Military says rumors of 'wild troops' baseless

JAKARTA (JP): The city military command dismissed as baseless rumors yesterday reports that about 200 deserting elite troops loyal to Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto had arrived to take control of the capital.

Command spokesman Lt. Col. DJ. Nachrowi said that Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin was still in full command of all soldiers in the city.

"All the soldiers, including those brought in from other provinces, are under his firm command. We have never thought of any wild units. It's only rumor," he told The Jakarta Post.

Rumors have it that some 200 troops of the elite Army's special force (Kopassus) have deserted and formed a wild unit under the command of Prabowo, who headed the elite unit from 1994 to March 20, 1998.

Prabowo, former president Soeharto's son-in-law, was then appointed chief of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command until he was removed last Friday and transferred to head the Armed Forces Staff and Command School.

Prabowo personally denied the rumors Thursday when he was installed as the school's chief.

The units were said to be mobilized by Prabowo from their headquarters in Serang, West Java, about 100 kilometers west of here. They were supposedly transported in five military trucks.

The Jakarta Post has received lots of phone calls from foreign journalists and the public alike over the past few days, asking for information about the "impending invasion" of Jakarta. The callers said they had also heard of rumors that Sjafrie was shot on Wednesday.

Sjafrie was seen with former president Soeharto at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta yesterday. Eyewitnesses said the two-star general appeared healthy.

Nachrowi said that he had also been bombarded with phone calls from numerous people, including the media, who sought confirmation on the issue. Some went as far as asking him where Sjafrie was being treated.

He said that he received the first call at about 9 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after he had finished a meeting with Sjafrie.

The spokesman checked on Sjafrie's whereabouts and the commander's adjutant told him that Sjafrie was alright and attending another meeting.

"I received phone calls until midnight Thursday. I got annoyed and told them: 'If I could catch the rumormonger, I would shoot him myself'," he said.

In a related development, a bomb threat stirred panic at Atmajaya Catholic University just across the road from city police headquarters in Central Jakarta yesterday, forcing the campus authorities to evacuate 2,000 students.

After a brief inspection by campus security officers, the threat was deemed to be a hoax.

An anonymous phone call was received at about 8.40 a.m. by Atmajaya's receptionist Sri Pudjiastuti. She said that the man on the other end told her there was a bomb in the building.

"At first I ignored it. But about 15 minutes later he called again and said the bomb would explode at 10 a.m.. Then I told the campus authorities about this," she explained to the media.

The students were told to leave and stay away from the building.

Atmajaya University spokesman Felix Lengkong told the media that the campus authorities did not call the police bomb squad so as not to heighten the panic.

"We have our own security officers. We can handle this. It's not because we do not believe in the police, but we just do not want to make a scene," Felix said.

He said that the students at Atmajaya were studying when the bomb threat came, but most of those on campus were people enrolling themselves.

Several Atmajaya students gave a thumbs-up to the campus authorities' decision not to call the police.

"The tension (between students and police officers) is still running high here since the recent massive student protests. It's better to keep them away from here," Vanda, one of the students, said.

The building was declared safe at about noon.

Soldiers and police officers were still patrolling the city's streets yesterday.

Nachrowi said that street patrols comprising soldiers from the local commands, police stations and other units such as the marines, Kopassus and the Air Force's Special Units would continue indefinitely.

He said each team consisted of between 10 and 30 soldiers and police officers. They were on guard across Greater Jakarta 24 hours a day.

He added that the street patrols, which began on May 22, were also aimed at proving that the Armed Forces remained united. (ivy/edt)