Soekardjo retracts earlier statement

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A former bodyguard of president Sukarno retracted on Wednesday his statement that he saw the founding president forced at gunpoint in 1966 to sign the monumental document which set in motion Soeharto's ascent to the presidency.

Soekardjo Wilardjito, 71, said he witnessed Gen. (ret.) Maraden Panggabean and Maj. Gen. Basuki Rachmat finger their pistols in their holsters while two other generals, Gen. (ret.) M. Jusuf and Gen. Amirmachmud, looked on. Last month, he had said two generals drew their FN 46 pistols and pointed them at Sukarno. Only Jusuf and Panggabean are still alive.

"He said he didn't mean that the two generals were pointing the guns at Bung Karno. Instead, he himself tried to point his gun at the generals (as he wrongly thought they intended to shoot Sukarno) and Bung Karno stopped him," Chief of Yogyakarta Police Detectives Unit Lt. Col. Erwin Tobing said.

Tobing questioned Soekardjo for six hours at Yogyakarta police headquarters on suspicion of making a false report. Panggabean has denied Soekardjo's claims and maintains he was not even present at the signing of the document -- known by the acronym Supersemar -- at the Bogor Presidential Palace on March 11, 1966.

Soekardjo could face 10 years in jail if found guilty of making a spurious claim. Supersemar empowered Soeharto, then Army minister, to take measures to restore order following the aborted coup by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). He subsequently rose to the presidency in a rule spanning 32 years until last May.

The document and its far-reaching implications have been likened by some critics to a bloodless coup by Soeharto.

Jusuf, 70, has supported Panggabean's statement, which also conforms to the contemporary accounts of the event. He said he was only accompanied by Basuki and Amirmachmud to the palace to meet Sukarno.

Jusuf stated last Friday that no one had threatened Sukarno with pistols.

"It is not true that Basuki Rachmat or any of us there carried a gun when meeting with president Sukarno."

Soekardjo asserted last month that he was imprisoned without trial between 1966 and 1978 and lost his rights as a retired officer because of his knowledge of the event.

He demanded that Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Gen. Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono clear his name on charges of involvement with the outlawed PKI.

The current whereabouts of the document remain a mystery. Jusuf maintained last week that his knowledge of it ended after he presented it to Soeharto in Jakarta the day after the signing. Many believed he retained it in his possession. (44/swa)