Observers give Wiranto decision the thumbs down
JAKARTA (JP): Military observers and rights campaigners have given the thumbs down to the Armed Forces' decision to slap administrative punishments on Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto and two other officers from the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), rather than bringing them before a military tribunal to answer for their involvement in the abduction and torture of political activists.
Lt. Gen. (ret) Bambang Triantoro, a former Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of sociopolitical affairs, said he was stunned when he heard that ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto had decided to dismiss Prabowo from service and remove Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono and Col. Chairawan from "structural duties."
Wiranto said he made the decision based on the recommendations of the Officers Honor Council which interrogated the three men.
"Prabowo committed a criminal act. He should be court- martialled," Bambang told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
"I notice, though, that the case has been a heavy political burden to the Armed Forces Headquarters," he said.
Activists of the independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) expressed suspicion that some sort of underhand deal had taken place between ABRI leaders and Prabowo prior to the announcement.
Kontras told a press conference that Wiranto had been concerned only about protecting ABRI's image rather than taking corrective internal measures.
"With that decision, ABRI demonstrated that it has no willingness to substantially or institutionally correct its repressive policies, which include the act of kidnapping," Kontras' coordinator Munir said.
"Prabowo may hold the 'trump card'. If he was court martialled he could reveal all the facts behind the abductions, including who gave him the order," M.M. Billah, a member of Kontras' advisory council, said.
"The 'disclosure' could implicate many ABRI generals, including Prabowo's superiors (at the time of the abductions) including the Army chief of staff, and ABRI's commander and supreme commander (then former president Soeharto)," he said.
"It would also ruin ABRI as a whole. That's why (ABRI must have thought that) it was better to discharge Prabowo rather than bring him before a military court," added Billah.
During the height of the abductions in February, Wiranto and the current Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Feisal Tanjung were respectively the army chief of staff and ABRI commander.
Munir considered Wiranto's decision to be a setback to his efforts to improve the image of the Armed Forces and said it blatantly ignored the people's sense of justice.
"If we study all (council chairman Gen.) Soebagyo's earlier statements, it is clear that crimes have been committed (by Prabowo)," Munir said.
Kontras have recorded at least 24 disappearances of activists since April last year. Nine resurfaced after an absence of several months and spoke of being abducted, kept in detention cells and tortured.
Student activist Andi Arief, one of nine kidnapped activists who have returned home, said ABRI's decision was disappointing.
"If the three officers are guilty, they must be court- martialled," he said in Lampung yesterday as quoted by Antara.
The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said that Wiranto's decision had closed the door to the possibility of revealing who masterminded the abductions and what political purpose they were intended to serve.
"The decision has confirmed the ABRI leadership's intention to 'close' this case through a process which is not transparent," PBHI's executive director Hendardi said in a statement made available to the press.
Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, said Wiranto's decision was the most that he could have done.
"It was the best outcome of the Honor Council's investigation," he said as quoted by Antara. "It must have been hard on Prabowo, who has dreamed of being a senior ABRI officer since he was a boy." (imn/byg)