Prabowo suggests supervision of intelligence
JAKARTA (JP): Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto made his first public appearance here in nearly two years, proclaiming he was back for good and suggesting that the legislature keep a close eye on intelligence operations to prevent their exploitation for certain political interests.
"There should be a special House committee which consists of faction leaders that has the authority to summon intelligence officers to report intelligence operations, including the highly confidential ones... just like in the United States," Prabowo said during a news conference on Tuesday.
The remark was made in response to a journalist's question of whether the 49-year-old former Army Special Force (Kopassus) chief thought intelligence operations were involved in or had been used by certain groups to create unrest.
Prabowo, a son-in-law of former president Soeharto, was discharged from the military in August 1998 following an inquiry which revealed his involvement in the abduction of student activists.
Since then Prabowo has been based in Amman, Jordan.
Previous statements on his behalf in the last two years have been made here by close associates or his father, senior economist Sumitro Djojohadikusumo.
Prabowo admitted that the main reason for holding Tuesday's media gathering was to refute recent remarks by President Abdurrahman Wahid who alleged that Prabowo had been involved in the killing of up to 100 people during military operations in Irian Jaya.
"I consider Gus Dur's statement a result of wrong input and I've already clarified with him that it's not true at all," he said referring to the President by his nickname.
Prabowo noted that he had only been briefly stationed twice in the easternmost province: the first for a fortnight in 1982, and the second in May 1996 when he led a military rescue operation to free hostages kidnapped by separatist rebels.
Prabowo expressed no ill will toward the President: "I still respect him (Abdurrahman) and I will always pray for his health and success to bring the nation out of economic turmoil."
Military
When asked whether he agreed with Abdurrahman's remark that ex-military personnel may be fomenting the unrest which had hit the country, Prabowo said such a possibility existed.
"Yes, they are capable, but there must be a very sophisticated investigation (to prove the allegations) because we cannot just make accusations without proof," Prabowo remarked.
"(Finding the evidence) is the job of the intelligence service, so we must have a professional and clean intelligence service to really investigate this."
Commenting on demands for the disbanding of military territorial commands, which military analysts said in the past had been misused to suppress dissidents, Prabowo contended that "the territorial doctrine is still relevant".
"In the next 20 to 30 years, I believe we still won't be able to afford modern military weaponry, so the presence of military troops in the regions will still be needed to keep our territorial integrity," he said.
Prabowo, who is now a businessman, said he had returned to Jakarta for good but added that he would still need to travel abroad to run his business in Jordan.
"I have decided to stay, but my work requires me to do a lot of traveling," he said, adding that he had been traveling between the two countries since January. (byg)