Soldiers said out of line in East Timor killing
Soldiers said out of line in East Timor killing
JAKARTA (JP): Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono yesterday
said that some members of the Armed Forces (ABRI) violated
procedures in last month's killing of six people in East Timor.
Moerdiono said Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung reported
the incident 10 days ago to President Soeharto. The President
then called for an immediate inquiry and for the soldiers
responsible to be punished.
"That could mean court martial," he told reporters after
meeting with President Soeharto at Merdeka Palace.
According to Moerdiono, the ABRI chief reported to Soeharto
that some soldiers "acted beyond established procedures" during
the incident.
Details of the Jan. 12 incident in Gariana, a village in the
Maubara district of the Liquisa regency, are still not clear.
East Timor military chief Col. Kiki Syahnakri said earlier
that the six killed were all members of the Fretilin, an armed
separatist movement. Kiki also insisted that they were all killed
during an armed contact after they resisted arrest.
Some local East Timorese, according to foreign press reports,
said they were all civilians.
Kiki was quoted by Antara as saying last Friday that there was
strong evidence the six were guerrillas because the military
found important documents on them. The documents reportedly
belong to Coni Santana, the Fretilin leader.
Syahnakri said his troops ambushed the Timorese after being
tipped off by locals annoyed with the guerrillas.
"The six were Fretilin members who often rob the local
people," he asserted.
Armed Forces chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Syarwan Hamid
announced yesterday that a fact finding team comprising seven
officers, led by Brig. Gen. Sumarna T. from the ABRI Inspectorat
General, was sent to East Timor on Feb. 7 to investigate the
incident.
Council
Syarwan said in a statement that the Army Chief of Staff had
been asked to form a Military Honorary Council to follow up the
results of the investigation and determine the proper course of
action.
It has been more than three years since the Army has formed
such a council. Last time was in reaction to the bloody clashes
between troops and East Timorese demonstrators in Dili, capital
of East Timor, on Nov. 12, 1991.
The council, led by Maj. Gen. Feisal Tanjung, then the chief
of the Army Staff and Command College, later recommended action
be taken against 19 soldiers, including two senior officers. Some
were expelled from the force and a number of junior field
officers were later court martialled.
The National Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday also
announced that it was sending a three-person fact finding team,
led by East Timor native Clementino Dos Reis Amaral, to
investigate the incident.
This is also similar to the one commissioned by the government
in the wake of the Nov. 12, 1991 Dili incident. That commission,
led by Justice M. Djaelani, later found that soldiers were
excessive when dealing with demonstrators. The commission also
determined that there were "about 50" casualties, higher than the
original figure given by the military but lower than those given
by international non-governmental organizations.
The Liquisa killings have again prompted expressions of
concern from several Western embassies, including the United
States, Australia and Canada, although not to the same extent as
the international uproar that followed the November 1991
incident.
Moerdiono said yesterday that the military had launched the
investigation in its own interests and not because of foreign
pressure. (emb)