Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Assassinations Development: Kopassus Pressure Cited as TV One Cancels Live Interview at Last Minute.

By Allan Nairn (www.allannairn.com)

As I was making my way to their studio for our agreed live interview on Indonesian armed forces (TNI) assassinations, I received a call with the news that TV One, the Indonesian national news channel, had canceled my appearance due to pressure from Kopassus.

Kopassus, the army's special forces is one of the units which I reported has been involved in the assassination of political activists in Aceh. President Obama reportedly wants to boost US aid to Kopassus, and my report has apparently created a political crisis for Indonesia's armed forces and the US.

Even though TV One had agreed to interview me alone for 15 to 30 minutes, they decided unilaterally -- without telling me -- that they would only let me on air if the Kopassus commander, Gen. Lodewijk was there to rebut me.

I would have been glad to face and question the General, but the catch was that the General refused to face me.

So, due to Kopassus my live TV One interview was canceled.

General Lodewijk and TNI, why are you afraid to face the facts?

And TV One, why are you afraid to let me discuss them live, as you agreed?


NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

TV One Says, Live Assassination Interview Wed. 31 March, 530 or 600 pm Jakarta Time

By Allan Nairn

TV One, the Indonesian news channel, says they will do a live in-studio interview with me regarding my report on Indonesian military (TNI) assassinations at 5:30 or 6:00 pm WIB,(Western Indonesia Time), ie, 6:30 am or 7:00 am US Eastern time.

Last night they agreed that I would be interviewed alone for 15 to 30 minutes and would be allowed to speak freely without censorship, such as occurred last week on METRO TV (see posting below).

We will see what happens.

Since the TNI has threatened to have me arrested, this is their chance to do so. They can arrest me live on national TV in the TV One studio, Jakarta, and we can then have a long, open public trial in which I will discuss the facts of their crimes, and those of their sponsor, the US government.

If they fail to do so it will be a tacit admission that my report is correct, since they have already stated that I have "defiled the good name " of TNI, a crime in Indonesia, and they have stated that they intend to now clear that name with a criminal prosecution.


NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Please scroll down for English language postings.

Jalan Keluar Yang Pengecut. Akankah Militer Indonesia (TNI) Secara Diam-diam Mengakui Kesalahannya?

Oleh Allan Nairn (News and Comment, www.allannairn.com)

The Straits Times, surat kabar setengah resmi Singapura, melaporkan
dari Jakarta:

“Laporan jurnalis Allan Nairn [re. pembunuhan oleh TNI] telah
menghancurkan harapan Jakarta agar Amerika Serikat mencabut
larangan yang telah berlangsung 12 tahun bagi pelatihan pasukan
khusus, Kopassus … Sebuah delegasi militer Indonesia telah berkunjung
ke Washington pada awal bulan ini untuk melobi pencabutan larangan
tersebut dan media-media di Indonesia melaporkan bahwa memang
ada tanda-tanda bahwa AS akan mencabut larangan tersebut. Namun,
temuan dari Nairn bisa mengkandaskan harapan tersebut . (Salim
Osman, "Report May Hit Bid to Lift US Military Ban," The Straits
Times, Friday, March 26, 2010).

Militer Indonesia (TNI) telah bereaksi dengan ancaman akan menahan
saya, dan saya sudah menyambut baik ancaman mereka itu serta menantang mereka untuk maju terus jika mereka memang percaya akan apa yang selama ini terus menerus mereka sangkal.

Jika TNI memang sungguh-sungguh tidak melakukan pembunuhan-pembunuhan ini -- sebagaimana juga ratusan ribu pembunuhan lainnya -- mereka boleh menyeret saya ke pengadilan terbuka, dimana kita bisa mendiskusikan fakta secara publik, bila perlu selama berbulan-bulan. Ini jauh lebih baikketimbang mengambil penyelesaian secara pengecut dan diam-diam mengakui kesalahan sambil kemudian membekap, menangkap, atau memanggil saya untuk diinterogasi tertutup dan/atau mendeportasi




NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Monday, March 29, 2010

The Coward's Way Out. Will Indonesia's Military (TNI) Tacitly Admit Its' Own Guilt?

The Straits Times, the semi-official Singapore daily, reports out of Jakarta:

"The report by journalist Allan Nairn [re. TNI assassinations] threatens to scuttle Jakarta's hopes of getting the United States to lift a 12-year military training ban for its special forces, Kopassus ... An Indonesian military delegation had visited Washington earlier this month to lobby for the lifting of the ban and Indonesian media reported there were signs the US might do so. But Mr Nairn's claims could dash such hopes ." (Salim Osman, "Report May Hit Bid to Lift US Military Ban," The Straits Times, Friday, March 26, 2010).

The Indonesian military (TNI) has responded by threatening to have me arrested, and I've welcomed their threat and challenged them to go ahead if they believe their own denials.

If TNI really didn't commit these murders – as well as hundreds of thousands of others – they can haul me into open court and we'll discuss the facts publicly, for months, instead of their taking the coward's way out and tacitly admitting their own guilt by backing down or by snatching or summoning me for closed interrogation and/or deportation.


