VP tells generals to respect summons

VP tells generals to respect summons

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Vice President Hamzah Haz urged on Friday military and police
generals to comply with the summonses issued by the Commission of
Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in connection with
three high profile incidents in the capital in 1998 and 1999.

However, Hamzah also said that the summonses should be
pertinent and should only be issued based upon strong grounds, as
the officers' reputations were at stake.

"They (the generals) should come forward so that they can give
their accounts," Hamzah said after attending Friday prayers at Al
Falah Mosque in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

He said that there should be no privileges for the generals,
or anybody else, in legal matters.

The Vice President was commenting on the dispute between the
inquiry and the military and police, which have refused to allow
their officers to appear for questioning. Former armed forces
chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto and former Jakarta Police chief Comr.
Gen. Hamami Nata failed to turn up on Friday despite receiving
their second summonses.

Hamzah played down the fact that only one of the officers who
had been summoned had so far appeared for the questioning, saying
it was just a matter of coordination between the inquiry and the
generals.

He also warned KPP HAM against issuing summonses recklessly.

"Don't just summon (the generals) and then have it turn out
that they didn't have anything to do with the case. We're talking
about people's reputations here," Hamzah said as quoted by
Antara.

KPP HAM was set up last year to investigate the killing of
four Trisakti University students during a demonstration on May
12, 1998, which contributed to the fall of the Soeharto regime.

The commission has also investigated the Semanggi I incident,
popularly known as 'Black Friday', which occurred during the
Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly on Nov. 13,
1998. At least 16 people, including police officers, died in the
clash between student demonstrators and the security forces.

At least 10 people were killed in the third incident which
occurred between Sept. 23 and Sept. 24, 1999, when thousands of
students protested the House of Representatives (DPR)'s
deliberation of the state emergency bill.

Police and military officers have thus far defied the KPP HAM
summonses, claiming that all human rights violations allegedly
committed prior to 2000 were legally excluded from consideration
by the rights tribunal.

Based on Law No. 26/2000, the gross human rights violations
which occurred before the Law came into effect that are to go
before ad hoc tribunals are to be determined by the President
based upon the House's recommendation. Nevertheless, such
recommendations are not legal binding.

In response to the public's demand for justice, former
president Abdurrahman Wahid allowed the National Commission on
Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to establish the inquiry under Law No.
39/1999 on human rights, which authorizes Komnas HAM to
investigate any case of rights abuse.

The inquiry's chairman, Albert Hasibuan, reiterated that the
inquiry would exercise its subpoena rights by sending a letter to
the Central Jakarta District Court next week if the officers
continued to ignore the second summonses.

"If the generals keep defying the summonses, the court can
impose sanctions or fines on them," Albert said without
elaboration.

The inquiry's secretary, Usman Hamid, said the officers would
risk violating Article 224 of the Criminal Code, which stipulates
that the court can sentence a witness who refuse to answer a
summons to between six months and nine months in prison.