TNI members 'killing' Theys charged with insubordination

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.