Link to view translation of this posting in Bahasa Indonesia.

Link to view TNI assassinations article in English.
Link to view TNI assassinations article in Bahasa Indonesia.
Link to view challenge to the TNI and US government in English.
Link to view challenge to the TNI and US government in Bahasa Indonesia.

NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Friday, March 26, 2010

Note: Indonesian translation of response to threat by Indonesian military is below. Please scroll down for English language postings.

Email Me

Tantangan Kepada Angkatan Bersenjata Indonesia dan kepada Pemerintah AS. Pernyataan Allan Nairn Sebagai tanggapan Atas Ancaman Penahanan oleh TNI.

News & Comment (www.allannairn.com)
Selasa, 23 Maret, 2010

Sebagai balasan terhadap laporan saya yang mengungkap keterlibatan TNI
dalam pembunuhan para aktivis politik (lihat posting 21 Maret 2010),
Angkatan Bersenjata RI yang didukung oleh AS telah mengancam akan
menahan saya, atas dasar tindakan criminal pencemaran nama baik (lihat
Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Nurdin Hasan , Jakarta Globe, "Indonesian
Military Threatens Legal Action Over Aceh Party Killings Claims.")

Saya menyambut baik ancaman TNI ini. TNI adalah sebuah kekuatan yang
telah membunuh ratusan ribu jiwa, karenanya saya menantang mereka
untuk menahan saya dan dengan demikian kita bisa berhadapan secara
langsung di ruang pengadilan terbuka.

Saya akan senang bila berdiri di hadapan pengadilan yang dihadiri
public Indonesia, dan saya akan memberikan keterangan secara mendetail
tentang berbagai peranan TNI dalam berbagai penyiksaan, penghilangan
paksa, pembunuhan massal, serta pembunuhan terencana.

Saya menyambul baik kesempatan untuk masuk kedalam proses hukum yang formal, dan terbuka, dimana ada pula kesempatan untuk melemparkan pertanyaan kepada Jendral-jendral TNI yang harus bersaksi dibawah sumpah.

Jika diberikan kesempatan seperti itu, saya juga akan berusaha
menghadirkan personil-personil Amerika Serikat, dan bertanya kepada
militer AS, CIA, Departemen Luar Negeri, dan pejabat-pejabat Gedung
Putih tentang dukungan mereka kepada TNI. Saya akan bertanya kepada
orang-orang Amerika ini mengapa mereka memberikan senjata, pelatihan, dan dana kepada TNI, bahkan ketika mereka telah menyaksikan bahwa kekuatan ini telah berulang kali membunuh rakyat sipil.

Kekuasaan peradilan di Indonesia telah terkenal dengan ketakutannya
kepada TNI. Mereka tidak pernah memenuhi tanggungjawab untuk
melindungi masyarakat dengan menerapkan hukuman atas pembunuhan secara tidak memihak.

Akan tetapi, jika mereka ingin menahan saya ketimbang menahan
perwira-perwira TNI, tidak ada masalah untuk saya.

Ini akan memberikan kesempatan kepada kita untuk mendiskusikan secara
public kejahatan-kejahatan yang telah dilakukan oleh pemerintah
Indonesia -- dan juga pemerintah AS.


Link to view original English language version of this posting.



NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Indonesian Military to Charge Me With Crime for Reporting Assassinations, According to Text Scroll Running on News Channel TV One

The Indonesian news channel TV One is running text scrolls on their screen which say that the country's US-backed armed forces, the TNI, is either planning to or has already filed criminal charges against me.

The crime, the scrolls say, consists of "defiling the good name of TNI."

In today's Indonesia it can be a crime to report assassinations, but, given that no Generals have gone to prison for such murders, it is not treated as a crime to commit them.


Link to view Bahasa Indonesia translation of this posting
.




NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Assassination Interview Censored by METRO TV, Indonesia.

This afternoon METRO TV, a major Indonesian news channel, invited me to come on the air live for 30 minutes at 8pm tonight WIB (Western Indonesia Time) to discuss my recent report on political assassinations by the country's US-backed armed forces (TNI).

I agreed, and when we went on the air, by phone, shortly after 8pm, I urged viewers to go to this website to read the full, detailed report and then began to name the names of TNI people implicated in the killings.

Within a couple of minutes I was pulled off the air. A producer came on the phone and acknowledged that I had just been "censored."

The producer then sent a text message saying: "Really sorry Allan. Suddenly I have a policy from my boss." I asked on the phone what that sudden policy was but the producer would not say. They said there were too many other METRO TV employees within earshot to speak freely about the matter.

As it happens, before being cut-off, I had only named the names of the low-level killers in one of the murders (Tumijan, see posting of March 21, 2010 for details). Who knows what would have happened if I had started out by naming Generals?

This censorship is especially revealing since part of the TNI's strategy in trying to defuse my report is to say generally that it has no specifics, no facts. But when I give them, they pull the plug.



