Try Sutrisno grilled over Priok riots

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.