Police scheduled to question Susilo as witness

JAKARTA (JP): National Police detectives are to question Minister of Mines and Energy Lt. Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday in connection with the July 27, 1996 unrest, an officer said on Tuesday.

Quoting official police instruction No. Pol. B/ND-103/IV/2000 Pidum, deputy National Police spokesman Col. Deddy S.K. said the former Jakarta Military chief of staff, was scheduled to be questioned as a witness by four top National Police detectives.

"The investigating officers for Pak Susilo will be (National Police chief of detectives) Maj. Gen. Chaeruddin Ismail, (detective chief of general crimes) Brig. Gen. Engkesman R. Hillep, (deputy chief of general crimes) Col. Makbul Padmanegara and detective Col. Surya Dharma," Deddy said, quoting the instruction which was dated April 28 and signed by Engkesman.

Following Susilo's questioning on Wednesday, the instruction states that former Jakarta Military commander Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso, the current Jakarta governor, is scheduled to be questioned on Thursday.

Former Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) Syarwan Hamid, is scheduled to be questioned on Friday.

"There will be other significant officers, both police and military, questioned during those three days," Deddy told The Jakarta Post.

Aside from Susilo, former secretary to city police chief Brig. Gen. Christ Soepontjo, who is the current deputy assistant chief of logistics to the National Police chief, is scheduled to be questioned on Wednesday by Engkesman and detectives Col. K. Yani and Lt. Col. Husni.

Sutiyoso is scheduled to be questioned on Thursday by Makbul, while former Central Jakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Aboebakar Nataprawira, currently the deputy chief of the National Police Staff and Leadership School in Bandung, West Java, is scheduled to be questioned by Engkesman, K. Yani and Husni.

On Friday, Syarwan is scheduled to be questioned by Engkesman, Makbul, Surya and Col. Leo Pardede, while Army Infantry Maj. Jhoni Supriyanto, former detachment chief of intelligence at the city military command, is scheduled to be questioned by Makbul.

Deddy said that on Tuesday, three army officers, one of them retired, and two police officers were questioned over the matter.

They were former assistant at the now defunct Army Intelligence Body (BIA), Maj. Gen. Yahya Nurcahya, currently assistant for communication affairs to the Military chief of general affairs; Let. Col. Rudy Ambon, formerly an intelligence officer at the city military command; and strategic affairs analysis director at the Ministry of Home Affairs Brig. Gen. (ret) Syamsiar, formerly an assistant at the Army Intelligence Body (BIA).

The two police officers questioned were assistants of operations to National Police chief Maj. Gen. Sutiyono, formerly the chief of the Elite Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) and Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Basyir Barnawi, who was a former personal assistant to then National Police chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo.

Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) supporters loyal to Soerjadi took over the party's office on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta on July 27, 1996 from the supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, whom Soerjadi ousted as party head in a government-backed party congress in June. The takeover of the headquarters triggered unrest throughout Central and East Jakarta.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) announced in September 1996 that five people died, 149 were injured and 23 went missing during the violence. (ylt)