Bahasa Indonesia Translation of this Posting:

News & Comment (www.allannairn.com)
Rabu, 24 Maret 2010

Wawancara Tentang Pembunuhan di Sensor Oleh METRO TV, Indonesia

Sore ini, METRO TV, sebuah stasiun TV berita swasta di Indonesia,
mengundang saya untuk siaran langsung selama 30 menit pada jam 8
petang (WIB) untuk mendiskusikan laporan terakhir saya tentang
pembunuhan-pembunuhan politik yang dilakukan oleh TNI, angkatan
bersenjata yang didukung pemerintah AS.

Saya setuju. Ketika diskusi lewat telpon itu berlangsung, sedikit
setelah pukul 8 malam, saya meminta pemirsa untuk membaca langsung
laporan tersebut di website. Kemudian saya mulai menyebutkan nama-nama
personil TNI yang terlibat dalam pembunuhan tersebut.

Dalam beberapa menit saya diputuskan dari siaran langsung tersebut.
Produser acara tersebut kemudian menelpon dan mengakui bahwa saya baru
saja “disensor.”

Produser tersebut kemudian mengirim teks SMS yang berbunyi: “Maaf
sekali Allan. Tiba-tiba saja ada kebijakan dari boss saya.” Saya
bertanya lewat telpon apa sebenarnya yang menjadi kebijakan tersebut
tetapi produser tersebut tidak mau mengatakannya. Ia mengatakan bahwa
disana ada terlalu banyak karyawan METRO TV yang lain yang mungkin
menguping sehingga sulit bagi dia untuk bicara secara bebas tentang
soal sensor itu.

Sebelum dipotong, saya hanya sempat menyebutkan beberapa nama
orang-orang bawahan yang melakukan pembunuhan (Tumijan, lihat posting
tanggal 21 Maret, untuk lebih mendetail). Siapa yang bisa menduga apa
yang akan terjadi bila saya menyebut nama Jendral-jendral yang
terlibat?

Penyensoran ini menunjukkan bahwa bagian dari strategi TNI untuk
membantah laporan saya adalah dengan mengatakan laporan tersebut tidak
berdasarkan fakta, tidak spesifik. Namun ketika saya berikan
fakta-fakta tersebut, mereka malah menyensornya.





NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Note: Indonesian translation of assassinations story is below. Below that is English language statement in response to threat by Indonesian military

Email Me

TNI, Kopassus, Terlibat Pembunuhan Militer Yang Akan Dibantu Obama Membunuh Aktivis Aceh 2009

Oleh Allan Nairn

www.allannairn.com

Menurut beberapa pejabat Indonesia, kepolisian, dan catatan pemerintah: Tentara Nasional Indonesia, dengan dukungan Amerika Serikat, dan kini menunggu pencairan kembali training AS terhadap Kopassus, telah membunuh sejumlah aktivis pada 2009.

Pembunuhan-pembunuhan ini adalah bagian dari program rahasia pemerintah, didukung oleh Jakarta, dan sebagian dikoordinasi seorang Jendral Kopassus didikan AS. Ia mengakui anak buahnya di TNI memang memegang peranan dalam pembunuhan-pembunuhan tersebut.
Berita ini muncul saat Presiden Barack Obama mempersiapkan pengumuman akan mengubah kebijakan lama pemerintah AS --yang ditetapkan Konggres AS karena tekanan dari akar rumput-- tentang pembatasan jenis-jenis bantuan AS terhadap TNI. Sejak zaman Perang Dingin, ketika TNI menerima pelatihan dari AS, mereka juga membunuh ratusan ribu rakyat sipil di Indonesia.

Informasi bahwa TNI masih membunuhi warga sipil bisa jadi masalah bagi Presiden Obama karena rationale dia membuka kembali bantuan adalah: TNI tak lagi membunuh rakyat Indonesia. Menteri Luar Negeri Hillary Clinton bilang pada Konggres bahwa masalahnya apakah ada pembunuhan baru, namun, pada kenyataannya pembunuhan belu berhenti: TNI tetap melakukan pembunuhan politik.

Seorang pejabat Indonesia, yang kerapkali bertemu dengan para petinggi TNI dan dengan Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, mengatakan pembunuhan tersebut didukung dan disahkan “petinggi-petinggi di Jakarta.” Dia memberikan keterangan detail tentang hal ini: nama korban, metode dan nama-nama pelaku. Dia mau bicara karena dia tak setuju dengan pembunuhan ini. Namun dia menolak disebut nama karena kuatir akan jabatan serta keselamatan pribadi.

Keterangan yang dikutip di laporan ini juga dibenarkan oleh beberapa pejabat lain, termasuk beberapa perwira senior POLRI. Sebagian juga diakui oleh seorang Jendral Kopassus yang membantu operasi pembunuhan ini.

Dari detail yang saya ketahui, sejauh ini, menyangkut serangkaian pembunuhan dan pengeboman di Aceh menjelang pemilihan umum 2009 dan Partai Aceh (PA) ikutan. Partai Aceh adalah partai politik bentukan dari Gerakan Aceh Merdeka.

