Servicemen held over Soe incident

Servicemen held over Soe incident

Antara, Kupang

Maj. Gen. William T. da Costa, chief of the Udayana Military
Command overseeing Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara, asserted
that he would take strict action against the servicemen who were
suspected of being involved in the Soe incident that left a
policeman dead.

"We are still investigating the incident. Two servicemen have
been detained to undergo an intensive Military Police
investigation," he said in Kupang on Tuesday.

Antara reported that Second Lt. FS, commander of the Timur
Tengah Selatan Military Subdistrict, had been detained by the
Military Police for giving permission for gambling activities in
the regency to raise funds to rehabilitate his official
residence, while Capt. S., an intelligence officer, was detained
because besides protecting the gambling activities, he was also
allegedly involved in the incident.

The incident occurred when hundreds of East Timorese refugees
came to the Timor Tengah Selatan police station to demand the
return of goods the police had seized as part of an operation to
rid refugee camps in the regency of gambling by the end of
September 2001. The refugees ran amok and attacked on-duty
personnel, leaving a policeman, identified as Immanuel Mean,
dead.

Da Costa pledged the military command would be transparent in
carrying out the investigation and would bring to justice those
who were found guilty of backing up the gambling activities and
of provoking refugees to attack the police station.

"If the soldiers are proven guilty in the gambling case and in
this incident, they could be dismissed from the military and be
prosecuted in accordance with military law," he said.

He said the military had never allowed servicemen to back up
gambling activities to raise funds for certain purposes as this
was against the law.

He also said he would encourage the police to fight against
any gambling rackets that might encourage the refugees to stay on
Indonesian soil.