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.