Setidaknya, delapan aktivis PA dibunuh menjelang pemilihan umum April lalu. Pembunuhan-pembunuhan ini, menurut sumber-sumber tersebut, dilakukan guna meresahkan para pendukung PA dan menekan partai tersebut agar tak membicarakan isu kemerdekaan bangsa Aceh. Keputusan ini berlaku tidak saja di Aceh tapi juga wilayah lain, di seluruh Indonesia, dimana materi kampanye pemilihan umum dilarang bicara soal separatisme, berdasarkan petunjuk Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.


Seorang aktivis, Tumijan, umur 35, buruh perkebunan sawit di Nagan Raya, diculik dan mayatnya ditemukan dua hari kemudian di sebuah sungai. Lehernya digorok, tubuhnya dicincang, dan terikat oleh kabel listrik. Mayatnya muncul dekat pos TNI. Beberapa anggota keluarga menuduh aparat keamanan sebagai pelaku. Karenanya mereka menerima ancaman pembunuhan dari orang-orang, yang tidak mereka kenal.

Seorang aktivis PA yang lain, Dedi Novandi, umur 33, sedang duduk dalam mobil di luar rumahnya ketika kaca mobil dibuka paksa oleh seseorang berpakain sipil. Dia mengeluarkan pistol dan menembakkan dua peluru ke kepala Dedi alias Abu Karim.

Seorang pejabat POLRI, yang tahu detail pembunuhan ini, menyebutnya sebagai pembunuhan professional, yang memakai orang-orang yang telah terlebih dahulu mengawasi gerak-gerik Abu Karim.

Beberapa jam sebelumnya, Abu Karim menerima delegasi dari sebuah organisasi yang didanai Bank Dunia. Kepada delegasi ini, Karim menyatakan, keprihatinan terhadap pembunuhan yang terkait dengan pemilihan umum, pembakaran dan serangan granat terhadap kantor-kantor PA.

Tak lama setelah pembunuhan, BBC datang ke tempat kejadian perkara. Koresponden BBC, Lucy Williamson dengan mengutip seorang tetangga Karim mengatakan, “… aneh bahwa polisi tak bisa menemukan orang yang membunuh [Abu Karim]. ‘Mungkin karena tidak ada saksi,” ujarnya. “Saya pikir, sebetulnya aneh juga kalau tidak ada saksi, tapi apa yang bisa saya bilang? Setiap orang mengatakan bahwa mereka tidak menyaksikan apapun.”

“Di dalam rumah,” lanjut Williamson, “Istri Abu Karim, Cut Dede, dengan gelisah memandang putra mereka, yang berumur empat tahun. Seperti banyak orang di sini dia tidak memiliki keraguan sedikit pun bahwa ini adalah pembunuhan politik.”

Nyatanya, menurut seorang pejabat senior dan beberapa orang lain yang mengkonfirmasinya, pembunuhan terhadap Tumijan dan Abu Karim adalah bagian dari pembunuhan terencana yang dilakukan oleh TNI dengan koordinasi Pangdam Aceh Mayor Jendral Sunarko.

Sunarko dikirim ke Aceh oleh Presiden SBY setelah sebelumnya jadi Komandan Kopassus. Sebelumnya, Sunarko adalah Kepala Staff Komando Cadangan Strategis Angkatan Darat, yang memiliki batalion di seluruh kepulauan Indonesia dan bermarkas di Jakarta. Tepatnya, dekat Istana Merdeka. Sunarko menduduki posisi kunci ini setelah menangani milisi di Timor Timur. Ia jadi komandan intelijen Kopassus disana pada saat operasi teror TNI di tahun 1999, operasi pembakaran dan pembunuhan massal para pendukung kemerdekaan Timor Leste.

Pembunuhan terhadap aktivis PA tahun 2009 terjadi di seluruh Aceh. Pembunuhan terhadap Abu Karim di Bireuen, diakui seorang pejabat pemerintah, diatur oleh Jendral Sunarko dan dilaksanakan oleh Letkol R. Suharto, komandan Kodim Biereun, dengan memakai beberapa perwira TNI dan bantuan milisi sipil Forum Komunikasi Anak Bangsa (FORKAB) dan Pembela Tanah Air (PETA).

Letkol R. Suharto telah lama bekerja pada BAIS, lembaga intelijen strategis TNI, yang memainkan peranan integral dalam pembunuhan terencana di seluruh Indonesia dan terkenal karena pembunuhan dan penyiksaan di Timor Timur, dan saat ini, di daerah pendudukan de facto Papua.

Ketika saya tanyakan kepada beberapa perwira POLRI tentang Letkol Suharto dan pembunuhan Abu Karim, ia jadi sangat gugup, seperti para tetangga yang dikutip aporan BBC.
Mereka enggan membicarakan peran yang mereka lakukan, kecuali secara pribadi. Kami kemudian memulai rekaman dan saya bertanya apakah Letkol Suharto, yang sesungguhnya menjalankan operasi pembunuhan terhadap Abu karim dan beberapa pembunuhan lain? Saya juga bertanya lebih jauh apakah Letkol Suharto adalah salah satu dari orang yang melakukan “operasi hitam” yang pada saaat itu masih berjalan? Perwira POLRI itu tidak menyangkal apapun dan hanya mengatakan, “Saya tidak bisa memberikan komentar tentang hal itu” dan bersikeras agar namanya tak disebut.

