Ten generals to be questioned: Rights activist

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) will quiz 10 military and police generals implicated in the Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II incidents, and will exercise its subpoena rights should the generals defy its summons, a human rights activist has said.

The commission sent a letter to both the military and police headquarters last Friday, asking for permission from the military and police leadership to question those generals, KPP HAM Chairman Albert Hasibuan told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"Should the military and police refuse to give their permission to question those generals, we will exercise our subpoena rights to force them to answer our summons," said Albert, adding that the military and police chiefs had until this Friday to answer the letters, the second that KPP HAM had sent to the military and police headquarters.

The first letter was sent in early January, which the military leadership strongly rejected in its reply to KPP HAM dated Jan. 7, saying that the commission's investigation was irrelevant.

The military headquarters also argued that it did not need to comply with the summons since the House of Representatives (DPR) had already carried out its investigation and concluded that there were no gross human rights violations in the incidents.

Albert refused to disclose the names of the 10 generals, saying, "We cannot disclose the names of the generals yet."

The generals would be questioned merely as witnesses, and they would be asked about "their knowledge about the incidents," said Albert, adding that the questioning of the 10 generals was extremely important as "they had command responsibility in the incidents."

Albert said the commission had strong legal grounds to exercise its subpoena rights, as it was supported by Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights.

The law stipulates that KPP HAM possesses the right to summon and investigate any party involved or having knowledge about human rights violations.

Albert also said on Tuesday that the commission had just completed its questioning of 35 students and community members who were victims of the violence.

According to Albert, families of the victims were also summoned for questioning, which took place last week.

"The questioning of those generals is urgently needed to supplement information already given by the students and community members," Albert said.

He said that after completing the questioning, the commission would submit the final results to the Attorney General's Office (AGO) for further legal processing.

The House investigated the three cases in 2000 and reached a conclusion that there were no gross violations of human rights in the shootings.

In the first incident, four Trisakti University students were shot dead in May 1998 while they staged protests against then president Soeharto in the university compound. The killing of the four students triggered widespread riots in the country, forcing former strongman Soeharto to resign.

The Semanggi I and II incidents occurred during the tenure of Soeharto's successor, B.J. Habibie, in 1999.

Students from various universities here, who were staging protests to promote the reform agenda, were harshly dealt with by military personnel.

The military repression took several lives, including students', and several dozen students and others were severely injured.