Rogue soldiers may have staged Papua ambush: Minister

Tiarma Siboro and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Jayapura

Rogue Indonesian soldiers might have staged an ambush on Aug. 31 which killed two American teachers and an Indonesian when they, along with a dozen other employees of the PT Freeport mine in Timika, Papua, were traveling along the street leading to the company complex, the country's top security minister said on Friday.

"The government sees three possibilities. First it could have been carried out by the Free Papua Movement (OPM); second, by rogue military personnel; or by a third party linked neither to OPM nor the military.

"There are indications and theories. So let the ongoing investigation continue," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters as quoted by AFP after holding a Cabinet meeting.

Susilo was responding to an earlier statement by Papua deputy police chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan as the latter said that police investigators had found evidence linking the Indonesian Military to the deadly ambush, that included forensic test results that showed that military-issue weapons, including an M- 16 machine gun, an SS-1 rifle and a Mauser rifle were used in the Aug. 31 attack.

Tarigan further said that these weapons were used by Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) that was stationed in the area.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) has rejected accusations that the Army was involved in the shooting.

"If Kostrad members were involved in the ambush, we would no doubt have to punish them, but without compelling evidence, the police will only be committing a blunder by pointing at a certain military institution," Army chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Ratyono told The Jakarta Post by phone.

TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin concurred and said: "An incomplete investigation may cause misjudgment."

Sjafrie further admitted that both the police and the TNI had sent a joint investigating team on Dec. 23 to conduct a thorough investigation -- including determining whether or not the military was involved in the ambush -- and is expected to finish its task on January 5, 2001.

Sjafrie said that the sending of the joint team led by the deputy commander of the National Military Police Brig. Gen. Hendarji was in response to public demand, considering that "as of today, the previous military investigating team has concluded that none of our (military) soldiers were involved in the ambush."

"Isn't it perplexing that the police have been inconsistent as they previously accused Kopassus, but now they have disclosed that it was Kostrad battalion 515 (not battalion 514 as earlier reported) which committed the ambush?," Sjafrie asked.

Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbon, chief of the Trikora Military Command overseeing Papua, declined to comment on the police investigation, saying: "No comment for the time being".

Previously, Mahidin denied that any servicemen were involved in the incident, saying he would sue those who pointed to the military. He also had made a similar remark in the murder of pro- independence Papuan leader Dortheys "Theys" Hiyo Eluway in November, 2001 but, later was silent when the National Military Police brought a number of military officers and law-ranking servicemen of Kopassus to the tribunal for their involvement in the murder.

Rights activist Ifdhal Kasim of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) criticized the military's stance, saying that the institution had to be more cooperative with the police while the latter was conducting a probe into the deadly ambush.

"Is it really necessary for the military to send its own investigating team when that task belongs to the police?," Ifdhal cautioned.

"To us, it is clear that the police hold the authority to investigate any criminal cases for the sake of public accountability," he further said, referring to the People's Consultative Assembly Decree No. VII/2000 on the separation of duties between the TNI and the National Police.

The U.S. administration has proposed that the joint investigating team allow the participation of the U.S. Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) in the investigation.