Pada hari Jumat, 19 Maret, sekitar jam 10:30 malam, saya menelepon Letkol Suharto ke telepon genggamnya.

Tidak ada jawaban dan lantas saya kirim SMS, yang dijawabnya dengan pertanyaan siapa yang mengirim SMS ini. Saya memperkenalkan diri dan kami mulai percakapan lewat SMS yang baru berakhir setelah tengah malam. Di tengah-tengah SMS tersebut saya berusaha meneleponnya lima kali, namun setiap kali ia hanya membiarkan teleponnya berdering.

Lewat SMS, Letkol Suharto bertanya saya ada di mana dan lantas bagaimana saya mendapat nomor teleponnya. Ia juga bertanya mengapa saya ingin bicara sama dia. Saya jawab ingin mendiskusikan pembunuhan aktivis PA, termasuk Abu Karim. Suharto menjawab bahwa itu urusan polisi. Saya tanyakan apakah TNI yang melakukan pembunuhan-pembunuhan itu? Letkol Suharto menjawab tidak! Lalu saya bertanya lagi lewat teks, ”Apakah ini berarti Anda tahu siapa pembunuhnya?” Ia juga menjawab tidak. Lantas saya melanjutkan, "Jadi, bagaimana Anda tahu kalau TNI tidak terlibat?”

Saat itu, Letkol Suharto memutuskan komunikasi telepon. Saya berusaha menelepon tapi hanya mendengar rekaman suara perusahan telepon. Saya kemudian mengirim SMS lagi dan bertanya apakah dia, Letkol Suharto, “terlibat dalam pembunuhan Abu Karim, atau pembunuhan para aktivis PA lainnya.” Sinyal dari perusahan telepon mengindikasikan bahwa pesan SMS itu diterima dengan baik, namun hingga saat ini, 51 jam kemudian, Letkol Suharto tidak menjawab.
Beberapa anggota milisi juga mengatakan bahwa orang-orang Letkol Suharto-lah yang membakar dan melempar granat ke kantor-kantor PA.

Namun ini hanyalah bagian kecil dari operasi gelap tersebut.

Di Nagan Raya, di bagian lain dari Aceh, penculikan dan pembunuhan Tumijan dilakukan oleh tim TNI lainnya, juga bekerja di bawah Jendral Sunarko. Ini menurut beberapa pejabat, termasuk dari POLRI, dan sebagian, menurut Jendral Sunarko sendiri.

Dalam kasus pembunuhan Tumijan, barang bukti yang ada tidak hanya pernyataan-pernyataan dari kalangan dalam pemerintahan sendiri, tetapi juga bukti serangkaian penahanan sejumlah pelaku, yang merupakan bawahan Jendral Sunarko.

Pejabat senior Indonesia, yang pertama kali bicara tentang program pembunuhan ini, mengatakan bahwa Tumijan diambil dan dihabisi oleh sekelompok prajurit muda Kopassus dan beberapa serdadu lain, sebagaimana dalam kasus Abu Karim, juga menggunakan milisi ciptaan TNI. Ia memberi nama-nama dari kalangan tentara yang terlibat, macam Kapten Wahyu dan Oktavianus serta milisi seperti Muhyari, Supardi, Kadir, Herwan, M. Yasin, Suprayogi, Tahmid, dan Suparno.

Ia mengatakan orang-orang lapangan yang terlibat telah ditahan secara rahasia selama beberapa bulan sebagai buah kesepakatan politik rahasia antara POLRI, TNI dan para pejabat, yang secara tidak sengaja, mengetahui beberapa aspek program pembunuhan TNI, yang sampai saat ini, masih rahasia.

POLRI, demikian katanya, setuju untuk menahan anggota-anggota milisi. Polisi militer mengambil dua tentara, dan pejabat yang tahu akan operasi tersebut, setuju untuk tak membeberkannya pada publik dan pihak POLRI pun tidak pernah mengumumkan penahanan ini. POLRI berusaha secara hukum memproses anggota milisi tersebut.

Lebih penting lagi, hanya mereka yang menjadi pelaksana langsung yang ditahan. Para perwira yang lebih senior dibiarkan bebas dan melanjutkan operasi.

Perwira kepolisian yang berbicara kepada saya membenarkan keterangan pejabat senior ini. Namun mereka melakukan ini dengan rasa segan luar biasa, bahkan ketakutan. Mereka dengan tegas mengatakan bahwa mereka tidak mau mengejar “para petinggi yang ada di Jakarta,” atau Jendral Sunarko --atau bahkan Letkol Suharto yang hanya komandan Kodim Biereun.

