Seroja Memorial honors troops, civilians killed in East Timor
Seroja Memorial honors troops, civilians killed in East Timor
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri inaugurated on Sunday the Seroja
Memorial, located inside the compound of the Indonesian Military
(TNI) Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, as part of a
ceremony commemorating National Heroes Day.
The memorial is dedicated to soldiers and civilians who died
during the integration of East Timor into Indonesia in 1976.
After more than two decades, East Timor seceded from Indonesia
through a United Nations-sponsored ballot on Aug. 30, 1999. East
Timor became independent on May 20, 2002, in a ceremony also
attended by Megawati.
During the ceremony, only TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto
delivered a speech.
"Relatives of soldiers are allowed to visit the memorial
anytime," Endriartono said.
Also present at the ceremony were Megawati's husband Taufik
Kiemas, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, Coordinating Minister for
Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Minister
of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno and National Intelligence Agency
(BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono.
Several soldiers who took part in the operation in East Timor
in 1976 also attended the ceremony.
The memorial was built on an area of 126 meters by 92.5
meters. Its construction started on June 6 of this year and
finished on Nov. 5.
The memorial has several walls providing a description of the
history of East Timor from its integration into Indonesia in 1976
until its secession in 1999.
The names of 1,527 soldiers, police personnel and civilians
who were killed during the operation are engraved on the 23 walls
of the memorial.
Earlier in the day, Akbar presided over a ceremony at the
Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta, while Coordinating
Minister for Peoples' Welfare Jusuf Kalla led a ceremony aboard
the Tanjung Kambani warship in Jakarta Bay, Antara reported.
Present at the occasion were Minister of Resettlement and
Regional Infrastructure Soenarno, State Minister of
Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif, and Navy Chief of
Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh.
Other ceremonies commemorating National Heroes Day were held
at government offices in Jakarta and in regional areas.
Historian Aswi Warman Adam of the National Institute of
Sciences (LIPI) said that the ceremonies were necessary to remind
the nation of its struggle for independence.
However, Aswi questioned the criteria used to decide if
someone was a hero.
A presidential decree issued in 1964 classifies heroes into
two categories: those who died in the struggle for independence
and those who made a significant achievement for the nation.
With this classification, there are more heroes from the
military than those who are civilians, Aswi said.
"We have to change that criteria and the standard has to be in
line with current conditions," Aswi told The Jakarta Post on
Sunday.
The President, Aswi said, had to make public the names of
nominees up for the national hero award to prevent corrupters
from taking it.
Aswi said about 7,000 people had been buried at Kalibata
Heroes Cemetery, of which 6,000 were military and police
personnel, while the rest were civilians.
Of the 6,000 military and police personnel, 5,000 were from
the Army, and the remaining 1,000 were from the Air Force, Navy,
and police.
"I think it would be more precise to call it the Army's
cemetery," he said.
The ceremonies commemorating National Heroes Day were aimed at
remembering and paying tribute to those who fell during the
struggle for independence. The date Nov. 10 was named National
Heroes Day because of a battle against colonial forces in
Surabaya, East Java, on the same day in 1945, three months after
Indonesia declared its independence on Aug. 17, 1945.