Truth behind Trisakti shootings sought

Truth behind Trisakti shootings sought

By A'an Suryana

JAKARTA (JP): University students in the capital and across
the country will commemorate on Wednesday the one-year
anniversary of the Trisakti shooting, in which four students were
killed and dozens of others injured when security personnel
opened fire on protesting students.

The four students, between the ages of 20 and 22, were killed
by live bullets fired by as still unidentified persons.

Elang Mulya Lesmana from the school of architecture, Hendrawan
Sie, who studied economics, Hafidhin Royan, an industrial
engineering student, and Heri Hartanto, a mechanical engineering
student, were shot and killed as they took part in a street rally
in front of their Grogol, West Jakarta, campus on the evening of
May 12 last year.

Their friends and many others in the nation, including the
press, called the four young men the Heroes of Reform for
sacrificing their lives and future for the reform movement, which
was seeking to force then president Soeharto out of office.

As is widely known, the Trisakti shootings triggered three
days of riots, arson and looting by people in the capital.

Similar actions took place in other large cities and towns
across the country.

The burning and looting of shopping centers, office buildings
and houses left hundreds of people dead and wounded. The violence
also led many Jakartans, particularly expatriates and Chinese-
Indonesians, to flee the country.

Nine days after the shootings, Soeharto, who was on an
official visit to Egypt when the Trisakti tragedy occurred,
announced his resignation.

In commemoration of the May 12, 1998, incident, The Jakarta
Post talked separately to the parents of the four Heroes of
Reform on Sunday about the progress which has been made in the
case and what they see the future holding for those responsible
for the deaths of their loved ones.

All of the parents have one hope in common: that the shooters
and their superiors will be tried in a court of law.

Elang's father, Bagus Wiyoga Ananta, 50, said: "It's already
one year but still the city military police (which is conducting
the investigation into the incident) have made no significant
progress in their probe."

The tribunal in charge of the investigation has only been able
to prove procedural errors committed by security personnel, Bagus
said, referring to the 18 Mobile Brigade members who were tried
in connection with the Trisakti shooting for not following proper
military procedures.

After a series of trials, the military tribunal on August last
year sentenced two of the 18 to 10 months and four months in
jail, respectively, for ordering their men to shoot into the
crowd of demonstrating Trisakti students.

"The trial did not reveal the shooters or the commanders who
gave the orders," Bagus, a retired Bank Indonesia staff member,
said at his house in Ciputat, South Jakarta.

"I am convinced the Indonesian military does not have the will
to uncover the truth behind the shooting," he said.

Lasmiyati, 41, mother of Heri Hartanto, asked why B.J.
Habibie's government had failed to uncover the identities of the
shooters.

She said that during a meeting with the families of the four
dead students 40 days after the shooting, Habibie said he had
ordered military commander Gen. Wiranto to thoroughly investigate
the incident.

Wiranto told relatives of the four dead students in October
that the military had sent projectiles believed to have killed
the victims to Singapore to help trace the shooters, Lasmiyati
said.

As has been reported, the Singaporean forensic scientists were
unable to properly test the projectiles and recommended Indonesia
send them to Canada for testing.

"It's easy to find out the truth because they found the
bullets which can be tested to identify the kind of guns used by
the shooters," Lasmiyati, the wife of a retired Army lieutenant,
said.

"Unfortunately, there have been no results yet," she said.

According to Hendriawan's father, Hendrik Sie, 41, and mother
Karsiah, 39, the military tribunal was nothing but a ploy because
many of Soeharto's cronies are still in the government.

They urged Trisakti University authorities to bring the case
to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

"If it is not possible, I hope a fair and thorough
investigation of the case will be handled by the new government
formed after the June 7 polls," Hendrik, an employee at a private
firm, said.

"Those children were innocent. They were only armed with
brains and pens, but the security personnel apparently had no
heart and still shot them as if the students were animals," he
said.

Hendriawan was the couple's only child.

Speaking by phone from the West Java capital of Bandung,
Hafidhin's father, Enus Yunus, 57, a retired government official,
said: "From the beginning, I was skeptical of the investigation."

He shared the opinion of Hendriawan's parents on the need to
bring the case to an international court.

"The Trisakti shooting can only be handled by an independent
international tribunal because the current government cannot be
trusted," he said.

He also believes a new government will not be able to solve
the case because many important posts will continue to be
dominated by the New Order's "people".

"Thus, students should continue their struggle for the sake of
the nation. If the new government fails to establish truth and
justice, the students must correct them," Enus said.

Thousands of university students in Jakarta and the
surrounding areas are expected to take to the city's main
thoroughfares on Wednesday to press their demands for a trial of
the shooters in the Trisakti tragedy.