Soedjono missing since Nov. 29

JAKARTA (JP): In a startling revelation, it was disclosed on Friday that key suspect in the alleged military massacre in West Aceh, Lt. Col. Sudjono, had disappeared nearly two months before the military admitted he was missing.

Information obtained by The Jakarta Post indicates Sudjono went missing on Nov. 29 when he was about to be questioned as a suspect in the murder of Islamic boarding school teacher Tengku Bantaqiah and dozens of his students in West Aceh on July 23.

Military officials claimed on Feb. 9 that the intelligence chief of the Lhokseumawe-based Lilawangsa military command had not been seen since obtaining permission to go on leave from Jan. 5 to Jan. 17 to visit his hometown in West Java.

But the latest revelation indicates that before being named a suspect Sudjono had been questioned twice between Nov. 15 and Nov. 26 in Aceh and in Jakarta.

A reported letter in December from the Bukit Barisan Military commander ordering Sudjono to appear before military police on Jan. 5 went unheeded.

A military investigator who requested anonymity also confirmed to the Post on Friday that Sudjono has been missing since November.

"When I was dispatched to his residence in Medan in late November, he was already missing," he said.

Separately Marwan Paris, a member of an independent commission investigating rights abuses in Aceh, confirmed here on Friday that Sudjono was already missing in November.

"I just quoted the statement from the military police and the TNI deputy chief (Gen. Fachrul Razi) saying that it is true that (Sudjono) has been missing since that date," Marwan said.

"But it is not my authority to say whether Sudjono is missing or abducted," he added.

The commission last November issued a report highlighting five important cases of human rights abuses in Aceh which formed the basis for investigations leading to a joint military-civilian court.

Sudjono is among the 20 suspects who were allegedly involved in the Bantaqiah massacre, due to be tried first.

Local military officers maintain Bantaqiah and his students were killed in an exchange of fire. But an inquiry reported that there was no resistance when they were killed by the soldiers.

Hints of Sudjono's disappearance first came up earlier this month. Later the military claimed that he had been listed as a deserter on Jan. 18 and pledged to investigate his disappearance.

Chief of Siliwangi Military Command, which oversees West Java, Maj. Gen. Slamet Supriadi on Friday said attempts to find Sudjono have been fruitless.

Slamet said his men had combed all the corners of the province. "We have visited his family and spiritual advisers. But we found nothing," he said.

He admitted that the main difficulty was that the officer had disappeared in late November. "He was declared a deserter on Jan. 18, but he actually left his battalion in November 1999."

He refused to speculate if Sudjono was still in the province.

Many speculate that as an intelligence officer with access to classified information Sudjono may have been kidnapped to protect the mystery behind the killings.

Fears of a cover-up are heightened as his disappearance occurred just six-days after the commission made public its report, which implicated Sudjono, on Nov. 23.

Meanwhile in Medan, the spokesman for the Bukit Barisan Military Command Lt. Col. Nurdin Sulistyo on Friday also said there was no sign of Sudjono in Medan where his wife lives.

Trial

Despite the snafu over Sudjono's disappearance, the government on Friday announced that it would proceed with the Bantaqiah trial.

Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad told journalists in Jakarta that the trial would be held in Banda Aceh in early March.

"It has been decided that with or without the presence of the key suspect (Sudjono), the trial will still be held," he added that TNI has promised to do its best in finding Sudjono before the trial starts.

"The dossiers of the suspects are scheduled to be handed over to the Attorney General's office on Feb. 22 and it is expected that within three to four days the case will have been registered at the Banda Aceh district court," he added.

Hasballah was speaking after meeting Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, TNI deputy chief Gen. Fachrul Razi, chief of military prosecutor Maj. Gen. Timor Manurung and officials from the troubled province to discuss the prospect of the trial, which has so far been bogged down by Sudjono's disappearance.

Hasballah also said that a panel of five military and civilian judges has already been set up to preside over the trial.

He said the panel consists of two military judges -- Col. Abdul Rohim and Col. Sarman Mulyono -- and three civilian judges -- Roslan Dahlan, Zulkifli and Sarbuan Harahap.

The trial was initially scheduled to be held on Sabang Island, just off the northwestern tip off Sumatra, at the end of January.

Hasballah said, however, that the trial would have to be held in Banda Aceh as the people on Sabang rejected the plan due to security concerns.

"The Banda Aceh Mayor has agreed with the plan, but asked for maximum security during the trial as there is the possibility that there could be disturbances," Hasballah said without elaborating.(byg/emf/sur/25/39)