Right trials could mean curtains for TNI's top brass

Right trials could mean curtains for TNI's top brass

JAKARTA (JP): Human rights abuses by the Indonesian Military
(TNI) were so common during the New Order regime that the country
would stand to lose most of its top officers if all the offenders
were punished, a human rights activist said on Saturday.

Speaking at a seminar in Surabaya, National Commission on
Human Rights secretary-general Asmara Nababan predicted a
military rebellion would erupt if all of the rights offenders
were taken to court.

"Human rights violations in Indonesia involved about 30 to 40
generals, and about 200 to 300 lieutenant colonels and colonels.
So if all of them are prosecuted, then the military would be
depleted," said Asmara.

The one-day seminar on the "Realization of Peace in the
Pluralistic Society" was organized by Surabaya University.

To avoid such a scenario, President Abdurrahman Wahid has
assigned Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra to
draft a bill on the establishment of a commission for truth and
reconciliation, Asmara said.

"The investigation of all human rights abuses and the
prosecution of all violators will need a long time and consume
all the energy needed to develop our country," Asmara said.

But he said the county could learn from the experiences of
about 25 countries which were able to resolve human rights abuses
through national reconciliation commissions.

He noted the experiences of Chile, El Salvador and Argentina,
which succeeded in enforcing laws on human rights crimes without
excessive confrontation with the military.

The country should also designate the period in which abuses
occurred to determine who was subject to prosecution, he said.

He proposed that the government assign the commission for
truth and reconciliation, after its formal establishment, to
investigate cases which occurred from 1965 to 1995.

The National Commission on Human Rights itself will only
concentrate on cases which occurred after 1995, Asmara said.

Asmara proposed the government select about seven people to
manage the independent commission for a period of about three
years before they were replaced by new board members.

In line with the government plan to set up human rights
courts, Asmara proposed the courts only deal with major human
rights abuses.

Tanjung Priok

In his capacity as a member of the Commission of Inquiry into
Human Rights Violation (KPP HAM) in Tanjung Priok, Asmara said
the commission would quiz three retired and active Army top brass
next month in connection with the 1984 incident.

Asmara said the commission would seek testimony from former
vice president Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno, Gen. (ret) L.B. Moerdani
and Maj. Gen. R.A. Butar Butar because of their positions in the
armed forces when the violence took place.

Moerdani was the Armed Forces commander, Try the Jakarta
Military commander and Butar Butar the North Jakarta Military
commander.

Controversy has shrouded the number fatalities during the
clash, which erupted following tension-charged lectures in
Tanjung Priok's Rawa Badak Mosque by preachers who reportedly
criticized the government. The military authorities claimed 40
people were killed but eyewitnesses said they saw a truck loaded
with charred bodies.

Try has ruled out any possibility for him to testify before
the commission, saying the matter was an institutional matter
within the military, not his own.

Nababan said no one had been named a suspect in connection
with the violence.

"So far we have not implicated anyone. We still need to hear
from those in charge at that time. Why it happened, who gave the
commands and who executed the orders. All must be cleared up."
(prb/nur/emf/edt)