Six generals deny role in student killings

JAKARTA (JP): Six retired Army generals denied responsibility on Wednesday for the mystery surrounding the student killings at Trisakti University and the Semanggi cloverleaf in 1998.

The retired generals -- Feisal Tanjung, a former coordinating minister for political and security affairs, Wiranto, a former chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI)/defense minister, R. Hartono and Syarwan Hamid, two former home affairs ministers, Fachrul Razi, a former TNI Chief of General Affairs, and Zacky Anwar Makarim, a former chief of the TNI's intelligence service (BIA) -- asserted that they had never adopted any policy nor issued any orders authorizing the security forces to shoot student demonstrators at the time.

Speaking before the House special committee investigating the so-called Semanggi and Trisakti tragedies, Wiranto, spokesman for the six retired generals, questioned the committee's recent claim that the retired generals must be held responsible for the student killings.

"There's no point in us coming here to testify if it has already been decided that we must be held responsible for these traumatic incidents," he said, adding that the special committee should issue a clarification about the matter.

Panda Nababan, who chaired the meeting, admitted to making a statement recently saying that the generals should be held responsible for the incidents. But he said on Wednesday that this did not necessarily mean they were guilty.

Four students of Trisakti University were killed when the security forces opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators on May 12, 1998, an incident that led to the mid-May riots and the fall of Soeharto's regime on May 21, 1998.

The Semanggi incident, known as Black Friday, took place on Nov. 13, 1998, when 12 people died in a clash between student demonstrators and the security forces. More than 150 were injured, mostly by gunshots.

"I held a meeting on Nov. 17, 1998, with all ministers and military officials under my coordination to discuss the incident," Feisal said.

"We came to the conclusion that certain groups were launching subversive actions to bring about the failure of the special session (held by the People's Consultative Assembly from Nov. 6 to Nov. 13) and, therefore, the meeting recommended that the National Police investigate the incidents.

"Later, the police halted its investigations because it had not enough evidence to bring the cases to court," he said.

Syarwan concurred and said that the government had no plan to employ a repressive approach in handling the student demonstrations.

"The incident occurred after the student demonstrators had forced their way from the cloverleaf to the Senayan complex where the special session was being held," he said.

Meanwhile, the Volunteer Team for Humanity criticized the special committee for being too slow in concluding their work, especially as they had not been able to reach a conclusion in respect of the tragedies.

It also criticized some of the committee members whom it said were not serious in carrying out the investigation and some others who did not know much about the incidents and lacked understanding of the 2000 Law on Human Rights.

Munir, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), dismissed the retired generals' testimony.

"It is impossible to blame anyone else other than the military for these major incidents that left dozens of civilians dead and hundreds of others injured," he said.

Outside the conference room, dozens of students staged a protest demanding an ad hoc trial for the retired generals and other military officials for the human rights violations committed during the tragedies, as well as in Aceh, East Timor and Maluku.(rms)