Try Sutrisno grilled over Priok riots

JAKARTA (JP) Former vice president Try Sutrisno was grilled for 12 hours at the Attorney General's Office here on Thursday for his alleged involvement in the Tanjung Priok riots that claimed dozens and possibly hundreds of lives.

Try was questioned because when the riots broke out on Sept. 12, 1984, he was the Jakarta military commander, whose jurisdiction included the port area of Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta.

"I came to meet the summons of the Attorney General's Office out of respect for the law. I answered all questions fully and honestly from start to finish," he told reporters after the questioning, Antara reported.

"I, as a former regional military commander, explained everything in detail to the investigators. My responsibility as a military commander was supervising the activities of the Jakarta military command."

The government said that only 18 people were killed in the clash between the military and civilians in front of the Tanjung Priok mosque, but relatives of the victims said that it claimed the lives of more than 400 people.

Try said the prosecutors did not ask him about the reconciliation agreement (islah) he had made recently with some of the victims of the incident.

"I have a moral obligation because I have already made an islah. Islah is a holy agreement with pure intention to arrive at a worldly as well as divine solution. So do not compare it with positive (written) law. Once again, islah is a religious matter," he said.

Try and a number of other military officers implicated in the Tanjung Priok incident last March arrived at an islah settlement with about 80 relatives of the victims.

The Attorney General's Office, however, said that the settlement should not hamper the legal proceedings.