Wiranto criticizes rights commission over Aceh probe

Wiranto criticizes rights commission over Aceh probe

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto lashed out
at the National Commission on Human Rights yesterday for going
public with its alleged number of victims of rights violations in
Aceh without checking with the military first.

Gen. Wiranto, who is also the minister of defense and
security, said he doubted whether all the figures announced by
the commission were victims of military atrocities.

The figures were entirely based on skeletons and bones
excavated from graves by the commission's fact-finding team, he
told reporters ahead of a Cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha
presidential office.

Some of these skeletons could have been victims of the
communist uprising in 1965, he said, adding: "Skeletons don't
talk, do they?"

Commission secretary-general Baharudin Lopa, who led the fact-
finding team to Aceh last week, announced Monday that it had
compiled reports of at least 782 people killed during nine years
of military operations against the local separatist movement
between 1989 and this year.

Other findings listed by the commission include reports that:

* 368 people were tortured,

* 168 people are still missing,

* 3,000 women were widowed,

* between 15,000 and 20,000 children were orphaned.

Wiranto earlier this month personally apologized to the people
of Aceh for the excesses of the military operations and ordered
the withdrawal of combat troops from the province starting last
week.

Yesterday, he criticized the rights commission's announcement
as "not conducive" to the nation's development drive.

"The public needs accurate, objective and healthy information.
Don't give them information that will only start a polemic," he
said, adding: "This is a very sensitive issue."

He said that going by the commission's figure of 700 deaths
and 3,000 women widowed and up to 20,000 children orphaned, "then
this means each man in Aceh had more than three wives... and
each of the widows had six children".

He appealed for wisdom in treating these findings to help
preserve national unity and cohesion.

"These were findings that have no legal footing. These should
be cross-checked with other findings so that we can arrive at
truly tested and measured conclusions, backed with accurate data.

"If every single finding is announced to the public
immediately, then where is the moral responsibility?" he asked.

Antara meanwhile reported yesterday that the chief of the
Liliwangsa military command in Aceh appealed to Acehnese people
in hiding or living in exile in Malaysia to come home.

Col. Dasiri Musnar told the news agency in the industrial town
of Lhokseumawe that the government would grant them amnesty if
they returned and helped rebuild the province.

"I guarantee their safety. Not a single hair of theirs will be
touched if they return with honest and clean intentions," Col.
Dasiri was quoted as saying.

He said the offer of amnesty had been extended since July
1997, but many people were not convinced of the sincerity of the
offer.

"They should know that the task of building our villages falls
on no one but ourselves," he said.

He said the offer was not mere lip service but came from the
bottom of his heart.

"Rest assured that if they return to build their villages,
they'll have nothing to worry about, especially now that the
regional military operation status has been lifted from Aceh."

He also said that those who still had doubts about the offer
could call him on 0645-43196 to ask for his personal guarantee
before coming home.

In Medan, the rights commission's secretary-general, Baharudin
Lopa, said yesterday the finding it had announced was "mere data"
and have yet to be processed before submitted as recommendation
to the government.

He promised that the commission would soon hold a plenary
session and prepare the recommendation.

"Our notes have yet to be finalized," he said. (prb/emb/21)