after seven hours of questioning.

Separately, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Tyasno Sudarto also said that the Army had no official link with the unrest. (ylt)