Security personnel guilty of treason: Abdurrahman

Security personnel guilty of treason: Abdurrahman

JAKARTA (JP): Moslem leader Abdurrahman Wahid stepped into the
fray on Friday over the treason allegations that President B.J.
Habibie's government has pinned on a group of opposition figures,
saying it was actually a group of security personnel who
committed subversion during the Semanggi tragedy last week.

Abdurrahman -- chairman of the nation's largest Moslem
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- said the personnel stationed
around the Semanggi cloverleaf should have maintained security
and peace in the area during the student protest without firing
bullets at the students.

"It's clear it was the security personnel who committed
treason by preparing (live) bullets for the assassination," he
said in a statement about the incident which claimed at least 15
lives.

Abdurrahman, who is better known as Gus Dur, urged the
military police to investigate not members of the public but
security personnel deployed at the cloverleaf during the
incident. He also called for a probe into the roles of middle and
high-ranking military officers linked to the shooting.

"Otherwise, the military police would also be among those
committing treason."

He said that the students, who were unarmed in the incident,
went to Atma Jaya University to express their opinions.

This was why he could not blame the Armed Forces as an
institution, including ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto, for the
incident.

"Therefore, if Wiranto does not set up a team to investigate
all those linked to the shooting, he will be considered a failure
in carrying out his tasks. No matter what the consequences would
be, the law must be upheld," he said.

He said the military leadership should report the
investigation results to Habibie in his capacity as head of state
and ABRI supreme commander.

"And if the president fails to take action over the incident,
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) should ask him to
account for it," he said.

The Moslem leader also said the government should stop its
campaign to divert public attention from the bloody incident by
slapping treason charges on members of the opposition National
Front.

"What the figures have said and done was to express their own
opinions, an action which should be considered natural in a
democracy." (rms)