TNI members 'killing' Theys charged with insubordination

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An Army general revealed on Wednesday that members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) believed to be involved in the killing of Papuan leader Theys Hiyo Eluay would probably be charged with insubordination.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said that the TNI Headquarters as well as the Jayapura-based Trikora Military Command and the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) had never ordered their personnel stationed in the country's easternmost province of Papua, to hold a military operation that resulted in the killing of Theys.

Endriartono further noted that "the soldiers who did this must be responsible for their wrongdoing."

Theys, chairman of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP), was found dead hours after being abducted while heading for home from the Kopassus compound, located on Jl. Hamadi in the provincial capital of Jayapura, where the National Hero's Day on Nov. 10 was commemorated.

Without disclosing the motive behind the killing, the Jayapura Police earlier said that seven members of Kopassus were believed to be involved in the killing.

An official close to the investigation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that three Kopassus members were currently being questioned by the National Military Police.

Asked whether the TNI would determine whether the soldiers killed Theys due to an order from two prominent retired generals as has been rumored, Endriartono said: "So far, there is only a strong indication that some of our members were involved in the killing, but we have yet to find out whether the murder had any connection with high-ranking military officers or other retired generals."

He, nevertheless, was quick to add that "it is possible that the order (to kill Theys) came from elements outside the military, and was not merely the soldiers' initiative."

In several cases of rights violations implicating the military, the TNI has frequently stated that such actions occurred due to insubordination among its low-ranking soldiers.

Many believe that such a response would only provide impunity for TNI high-ranking military officers who are believed to be responsible for the violations.

The abduction of nine political activists that implicated the Kopassus' Mawar Team in 1999 and the 2000 mass killing at a West Aceh boarding school, in which Aceh religious leader Tengku Bantaqiah was killed, are two of the many cases, that TNI declared were due to insubordination of TNI soldiers.