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.