Soeyono explains

From Forum Keadilan

I wish to straighten a report in Forum magazine No.10, page 23, on "Soeyono replaced after riots".

My activities around July 26 were as follows:

On July 24, I made an on-duty trip with the written approval of the Armed Forces Commander.

I left for Surabaya to inspect educational facilities. I next went to North Sulawesi for a study of the problem of sugarcane land reported by the local Coordination of Support for the Development of Regional Stability office. I was also to receive a report on the execution of joint sea patrol exercises with the Philippine Navy.

Incidentally, a Harley Davidson Club Indonesia group was traveling from Ujungpandang to Manado. I was invited to ride with them for one stage.

My big mistake was in choosing a motorcycle to which I was not accustomed. Disaster struck at a point 120 kilometers from Gorontalo. The motorcycle wavered at a sharp bend on a downhill slope. I had to apply the brake before it hit a bridge and I made a somersault into the river. I fell five meters down, flat on my back when hitting the water. I had slight fractures on my left hand and heel. I was evacuated by a chopper.

I was flown to Jakarta the same afternoon and arrived at the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital around midnight.

At the hospital in the morning of July 27, my children came to me crying with fear because, close to our house on Jl. Diponegoro, riots had broken out.

From the hospital, I called intelligence assistants and other staff to plan steps to be taken. When the Armed Forces Commander called me at 3 p.m., I suggested that matters should be handled at the Jakarta Regional Security Agency level.

Any doubt about the existence of cooperation and coordination among the Armed Forces Chief of General Affairs, the Armed Forces Chief of Socio-Political Affairs and the Jakarta Military District Commander, is hereby refuted. I had also decided that the operations' control center was to be at Cilangkap and at the Agency for the Coordination of Support for the Development of National Stability. I kept on monitoring the riots from the hospital with a small staff.

On my injury and my replacement, I would like to explain that:

1. I strongly disagree with the opinion that the replacement of the Chief of General Affairs was related to my injuries.

2. Planning for replacement in Armed Forces circles is made after well-thought-out considerations by superiors.

3. I have personally guided myself and my family with the belief that rank and function are merely clothes which can, at any time, be taken off, become outdated and discarded.

May this explanation be useful to the public

LT. GEN. SOEYONO

(Former) Armed Forces

Chief of General Affairs