Secara umum di Indonesia, POLRI juga membunuh dan menyiksa warga sipil, dan terlibat dalam operasi bersama polisi, tapi mereka juga bersaing secara kelembagaan, berebut lahan, uang, dan kekuasaan. Sekalipun POLRI tampaknya lebih berotot sesudah jatuhnya Presiden Soeharto 1998, TNI masih memiliki lebih banyak senjata dan uang. Mereka juga tak memiliki beban hukum seperti POLRI, karena POLRI harus menegakkan hukum atas pembunuhan.

Kamis 18 Maret lalu, saya menelepon Kapolda Aceh Ispektur Jendral Adityawarman ke telepon genggamnya. Awalnya dia berkata bahwa dia hanya akan bicara secara pribadi, berhadapan muka, dan kemudian berusaha menghentikan pembicaraan. Namun ia mengakui --untuk pertama kalinya secara publik-- bahwa para pelaku pembunuhan Tumijan telah ditahan.
Ketika saya tanyakan padanya apakah benar bahwa Jendral Sunarko yang merancang pembunuhan aktivis-aktivis tersebut, Jendral Aditya bilang, “Saya tidak dalam kapasitas untuk mengemukakan informasi itu,” dan tiba-tiba menutup telepon.

Pada hari Jumat, saya menghubungi Jendral Sunarko pada telepon genggamnya dan menanyakan padanya tentang pembunuhan para aktivis. Sunarko mengakui bahwa bawahannya di TNI ada yang memiliki peranan dalam pembunuhan tersebut.
Tetapi ia mengatakan bahwa pembunuhan oleh perwira dan prajurit TNI tidak sepenuhnya bisa digolongkan pada tindakan resmi TNI “sebagai sebuah institusi.” Jendral Sunarko luar biasa tenang.

Meski belum sepenuhnya menjadi pengetahuan umum, ia tahu tentang penahanan bawahannya dalam kasus pembunuhan Tumijan (Jendral Sunarko mengangkat masalah ini sebelum saya menanyakannya). Ia mengindikasikan bahwa ia tak kuatir akan langkah-langkah berikutnya dari POLRI atau dari kekuasaan lainnya.

Jendral Sunarko tampaknya sangat akrab dengan pembunuhan Tumijan, dan mengatakan bahwa Kapten Wahyu dan Oktavianus, dua perwira yang ditahan, sebelumnya bahkan di markas Kodam Iskandar Muda di Banda Aceh.

Ketika saya tanyakan secara khusus apakah dia, Jendral Sunarko, terlibat dalam beberapa pembunuhan itu, ia menjawab enteng, ”Itu mesti pekerjaan orang gila,” katanya, ”dan saya belum gila.”

Ketika saya tanyakan tentang komandan Kodim Biereun Letkol Suharto, ia bilang kenal dengan Suharto. Namun saat saya tanyakan apakah Letkol Suharto yang melakukan pembunuhan terhadap Abu Karim. “Saya tidak tahu,” jawab Jendral Sunarko, “jika itu terjadi, saya pasti tahu,” tandasnya.

Sebelum saya sampai kepada masalah pembunuhan, Jendral Sunarko juga mengatakan bahwa dia mendukung rencana Presiden Barack Obama untuk segera melatih Kopassus dan TNI pada umumnya.

Sunarko mengatakan bahwa AS dan TNI telah lama memiliki hubungan yang sangat dekat dan Amerika telah “meningkatkan kapasitas TNI.” Pemulihan bantuan oleh Obama akan bikin “persahabatan makin akrab.”

Jendral ini juga bilang dia sendiri adalah kawan dan pengagum tentara AS, setelah menerima berbagai macam latihan dari AS di berbagai tempat di Indonesia sejak tahun 1980.
Sunarko menyebut beberapa nama kursus, dalam bahasa Inggris, serta kesatuan militer AS yang memberikannya. Ia bilang pelatih militer Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) dari Pusat Komando di Pasifik (PACOM, di Hawaii) melatihnya dalam “Jungle Warfare” dan “Logistics.” Ia bilang pelatihannya di Amerika meliputi pelatihan khusus pada tahun 1994 dan 1998, dan kawan-kawannya satu pelatihan berasal dari Kopassus dan Kostrad. Jendral Sunarko mengatakan bahwa latihan terakhirnya dengan AS terjadi pada 2006, ketika dia menjadi Kepala Staf Kostrad, sebelum menjadi komandan Kopassus.

Sunarko juga menyatakan bahwa pelatihan itu baik untuk Amerika juga karena memungkinkan TNI dan militer AS untuk “saling belajar satu sama lain” dan membuat AS “mendapatkan apa yang diperlukan” dari TNI.

Hari ini, Presiden Obama sedianya berangkat ke Indonesia, namun kunjungan ditunda. Sebuah paket bantuan besar untuk TNI masih dikaji dan dirundingkan dalam beberapa bulan ke depan. Sebuah titik yang akan memperbaharui bantuan terbuka untuk Kopassus.

