'Political patron' blamed for July 1996 incident

'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)