The US and our generals

The Jakarta Post   |  Wed, 11/04/2009 9:00 AM  |  Opinion

The failure of two Indonesian generals – Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and Maj. Gen. Pramono Edi Wibowo – to obtain visas to accompany President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the Sept. 23-Oct. 1, 2009 Group of 20 Summit in Pittsburgh, the United States, was a slap in our government’s face, as it was unable to give assurance that government officers, including soldiers of the state apparatus, were eligible and problem-free.

So, what shall we do to prevent such a ban on our government officers’ overseas trips in the future?

The US government indeed has the right to impose such policies, which prevent “problematic officers” of foreign countries from crossing its borders. And the US rejection of both generals’ visa application only adds to the list of Indonesian generals being badly treated abroad in connection with their alleged involvement in past human right abuses.

On May 29, 2009, a police detective knocked on former (Jakarta) governor Sutiyoso’s hotel room door in Sydney, Australia, and asked Sutiyoso to voluntarily appear at the inquest into the five Australian journalists shot in 1975 in Balibo, in Indonesia’s former East Timor province, by a squad from Indonesian Special Forces of which (then) Capt. Sutiyoso was a member.

Another was the 1994 in absentia trial in Boston, the United States, of Sintong Panjaitan over a lawsuit filed by an East Timorese, whose family were victims of the 1991 shooting incident in Dili, East Timor.

Sintong (who was commander of the Udayana Regional Military Command, which also oversaw East Timor, at the time of the incident) was studying at a Boston university at the same time as the trial.

Up till now, there have been no official statement nor confirmation issued by the US government regarding their rejection of both generals’ visa application, but many believe that it had something to do with their, or their institutions’, alleged human rights abuses in the past.

Sjafrie, currently serving as secretary-general of the Defense Ministry, was associated with the 1998 kidnapping of student activists, while Pramono is commander of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus), elements of which were involved in the kidnapping of the activists. Sjafrie had never been prosecuted, while the Kopassus soldiers involved in the kidnapping of the activists had been tried in court and convicted.

While Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has announced a plan to specifically clarify Sjafrie’s visa refusal with the US government, the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Djoko Santoso was quick to deny that Pramono had been subject to the travel ban issued by the US government, as the Kopassus chief is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Pentagon this week.

A lesson learned from the latest visa rejection cases and a number of travel bans issued against Indonesian generals, especially by the US government, it is very obvious that any past human rights violations or abuses allegedly committed by Indonesian officers and generals which remain unsolved, or which settlement fail to meet the universal sense of justice, will continue to be the subject and grounds for foreign countries to prohibit and prevent certain of our citizens from entering their countries.

Freedom, including the liberty to travel to any country without obstacle, is everyone’s granted right as a human being. And ones whose rights to such are denied cannot declare themselves free men.

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