Officers must abide by law: Commission

Officers must abide by law: Commission

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

The Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM)
during the 1999 Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II incidents
has insisted that the military and police officers allegedly
involved in the cases should appear before it as witnesses
despite rejections from their respective organizations.

The commission, which was established by the National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said the inquiry should
go ahead for the sake of legal certainty.

"The inquiry is related to a judicial process and applies a
legal mechanism which all must comply with. We cannot mix
politics with the law," the inquiry chairman Albert Hasibuan, who
is also a Komnas HAM member, told a media conference on Thursday.

Hasibuan's statement came after none of the four top officers
scheduled to be questioned on Thursday appeared. They were former
Armed Forces Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former National Police chief
Gen. (ret) Dibyo Widodo, his successor Gen. (ret) Roesmanhadi and
former Jakarta Police chief Comr. Gen. (ret) Nugroho Djajoesman.

Earlier in the day, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono
Sutarto defended the Indonesian Military's stance in rejecting
the existence of the inquiry.

Endriartono said the TNI would not turn its personnel over for
questioning as the House of Representatives had made the
political decision not to categorize the three incidents as gross
human rights violations.

Law No. 26/2000 on the human rights court entitles the House
to recommend which violations should be brought before the rights
tribunal.

"As the House has already decided that the cases in question
may not be classified as gross rights violations, there is no way
they can be treated as such," Endriartono told reporters.

Endriartono also asked the commission to respect the decision
because "it is a political decision arrived at as between the
House and the government".

He did not, however, reveal whether the officers who are
allegedly responsible for the incidents would face trial before a
military tribunal.

The incidents took place during student demonstrations against
the government on separate occasions in May 1998, September 1999
and November 1999.

The Komnas HAM-established inquiry had summoned 19 Army and
police officials to appear for questioning after its letters to
both institutions asking for permission went unheeded.