Yogie questioned over July 27 incident
JAKARTA (JP): Former home affairs minister Moch. Yogie S.M. was grilled for about seven hours on Friday by a joint military- police team over the violent takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters on July 27, 1996.
Yogie, who is widely believed to be the one who engineered the PDI's party congress in June that year to oust the elected chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri, refused to talk much about the questioning.
"I was only questioned as a witness since I attended the congress and the coordinative ministerial meeting on politics and security affairs," Yogie told reporters before rushing to his car.
Yogie was referring to a ministerial meeting which was held two days before the bloody attack which concluded that the ongoing free speech forum at the PDI headquarters should be stopped since it had caused public disorder.
Yogie's lawyer Maj. Nurazizah said the meeting concluded that participants at the forum should be persuaded to stop their actions.
Nurazizah also said Yogie attended the congress as he had been ordered by former president Soeharto to be there.
"Former president Soeharto ordered Yogie to open and close the congress," Nurazizah told reporters.
Following the congress, a mob, allegedly backed by elements in the police and military, violently attacked the headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta which at that time was occupied by supporters of Megawati, now Vice President and chairperson of PDI's splinter party, PDI Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle).
Prior to the attack, Megawati's supporters had been holding free-speech forums, at the headquarters, condemning the regime of Soeharto, the ruling power at that time.
The violence, which involved supporters of a PDI breakaway faction led by Soerjadi, left five dead -- according to official records -- with 23 others reportedly still missing.
The attack triggered mass unrest in Central Jakarta.
On Thursday, police officially named 11 military and seven police officers as suspects in the case.
They include former chief of the then Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) sociopolitical affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) Syarwan Hamid; former chief of Jakarta Military Command Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso, who is currently Jakarta's governor; former chief of the Armed Forces Intelligence (BIA) Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim; and former city police chief Insp. Gen. Hamami Nata.
Separately on Friday, Sutiyoso refused to comment on his status as a suspect in the case saying he had yet to receive a formal notice on the matter.
"I only found out about it from the newspapers but the investigation team has yet to inform me officially," Sutiyoso told reporters at a police function in the Monas area in Central Jakarta.
The governor refused to comment on calls for him to be temporarily relieved of his official duties as he would have to prepare for the case. (jaw/dja)