Wiranto sets limit on probe into Aceh abuses

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Wiranto says an investigation into rights abuses from the 10-year-long military operation in Aceh is unnecessary, warning it would open the floodgates for similar grievances left over from the New Order regime.

Despite President B.J. Habibie's pledge to the Acehnese to resolve allegations of abuses in the province during the operation from 1989 to 1998, Wiranto told legislators on Friday that an independent team would only examine grievances from after May 1998 when president Soeharto quit power.

"It was the consensus of the government and the National Commission of Human Rights that the team's subjects of investigation would only be rights violation cases that occurred over the last year," Wiranto said.

He spoke at a hearing of House of Representatives' Commission I on defense and security, law and foreign affairs.

Acehnese leaders have said mounting calls for a referendum to determine whether Acehnese want to remain part of Indonesia stems from the government's failure to settle injustices committed during the military operation.

During his visit to Aceh capital's Banda Aceh in March, Habibie promised to investigate alleged abuses during the period, and said the perpetrators would be brought to trial.

Wiranto argued there should be a clear demarcation "between the New Order era and the reform era". He said it would be "unfair" to investigate abuses in which only civilians were killed under the New Order when numerous servicemen also lost their lives in the same period.

"Technically, it would be quite difficult to prove the alleged killings and seek those involved... The Aceh case would be a bad precedent for other regions, including Lampung and the Tanjungpriok cases. Will we be able to handle all the cases thoroughly and fairly while the nation is still facing many serious problems?"

He was referring to a military crackdown against activists in Lampung in South Sumatra in the late 1980s and the killing of Muslims in Tanjungpriok, North Jakarta, in 1984.

Minister of Justice Muladi said in May that the President had agreed to set up an independent committee to investigate human rights violations in Aceh.

Denial

Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights Marzuki Darusman later denied Wiranto's statement that the investigation would be limited to abuses reported after May 1998.

"We will soon clarify this matter with Wiranto," Marzuki told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Marzuki said the rights commission proposed that alleged abuses committed in the past year should be investigated first, but "there is no limitation whatsoever in the (proposed) investigation".

The commission said at least 781 people were killed during the operation, with thousands of others also suffering abuses.

The planned independent team will report to the President and consist of rights activists, legal practitioners, police and members of the military.

Wiranto said the team would be announced soon.

In the hearing led by commission chairwoman Aisyah Amini, several legislators supported the scope of the investigation covering abuses during the entire military operation.

Last year, the national rights body excavated several mass graves containing more than 700 skeletons of Acehnese believed to have been killed during the military operation. The military speculated that the remains could have dated back to the Acehnese fight against Dutch colonists in the 19th century.

Wiranto said that from May through July 1, separatist groups committed 45 assaults, 45 acts of arson, eight abductions and two robberies in numerous areas in which 98 were killed and 176 others injured.

Rebels killed 29 soldiers and police and 69 civilians. They burned 373 houses, 13 government offices, 14 school buildings and 11 cars, he said.

Eight rebels were killed, four others injured and 22 others arrested. He said the military also seized three guns and arrested four provocateurs.

Wiranto denied the military was behind the presence of unidentified gunmen who have frequently intimidated and terrorized residents in Aceh. He said the Indonesian Military and the National Police limited their operations to trying to suppress the separatist Free Aceh Movement.(rms/byg)