Sutiyoso ready to go, to face sanctions

JAKARTA (JP): "I am ready to face any kind of sanction over the 1996 forcible takeover of PDI (the Indonesian Democratic Party). I have never hesitated or been ashamed of it," Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said without remorse.

Sutiyoso made firm, clear and calm remarks during an interview with The Jakarta Post at his office on Wednesday.

"I have repeatedly told my wife and children that this is a political case. If I have to be punished because of this, they should not be embarrassed.

"I am a soldier and I was doing my job."

The retired three-star general, who turned 56 Wednesday last week, seemed calm and undisturbed with the possibility that he might lose his position as the number one man in the capital.

Last month, a joint police and military team, constituted to probe the 1996 bloody attack at PDI headquarters, named him, as Jakarta Military commander at the time, as a suspect in the case.

Sources at his office disclosed that he would resign from his office sometime next month.

The father of two even insisted that he is absolutely ready to be jailed over the case in which he and his police counterpart, Insp. Gen. Hamami Nata, have been named as suspects.

For Sutiyoso, who spent most of his military career in the Army's elite Kopassus force, sending him to jail won't be a threat to his dignity and honor.

He vowed that he would not escape from whatever is going to happen to him.

"I am ready, I have stated that," he said firmly.

Sutiyoso was Jakarta Military chief at the time "supporters" of a PDI splinter group led by Soerjadi -- with strong back-up from police and military -- forcefully took over the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro from supporters of then PDI leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, current vice president.

At least five people were killed and 23 others are still reported as missing from the attack, which triggered massive unrest in Central Jakarta. Many have claimed that the numbers were higher.

"If I was involved in a corruption case or if I got someone pregnant then they (my family) should be ashamed. But in this case, anybody who was Jakarta Military commander at that time would have to take the blame," Sutiyoso said.

"Nobody can escape what happened on that fateful day, nobody," he added.

But Sutiyoso contended that it is actually unfair for him and his police counterpart, Hamami Nata, to be blamed for the incident because he and the police chief were only following orders from higher officials.

"We were summoned by the (then) president (Soeharto) on July 19 and on July 22, the then Indonesian Military chief (Gen. Feisal Tanjung) responded to the order by calling all chiefs of staff and police chiefs to discuss what should be done. Then on July 25, a ministerial meeting on politics and security affairs also discussed it," he said.

"All the meetings discussed how to disperse (the crowd at) Diponegoro 58. It was an order from above and if we, the executors of the order, should take the blame, is it fair?" he questioned.

Sutiyoso and other former military and police officers in charge of security under Soeharto's authoritarian regime have been questioned several times about the attack by the joint military and police investigating team.

Along with the governor, nine high-ranking military and police officers have been named as suspects in the violent takeover as they were said to have violated the military emergency law.

"If I have to take the blame, I just hope that it stops with me and I take responsibility for all my subordinates," Sutiyoso said.

Interviewed separately, Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Lt. Gen. (ret.) Surjadi Sudirdja said that it is the right of the President to fire the governor.

"I cannot comment on the matter because the governor is the President's subordinate, representing the central government in the region. We just have to wait for developments," Surjadi, also a former Jakarta governor, told the Post on Wednesday.

According to newly enacted Government Regulation No. 108/2000 on the accountability of regional leaders, a provincial governor can be sacked for complicity in a criminal case.

The regulation, signed by President Abdurrahman Wahid on Nov. 30, allows the city council to establish a special investigation team to further probe the case.

The result of any such investigation can be submitted to law enforcement officials. The President also has the authority to fire the governor once he or she is declared a defendant by the court.

Based on the existing regulation, Sudarsono Hardjosoekarto, Director General for Regional Public Administration at Surjadi's office, urged the Jakarta Council to establish the investigation team soon.

"Sutiyoso's confession before the councillors would be his political accountability, and if Sutiyoso admitted the allegation, the council could ask him to step down," Sudarsono told the Post. (dja/02)