'Political patron' blamed for July 1996 incident

JAKARTA (JP): Two retired generals separately testified before National Police investigators on Thursday and Friday that the country's former "political patron" was behind the July 27, 1996, violence.

"The country's former political patron was involved in the execution of a government-sanctioned congress of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in the North Sumatra capital of Medan in June 1996, which ousted Megawati Soekarnoputri from her party's leadership and appointed Soerjadi as her replacement," the former armed forces chief of sociopolitical affairs, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Syarwan Hamid, told journalists on Friday at National Police Headquarters after being questioned for six hours by investigators.

"I myself then received information of the planned PDI congress from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The decision was made after an evaluation by the former political patron," Syarwan said. At the time Syarwan said he received the information, Moch. Yogie S. Memet was minister of home affairs.

Syarwan, who was appointed home affairs minister during B.J. Habibie's presidency, did not name the former political patron, but it is believed he was referring to former president Soeharto.

The congress in Medan was held just one month prior to the forcible takeover of PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta on July 27, 1996, from supporters of Megawati, who is currently the country's Vice President.

Syarwan was questioned in connection with the unrest in Central and East Jakarta which followed the takeover of the party headquarters.

"I was then doing my job ... I mean to keep the capital safe," he said.

Lt. Gen. (ret.) Sutiyoso, who testified on Thursday, said the July 1996 incident was a logical consequence of a political decision by the national leadership to remove Megawati from the PDI leadership.

Sutiyoso, who is currently the governor of Jakarta, denied any involvement in planning and organizing the takeover of PDI headquarters.

"I was just doing my job to ensure security in the city, because the city police were unable to control the riots," he said during a media conference at the South Jakarta mayor's office on Thursday evening.

"I managed to localize the riots in Salemba, Central Jakarta, and save the city from the possibility of wide-spread riots. We kept Senen, also in Central Jakarta, clear of riots."

He spoke to the media after being questioned for seven hours at National Police Headquarters over his alleged involvement in the incident.

Sutiyoso, who was Jakarta Military commander at the time the takeover and ensuing violence took place, admitted the military command was aware of plans by the Soerjadi-led camp to take over the headquarters by force.

"I ordered my intelligence officers to closely monitor developments, but we weren't involved there," he said.

Sutiyoso said he attempted to reconcile the Megawati and Soerjadi-led factions. "I suggested that the central government give the Soerjadi-led PDI a party secretariat of its own, separate from the Megawati-led faction, but there was no response."

He also responded to allegations he received hundreds of million of rupiah to finance the attack on PDI headquarters.

"I have to clarify this. I asked for a money transfer on July 28 to feed the soldiers who were attached to my command, after then city police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, through then National Police chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo, officially asked me to take over security in the city," he said.

"There were 10,000 military and police personnel deployed in the city at that time. I asked for Rp 10,000 per day per person for five consecutive days, or a total of Rp 500 million.

"So the money was for operations to secure the city," he said. (nvn/ylt/imn)