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TNI takes a new, neutral approach in Talangsari case investigations
The Indonesian Military (TNI) will not intervene in the legal proceedings around the 1989 killings in the Lampung village of Talangsari, over which several retired Army generals face questioning by the National Commission on Human Rights
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The Indonesian Military (TNI) will not intervene in the legal proceedings around the 1989 killings in the Lampung village of Talangsari, over which several retired Army generals face questioning by the National Commission on Human Rights.
"They have retired and are no longer part of the TNI. Whether they comply with or ignore the summons is not the TNI's business because they now act on their own behalf," TNI Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso told reporters after meeting with the President on Tuesday.
He said the TNI would leave the case to the rights body as long as the probe was conducted in accordance with the Constitution and the principle of the presumption of innocence.
The neutrality policy contradicts the TNI's former practice, which clearly upheld the spirit of the corps. TNI headquarters used to provide legal assistance to active and retired soldiers implicated in crimes and demanded a joint civilian and military investigation for offenses involving retirees.
In some past high-profile cases, state prosecutors or investigators required the TNI chief's consent to question any retired generals involved.
The investigation into the Talangsari killings sparked a controversy when military officers in charge at the time of the incident, including Lampung military commander A.M. Hendropriyono, Armed Forces chief Try Sutrisno and Army Special Forces commander Wismoyo Arismunandar, disobeyed the commission's summonses for questioning earlier this month.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has repeatedly defended the retired generals' defiance, citing the absence of a law authorizing the rights body to summon retired servicemen.
The rights body, however, issued a second summons for the retired generals, citing the 1999 law on human rights that allows it to investigate any past human rights cases without being hampered by the principle of retroactivity.
The Talangsari incident concerned a dawn attack by a battalion of Army soldiers on the village, which was believed to be home to a group accused of attempting to establish an Indonesian Islamic state.
Officials said 27 members of the Koran recital group, led by Warsidi, were killed in the incident, but rights groups put the death toll as high as 246.
The Talangsari case is the latest alleged human rights abuse implicating the military under investigation by the rights commission.
The commission managed to bring military officers to the human rights court in connection with the East Timor and Tanjung Priok atrocities in 1999 and 1984, respectively. All the active and retired officers on trial were acquitted by either the ad hoc court or the higher courts.
