Tanjung Priok rights trial eventually start

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

There are 11 military officers expected to stand trial at the Jakarta ad hoc human rights tribunal Monday for alleged involvement in the Tanjung Priok killings, offering hope for families of the victims who have been waiting for justice over the past 19 years.

Judge Andi Samsan Nganro, who will preside over the hearing, said on Sunday that the court would hear the case of Col. Sutrisno Mascung and his 10 colleagues -- soldiers from the North Jakarta Military District, at the time of the tragedy.

"We are ready to hear the case," he said.

A panel of five judges has been set up to hear the case. It consists of Andi, a career judge from the Central Jakarta District Court, another career judge Binsar Gultom and three non- career judges: Heru Susanto, Amiruddin Abureira and Sulaeman Hanif.

Sutrisno was the commander of Platoon III of the Air Defense Artillery Battalion, while the others were his subordinates when the bloodshed took place on Sept. 12, 1984.

They have been charged with gross human rights violations, which is punishable by death.

The court is also expected to hear the case of Maj. Gen. Sriyanto Muntrasan, who was Sutrisno's superior as the head of North Jakarta Military District's operational unit at the time.

Sriyanto, currently the commander of the Army's Special Command Forces (Kopassus), is the highest ranking military officer to be tried in the case.

His case has yet to be submitted to the court by the Attorney General's Office, however.

Two other cases would be those of former police commander of the Jakarta military command Maj. Gen. (ret) Pranowo and former North Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. (ret) Rudolf Butar Butar.

The government has never announced why Gen. (ret) L.B. Moerdani and Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno -- Indonesian Military commander and Jakarta Military chief respectively at the time -- were absent from the list.

The Tanjung Priok killings were reportedly set off by a military soldier who entered a prayer room (musholla), without obeying certain religious protocols, near the port of Tanjung Priok on Sept. 7, 1984.

He went in to tear down posters which the government considered extremist in nature, but he did not take off his boots, an act considered to be tantamount to desecration in a Muslim holy place.

Witnesses alleged that the soldier smeared gutter water on the walls as well. An outraged group of people then burnt the soldier's motorcycle. Four people, including the musholla's administrator, were arrested.

Five days later, Amir Biki, a local Muslim activist, led some 1,500 fellow civilians on a march to the police station to put pressure on the authorities to free the four detainees.

Eyewitnesses said that soldiers opened fire, killing scores of protesters. Biki was among the dead. Many other demonstrators were detained and allegedly tortured in connection with the demonstration.

The day after the shooting, Moerdani gave the official version of the event in a publicly broadcast announcement, in which he said, "Irresponsible agitators were the cause of the incident and the inevitable casualties."

That remained the government's last word on the matter until the fall of the Soeharto regime in May 1998.

Relatives of the victims have said the incident claimed almost 400 victims, while the military claimed only 18 people were killed.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) presented president Abdurrahman Wahid on July 6, 2000, the final report of its special investigation into the Tanjung Priok massacre.

It found that 33 were killed -- including 14 people whose identities remain unknown -- and 55 were injured.

The defendants in the Tanjung Priok case

1. Maj. Gen. Sriyanto former commander of the North Jakarta

military operational command, now

the commander of the Army's Special

Forces (Kopassus) and soon to be promoted as

the commander of the Central Java

military

2. Maj. Gen. (ret) former Jakarta military police

Pranowo commander

3. Maj. Gen. (ret) former North Jakarta military commander

Rudolf Butar Butar

4. Col. Sutrisno Mascung former commander of air defense

artillery battalion

5. Chief Corp. Asrori former member of the Jakarta military

command

6. Chief Corp. Siswoyo idem

7. Sgt. Maj. Abdul Halim idem

8. Second Lt. Zulfata idem

9. Sgt. Maj. Sumitro idem

10. Chief Sgt. Soyan Hadi idem

11. Chief Corp. Prayogi idem

12. Chief Corp. Winarko idem

13. Chief Corp. Idrus idem

14. Chief Corp. Muhson former member of air defense artillery

regiment