Soekardjo retracts earlier statement

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)