Six generals deny role in student killings

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)