Probe into PDI HQ attack continues

JAKARTA (JP): City police are scheduled to summons witnesses in connection with an investigation into the bloody takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters on July 27, 1996, an officer said on Thursday.

"The investigation into the July 27 incident has not been shelved, we're still working on it and probably more witnesses will be summoned for questioning," city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman announced after a two-hour meeting with lawyers grouped in the Indonesian Team of Defense Lawyers for Democracy.

The lawyers went to the police headquarters to submit new evidence, including an article from Tempo magazine's July 26 edition. The magazine ran an investigative report on the headquarter's attack on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.

The report suggests that former president Soeharto's military aides planned and financed the attack, which triggered massive unrest throughout the city.

The magazine also ran a special interview with the then treasurer of the PDI, Alex Widya Siregar, who stated that he and other state officials, high-ranking officers and prominent businessmen, had been involved in the attack.

Noegroho said he welcomed anybody who was willing to present new evidence regarding the matter.

The two-star general, however, declined to answer questions on who would be summoned soon for questioning.

Separately, city police chief of detectives Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said the Tempo reporters would probably be summoned for questioning.

Five people died, 149 were injured and 23 others are reported still missing in the 1996 unrest. (emf)