TNI turns down summons by rights commission

TNI turns down summons by rights commission

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

The Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel insisted on defying
several subpoenas on Friday from the Commission of Inquiry into
Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) for their alleged involvement
in the Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II killings.

The rejection was made despite the Central Jakarta District
Court's ruling, which supports the commission in exercising its
subpoena rights.

Maj. Gen. Timor P. Manurung, head of the TNI Legal Section,
said on Friday that the decision made by the Court on Thursday
constituted merely "an ordinary letter" as opposed to a legal
document to respond to an earlier demand by the commission.

The Central Jakarta District Court ruled on Thursday that KPP
HAM was legal and thus had the right to summon military and
police officers believed to be responsible for three high-profile
incidents in 1998 and 1999.

The court, however, refused to summon by force military and
police generals believed to be responsible for three fatal
shootings due to technical inaccuracies in the summonses.

Timor further said that should the commission send the
summonses again to the military's top brass, the TNI "would file
an appeal against it."

"Such summonses have no legal basis to force our top brass to
obey them because they were not created during a process which
invited all parties.

"Moreover, by law, the inquiry commission must be dissolved by
Feb. 27," Timor told reporters at his residence in East Jakarta.

Central Jakarta Court deputy chairman Rusdy As'ad said on
Thursday that KPP HAM's summonses were flawed since they did not
contain "proper addresses, titles and institutions of the people"
listed in it.

He also said that KPP HAM's summonses were merely "an
invitation to meet the inquiry team to provide clarification". To
make the summonses stronger, he said, the inquiry should adopt
the state prosecutors' text which firmly states the intention "to
summon a person as a witness for questioning in relation to an
incident".

"Had KPP HAM sent proper summonses (to the generals) and they
did not comply, the court would issue a strongly worded subpoena
as authorized by the law," As'ad told a media conference on
Thursday.

He referred to Article 95 of Law No. 39/1999 on human rights
that entrusts the chairman of a district court to issue a
subpoena.

KPP HAM was set up by the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) on Aug. 27 last year to investigate the shooting of
four Trisakti University students during a demonstration on May
12, 1998, which triggered massive riots that led to the fall of
former president Soeharto.

It also is tasked to investigate the Semanggi I incident that
occurred on Nov. 13, 1998 and the Semanggi II incident that took
place on Sept. 24, 1999, in which several students and other
people were killed.

The inquiry team issued summonses to a number of military and
police generals, including former Indonesian Military chief (ret)
Gen. Wiranto, for questioning.

The generals, however, refused to answer the summonses,
alleging that the commission was unlawful since KPP HAM was not
cited in Law No. 26/2000 on a human rights tribunal which
regulates the establishment of an ad hoc investigators team. That
prompted the commission to ask the Central Jakarta District Court
to issue a ruling on the issue.

According to Rusdy, the summonses did not clearly identify the
witnesses or their addresses and there was no proof that the
witnesses had really received the summonses.

KPP HAM members Usman Hamid and Dadan Umar Daihani, who
received the court's reply, said on Thursday that they would
repeat the summons procedure despite the fact that the military
and police had refused to allow their officers to appear for
questioning.

"After encountering difficulty in the questioning of
witnesses, Komnas HAM has decided to extend the inquiry's working
period that was originally scheduled to end on Feb. 27," Usman
said.

Dadan said that the text of the summons is the same as the
summonses sent by earlier inquiries on the 1999 East Timor cases
and the 1984 Tandjung Priok massacre.

The inquiries did not encounter obstacles from the military
and police in their questioning due to such technicalities.
Further investigations into the two cases have been completed and
are ready to be brought to the human rights tribunal.

Separately on Thursday, the parents of students killed in the
three incidents sent an ultimatum to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri for her failure to exercise her authority to urge
the military and police not to impede the inquiry.

"We give her 10 days from today (Thursday). Should she ignore
the warning, we will file a civil lawsuit against her for failing
to discharge her duty to guarantee, protect and uphold human
rights," said Cece Sarwelih, who is the father of one of the
Semanggi I victims Engkus Kusnadi.