Wiranto denies TNI played role in E. Timor chaos

JAKARTA (JP): Former military commander Gen. Wiranto, after being queried by an inquiry commission, argued that violence by militias in East Timor after the Aug. 30 ballot was an emotional outburst which was neither premeditated nor controllable.

He contended that the Indonesian Military (TNI) did not plan nor endorse any of the violence that took place.

"There was no planning process or policy to launch things that can be classified as war crimes or crimes against humanity," Wiranto told journalists after being questioned for more than two hours here on Friday.

"As an institution, TNI never gave orders to burn cities, kill or create a mass exodus," he added.

Wiranto, who was replaced as military chief in October when he became a Cabinet minister, claimed that violence in East Timor was a result of "emotional outbursts triggered by unfair practices during the UN-administered ballot".

Now the coordinating minister for political affairs and security, he appeared before the government-sanctioned Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor for questioning on the violence that took place in the former Indonesian province.

The inquiry in its midterm report claimed that, based on preliminary investigation and witnesses accounts, the Indonesian Military was directly or indirectly involved in the violence perpetrated by militias.

However Wiranto, who after receiving his first summons asked that Wednesday's questioning be rescheduled to give him more time to prepare, refused to answer questions from journalists on the alleged strong links between TNI and the militias.

During the questioning Wiranto was accompanied by his lawyers and counselors who included Adnan Buyung Nasution, Hotma Sitompul, Ruhut Sitompul, former justice minister Muladi and former chief of the Udayana Military Command Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri.

East Timor was under the supervision of the Udayana Military Command when the ballot was held in the territory.

Wiranto and Adam are among a number of top military officers to be questioned by the inquiry.

Other officers to be questioned include Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman, Brig. Gen. Glen Kairupan and police Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen.

A source close to the investigation said Adam was scheduled to be questioned on Monday while the other senior officers would be questioned before the end of the year.

Speaking to journalists, Wiranto's lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution conceded that "certainly" there were human rights abuses in East Timor, but stressed that they must be considered as individual cases.

"If military personnel were involved, how many? And then it has to be checked whether it was at the order of the local commander, superior commander or the highest commander," Nasution said.

Nasution rebuffed suggestions that Wiranto was shirking responsibility over the matter.

"I do not see any tendency that he (Wiranto) is trying to avoid responsibility, but he wants it (the alleged rights abuses) to be studied carefully case by case," he said.

Nasution further argued that the outbreak of violence in East Timor was the result of disappointment over the outcome of the ballot and that "overreaction could not be anticipated".

"Like security for a soccer match, you can of course prepare precautions, security measures and so on, but if the referee was regarded (as being) unfair and the participants overreact then that is something that cannot be anticipated beforehand," he said.

Separately from East Timor, Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo accused Wiranto of lying about the military's involvement in the destruction of East Timor.

"Wiranto said that (the Indonesian military) as an institution didn't kill or make bad things happen for us, but he lied," he was quoted by AP as saying at a Christmas Mass late Friday.

Belo urged a congregation of almost 2,000 people to forgive Wiranto and the East Timorese members of pro-Jakarta militias.

"We know very well that many of our friends, East Timorese people, killed us, they burned our houses, they denied their blood and they denied their country, but we must forgive them, we must bring peace to our country," Belo said.(byg)