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)