Try Sutrisno ready for questioning

Try Sutrisno ready for questioning

JAKARTA (JP): Former vice president Try Sutrisno welcomed on
Saturday plans by the National Commission on Human Rights to
question him over the bloody 1984 incident in Tanjung Priok,
North Jakarta.

"I'm always ready (to be questioned), in my personal capacity
and as part of the (military) institution," Try said after
attending an executive meeting of the Justice and Unity Party
(PKP).

However, he asserted his questioning should first be approved
by Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters because he was the
Jakarta Military commander when the incident took place.

His remarks on Saturday were a reversal of his previous
statement ruling out any efforts to question him over the
violence.

Rights commission secretary-general Asmara Nababan said
recently Try, former TNI chief Gen. (ret) L.B. Moerdani and
former North Jakarta district military commander Maj. Gen. R.A.
Butar Butar were likely to be questioned over the incident
because of their positions at the time of the violence.

The commission formed a team of inquiry last month to
investigate alleged rights violations in Tanjung Priok.

Try warned people against political motives behind the demands
to reopen the investigation into the violence. He suggested the
public forget the past and look ahead to the future.

PKP secretary-general Hayono Isman supported this view, saying
the incident was being manipulated by certain political groups to
harm their rivals.

Hayono, who was a minister under former president Soeharto,
said the military action against residents of Tanjung Priok was
not premeditated.

"It cannot be categorized as human rights violations," he
said.

Dozens of people are believed to have been killed when
military troops were sent in to quell unrest sparked by alleged
antigovernment sermons delivered in Tanjung Priok's Rawa Badak
Mosque. Military authorities claimed 40 people died in the
ensuing clashes.

The team of inquiry has questioned dozens of witnesses,
including people who were injured during the violence. As of now,
nobody has been implicated in the investigation. (jun)