Fri, 31 Aug 2001

Outspoken army general dies of heart failure

JAKARTA (JP): Agus Wirahadikusumah, an outspoken army general who was known for his courage in calling for major reforms to Indonesia's powerful military, died on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Agus, 49, was believed to have died of heart failure immediately after the Subuh (predawn) prayer, family members said.

"He woke me up for the prayer. But, I found him in convulsions after I finished wudhu (ritual ablutions)," Agus's wife, Tri Rachmaningsih, said.

Tri, along with the family's driver, immediately drove Agus from his residence in the Bulak Rantai Senior Army Officers' Housing Complex in East Jakarta to the Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta, but he was dead on arrival.

It was not immediately clear what the cause of death was or whether he had been suffering from an illness.

"The doctors said that the preliminary examination showed that my father died of heart failure. But as far as I know, he was healthy," Agus's son, Yunan Mahastra Satria, said. The graduate of Ohio State University was unable to hide his tears after paying a final tribute to his father.

Agus's daughter, Diyah Gustinar Savitri, is still in Ohio and is expected to arrive here on Friday.

The controversial Army figure drew attention in 1998 when he called on the Indonesian Military (TNI) to quit politics and return to the barracks.

Agus, who at the time was general planning assistant to former TNI chief Gen. Wiranto, was subsequently banished to Sulawesi as a military commander there, far away from the center of power.

Agus also went to the House of Representatives to promote his idea of abolishing the TNI's territorial function -- a suggestion which drew strong opposition from within the TNI.

His latest move to rock the TNI boat, one which ended up in his ouster as chief of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), was his disclosure of huge corruption in his unit that directly implicated his predecessor, Lt. Gen. Djadja Suparman.

Agus, who spent much of the 1980s studying in American defense institutions, was a close ally of former President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Almost two weeks before being dismissed from Kostrad, Agus sold all of his five Harley Davidson motorcycles and donated the money to help build the Tengku Bantaqiyah mosque in Pidie, Aceh.

He said at the time that his action was "to win the hearts and minds of the Acehnese." He had also promised to investigate Bantaqiyah's assassination and human rights violations allegedly ordered by top generals.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto on Thursday praised Agus, a 1973 graduate of the Indonesian Military Academy for his thoughts and opinions, especially on reform within the TNI.

"He was the one who raised the idea of reform in the TNI. We (the TNI) will adopt his concept (of reform)," Endriartono told reporters at Agus's residence. Endriartono's remark was supported by Kostrad commander Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu, who also visited Agus's residence.

Meanwhile, former vice president Umar Wirahadikusumah revealed on Thursday that Agus, his late nephew, had been offered the post of TNI chief by then president Abdurrahman Wahid but had refused it.

"It was on the morning of July 23 that Abdurrahman Wahid asked Agus to become the TNI chief," Umar, vice president from 1983 until 1988, said at Agus's residence.

"But Agus, with the approval of his relatives, rejected the offer, saying it was the Army chief of staff who had the authority to name an Army officer as a candidate for the position of TNI chief," he said.

The offer was made only hours before the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) appointed then vice president Megawati Soekarnoputri as the new president, replacing Abdurrahman.

Meanwhile, former TNI chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto dismissed speculation that there had been a rift between him and Agus, saying that "it was just an opinion put out by the media."

"Agus was a member of a 36-strong team at TNI Headquarters which was responsible for drafting reforms in the military," he told reporters. (tso/yan/imn)