Wiranto and intelligence

Wiranto and intelligence

Gen. (ret) Wiranto, Adi Sasono, Fuad Bawazier and Eros Djarot have been accused of being behind the recent student demonstrations. However, it is not easy to judge the validity of the State Intelligence Body (BIN)'s report on this, which it unveiled during a hearing with the House of Representatives last week.

Wiranto, former coordinating minister for political and security affairs, has denied the accusation.

The four men do have a different political stance from that of the government. And being critical and helping student demonstrations is not against the law. Things become serious if these activities are translated as an effort to topple the government. BIN also reported about the students' plan to escalate their demonstrations, which is feared would lead to chaos.

Intelligence agencies should not be used to help the government stay in power and protect it from attack by its (political) rivals. Intelligence reports such as the one from BIN are dangerous and damaging to the reputation of the "accused".

Wiranto has said that the report (on him) was completely false and character assassination. Wiranto and the other three "accused" should channel their denials to House Commission I during a special hearing.

Apart from the accusations in the intelligence report, Wiranto is a controversial figure linked (directly or indirectly) to a series of violent incidents. This includes the violence in East Timor following the independence referendum there, for which he should be held responsible.

-- Koran Tempo, Jakarta