Rector wants Trisakti shooting be reinvestigated
JAKARTA (JP): The shooting of Trisakti University students on May 12 last year will be clarified if reform movement groups win next month's general election, rector Thoby Mutis said on Sunday.
He was quoted by Antara as saying after inaugurating the start of construction for Trisakti's new campus in Nagrak, Bogor, that the military tribunal of the shooting, which had led to the death of four Trisakti students, was mainly limited to police members who had been charged with "disobeying procedures".
"The real shooters, however, are still free out there and have yet to be tried," Thoby said.
He speculated that the government, particularly the security authorities, has strongly intended to bury the case.
"That's why the results of the trials are far from what we've been expecting," he said.
"Therefore," he added, "If the reform movement factions win the poll, the Trisakti University tragedy would be solved. So, let's see the results later."
So far, the trial has only resulted in two Mobile Brigade police lieutenants being sentenced, on Aug. 12, 1998, to 10 months and four months in jail respectively for ordering their men to open fire on students staging an antigovernment protest on May 12 in front of Trisakti University in Grogol, West Jakarta.
The military tribunal said the two officers were guilty of disobeying or exceeding orders as stipulated in Article 103 of the Military Penal Code for acts breaching discipline.
Four students were shot dead and dozens others were injured during the incident.
Three days after the Trisakti shootings, the capital was rocked by massive riots, which eventually forced former president Soeharto to leave office after holding onto the post for 32 years.
The two officers were the first of 18 security personnel to be tried in connection with the Trisakti incident.
Jakarta Military Police Commander Col. Hendardji once promised to present five more defendants in the trial. So far, he has not acted on his promise.
On March 31 this year, about 300 Trisakti students rallied in front of the Ministry of Defense and Security in Central Jakarta to once again press their demand for an immediate revelation of the instigators of the May 12 shooting and the brutal executors as well.
During the rally, the students -- all attired in their blue university jackets -- were involved in a clash with security authorities, leaving at least nine students and a university guard badly wounded.
On Saturday in Jakarta, Trisakti's foundation chairman, Trisula, strongly urged the new "legitimate" government to be elected in the poll to hold a new investigation and trial with regard to the shooting.
During the inauguration ceremony of the new campus at Nagrak, the university's staff and students also held a series of activities involving local residents in an attempt to introduce the project at a 120-hectare plot adjacent to the Kota Wisata housing complex.
The activities included a health service, a fun walk and a fishing competition.
Antara did not report on when the project would be completed or whether the existing Trisakti campuses in West Jakarta would be moved to Nagrak.
It's also unclear whether the new campus, which is about a one-hour drive from Jakarta, was also meant to hinder Trisakti students from staging massive rallies against the government in the capital in the future. (bsr)