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.