Sekalipun setiap unit TNI, dan juga POLRI, pernah dinyatakan terlibat dalam pembunuhan massal, Kopassus adalah unit yang paling dipuji bersama Letnan Jendral Prabowo Subianto, bekas komandan Kopassus, yang didikan AS. Kopassus secara historis paling dekat dengan Washington. Karenanya, wajar bila hal yang paling menjengkelkan buat TNI adalah ketika para aktivis Amerika --termasuk saya-- berhasil menekan Konggres untuk memutuskan bantuan AS kepada Kopassus pada 1990an.

Obama berencana memberikan training itu kembali kepada Kopassus dan sekarang merupakan saat yang paling ditunggu-tunggu TNI sebagai pembenaran terhadap teror yang mereka lakukan. Bagi mereka yang selamat dari teror TNI, pembukaan kembali bantuan militer bisa diartikan sebagai lampu hijau bagi TNI untuk melakukan lebih banyak teror.
Akan tetapi, sebagaimana halnya dengan pembunuhan-pembunuhan lain yang dilakukan oleh TNI, program pembunuhan terencana yang saya ungkap ini melibatkan berbagai macam komponen TNI di luar Kopassus: BAIS dan jaringan komando lokal seperti KODAM, KOREM, KODIM, dan semua jajaran ini memberi laporan kepada komandan TNI di tingkat nasional dan “para petinggi di Jakarta” lainnya.

Dan mereka tak peduli apakah AS akan memberikan kembali bantuan kepada Kopassus, TNI secara keseluruhan telah mendapatkan lampu hijau.

Menurut Departemen Pertahanan Indonesia, sekarang ada 2.800 anggota TNI sedang dilatih di Amerika Serikat dan Pentagon di bawah Presiden Obama mendorong penjualan senjata dan peralatan militer, serta pemberian pinjaman, yang secara keseluruhan akan memperkuat kembali TNI [lihat laporan Olivia Rondonuwu dan Ed Davies berjudul “Interview --Indonesia Seees U.S. Lifting Military Training Ban” dimuat di Reuters 4 Maret 2010].

Namun, Kopassus, tentu saja, kesatuan yang paling penting dan memiliki simbol pemulihan hubungan penuh AS-Indonesia.

Dalam perundingan pemberian bantuan antara Presiden Obama dan TNI, selama 10 hari bulan ini, komandan Kopassus Mayor Jendral Lodewijk F. Paulus datang ke Washington dan disambut oleh tim Obama. Di Indonesia, selama pembicaraan Washington berlangsung, seorang anggota Kopassus, dengan rasa sangat percaya diri berusaha naik pesawat komersial dari Banda Aceh, sambil membawa sepucuk pistol dengan peredam suara --senjata pembunuh yang klasik. Ini menarik perhatian seorang pejabat Indonesia, yang menceritakan kejadian itu kepada saya, karena satu korban di Aceh tampaknya telah dieksekusi dengan mempergunakan pistol berperedam suara. Pembunuhan dilakukan malam hari dan teman sekamar korban tidak terbangun.


Seorang petugas keamanan airport, anggota Angkatan Udara, menyita pistol anggota Kopassus tersebut, namun serombongan Kopassus mendatangi dan memaksanya mengembalikan pistol itu.


NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A Challenge to the Indonesian Armed Forces, and to the US Government. Statement of Allan Nairn in Response to Arrest Threat from TNI.

In response to my report revealing their assassinations of political activists (see posting of March 21, 2010), the US-backed Indonesian armed forces (TNI) are threatening to have me arrested, presumably on criminal defamation charges. (See Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Nurdin Hasan , Jakarta Globe, "Indonesian Military Threatens Legal Action Over Aceh Party Killings Claims.")

I welcome this threat from TNI, a force which has murdered many hundreds of thousands, and challenge them to arrest me so that we can face-off in open court.

I will be glad to stand in court before the Indonesian public and detail TNI's role in numerous tortures, disappearances, massacres and assassinations.

I would welcome the opportunity to enter a formal, public legal proceeding which would afford the opportunity to question TNI Generals under oath.

If given such a chance I would also attempt to call US personnel as witnesses, and question US military, CIA, State Department, and White House officials about their support for TNI. I would ask these Americans why they have given weapons, training and money to TNI, even as they have seen that force repeatedly kill civilians.

The Indonesian justice authorities are famously afraid of the TNI. They have not fulfilled their responsibility to protect society by enforcing the murder laws impartially.

But if they want to arrest me instead of arresting TNI officers, fine.

That will give us a chance to publicly discuss the crimes of the Indonesian -- and US -- governments.


NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Breaking News: Indonesian Army, Kopassus, Implicated in New Assassinations. Forces Chosen By Obama for Renewed US Aid Ran '09 Activist Murders.

By Allan Nairn

According to senior Indonesian officials and police and details from government files, the US-backed Indonesian armed forces (TNI), now due for fresh American aid, assassinated a series of civilian activists during 2009.

The killings were part of a secret government program, authorized from Jakarta, and were coordinated in part by an active-duty, US-trained Kopassus special forces General who has just acknowledged on the record that his TNI men had a role in the killings.

