Ten generals to be questioned: Rights activist

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.