Omar Dani speaks up

JAKARTA (JP): Former Air Force chief of staff Omar Dani launched on Tuesday a book seeking to set the record straight about the Army's allegation of his role in the 1965 coup attempt, an accusation which condemned him to jail for over 29 years.

Tuhan, Pergunakanlah Hati, Pikiran dan Tanganku -- Pledoi Omar Dani (God, Use My Heart, Mind and Hands -- Omar Dani's Testimony) was written by Benedicta Soerojo dan JMV Soeparno based on Omar's defense statement which he read in court before he was sentenced to death by the military court.

His sentence was later commuted to life and he was pardoned by Soeharto, the same man who put him in jail, in 1995.

Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri (seen in picture above together with Omar) was among the many dignitaries present at the book-launching ceremony at the Sudirman Hall in Jakarta. At the ceremony, Omar said he was a loyal supporter of President Sukarno, Megawati's father, who was toppled after the 1965 abortive coup.

Omar, who turned 77 last week, was in charge of the Air Force at the time of the coup which the Army blamed on the communists. Pleading his innocence, he said the accusations against him were vicious slanders not only against him, but against the Air Force.

His book is the latest of a series of local publications in the past two years disputing the official version of the 1965 coup which stood unchallenged, at least in the open, during Soeharto's tyrannical rule up until 1998.