Rights team urges officers be tried for rights abuses
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) has identified 50 high and middle-ranking military and police officers believed to be involved in the Trisakti and Semanggi killings, and demanded they be charged.
KPP HAM, in its report probing the affair, formally recommended on Thursday that the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) charge the officers for alleged crimes against humanity.
One high-ranking military officer and two high-ranking police officers were accused of involvement at the strategic level, 11 high and middle-ranking officers at the operation command level with 36 middle-ranking officers at the field command level.
"We conclude that the killings took place with the full involvement of the security officers who used their power, as well as their weapons, in an excessive way for the sake of certain political interest," KPP HAM's chairman Albert Hasibuan told a press conference after submitting the report to Komnas HAM.
The presentation of the report also marked the dissolution of the commission, which was set up by Komnas HAM on Aug. 27 last year to investigate the shooting of four Trisakti University students during a demonstration on May 12, 1998, which triggered massive riots that led to the downfall of former president Soeharto.
It was also tasked to investigate the Semanggi I incident that occurred on Nov. 13, 1998 and the Semanggi II incident that took place on Sept. 24, 1999, in which several people, including students, were killed.
The inquiry team had issued summonses to a number of military and police generals, including former Indonesian Military chief (ret) Gen. Wiranto for questioning.
However, the generals refused to answer the summonses, alleging that the commission was unlawful.
"The Trisakti incident in May 1998 occurred as the security instrument tried to stop students from holding rallies demanding that former president Soeharto step down," Albert said on Thursday.
"The Semanggi I incident occurred when security personnel attempted to ensure Soeharto's successor, B.J. Habibie, remained in office; while the Semanggi II incident took place as students marched to protest a House session set to approve laws which allowed the state to commit repressive acts against its citizens," Albert said.
Present at the press conference were Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), Usman Hamid, secretary of the inquiry team, and also Munarman of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of the Violence (Kontras).
Albert refused to name the accused officers, saying that Article 24 of Law No. 26/2000 on human rights forbids them revealing the names publicly.
The commission also urged the Attorney General's Office to adopt recommendations made by the joint fact finding team investigating the Trisakti incident on the grounds that the two- day rampage across the country "had a systematical connection with the Trisakti killings".