The news comes as US President Barack Obama is reportedly due to announce that he is reversing longstanding US policy – imposed by Congress in response to grassroots pressure – of restricting categories of US assistance to TNI, a force which, during its years of US training, has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

The revelation could prove problematic for Obama since his rationale for restoring the aid has been the claim that TNI no longer murders civilians. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress that the issue is whether there is a "resumption" of atrocities, but, in fact, they have not stopped: TNI still practices political murder.

A senior Indonesian official who meets frequently with top commanders and with the President of Indonesia says that the assassinations were authorized by "higher ups in Jakarta." He provided detailed accounts of certain aspects of the program, including the names of victims, the methods, and the names of some perpetrators.

The details cited in this piece were verified by other officials, including senior members of POLRI, the Indonesian national police. Some were also verified by the Kopassus General who helped run the killings.

The senior official spoke because he said he disagreed with the assassinations. He declined to be quoted by name out of fear for his position and personal safety.

Verified details that are known so far concern a series of assassinations and bombings in Aceh -- on Indonesia's western tip -- where local elections were being contested by the historically pro-independence Partai Aceh (PA), a descendant of the old pro-independence GAM (Free Aceh) rebel movement.

At least eight PA activists were assassinated in the run-up to the April elections. The killings were, according to the officials with knowledge of the program an attempt to disorient PA supporters and pressure the party to not discuss independence -- an act regarded as proscribed speech, not just in Aceh but across Indonesia under edicts from the country's president, Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

One of the PA activists, Tumijan, age 35, a palm oil worker from Nagan Raya, was abducted and found two days later in a sewage ditch. His throat was slit, his body mutilated and bound with electrical wire. His corpse appeared near an army outpost. Some of his family blamed the security forces, and, as has happened frequently in such cases, started receiving anonymous death threats.

Another PA activist, Dedi Novandi, age 33, known as Abu Karim, was sitting in his car outside his house with the drivers' side window cracked open when a plainclothes man strolled up with a pistol and put two bullets in his head.

A POLRI official with detailed knowledge of the crime called it a professional killing, employing lookouts and advance surveillance of the movements of Abu Karim.

As it happened, hours earlier, Karim had sat down with a member of a World Bank - sponsored delegation and expressed his worry about the pre-election killings of PA people as well as a skein of arson and grenade attacks on PA offices.

Soon after, the BBC came to the scene of the Abu Karim murder. Their correspondent, Lucy Williamson quoted one of the neighbors as saying that she "thinks it strange the police have not found the people who killed [Abu Karim]. 'Maybe it's because there were no witnesses,' she said. 'And I think it’s weird that there were no witnesses but what can I say? Everyone said they didn’t see anything.' "

"Inside the house," Williamson continued, "Abu Karim’s wife, Cut Dede, watches nervously over her four-year-old son. Like many people here she is in no doubt this was a political killing."

In fact, according to the senior official and the others who confirmed him, the Tumijan and Abu Karim murders were part of the TNI assassination program coordinated on the provincial level at that time by General Sunarko, the PANGDAM Aceh (chief of TNI forces in the region).

Sunarko had recently been sent to Aceh by the President, Gen. Susilo, after having been the nationwide commander of Kopassus, the TNI Special Forces. Prior to that, Gen. Sunarko had been the chief of staff of Kostrad, the TNI army's huge Strategic Reserve Command that operates across the archipelago and is headquartered in Jakarta near the presidential palace.

Sunarko had been elevated to these key posts after overseeing militias in occupied Timor. He was a Kopassus intelligence chief there during the 1999 TNI terror, an operation that included mass arson and assassinations and was launched while the East Timorese were preparing to -- and ultimately did -- vote for independence.

The '09 PA killings occurred across Aceh. The Abu Karim murder, in Bireuen, was said by the officials to have been managed for Gen. Sunarko by Lt. Col. R. Suharto, the local TNI army commander, using troops aided by civilians from the old military-sponsored FORKAB and PETA militias.

Lt. Col. Suharto has long worked with the TNI's BAIS intelligence unit, which played an integral role in these assassinations and others nationwide, and is famous for its killings and torture in formerly occupied Timor and, currently, in de facto occupied Papua.

When I asked knowledgeable POLRI officials about Lt. Col. Suharto and the killing of Abu Karim, they became as nervous as the neighbors cited in the BBC report.

They reluctantly discussed his role, but privately. We then went on the record and I asked whether Lt. Col. Suharto had in fact run the Abu Karim and other assassinations, and further asked whether he was among those still running "black operations." The key POLRI official did not deny anything but instead said "I cannot comment on that," and then insisted that his name not be attached to even that remark.

On Friday, around 10:30 pm Western Indonesia Time, I called Lt. Col. Suharto's cell phone.

There was no answer so I sent a text message and he replied by text asking who it was. I told him and we began a text message exchange that lasted until after midnight. In the midst of the texts I tried to call him five times, but each time he merely let the phone ring.

By text, Lt. Col Suharto asked me where I was, and then, how I'd gotten his number. He asked me why I wanted to speak to him. I replied, to discuss the PA assassinations, including that of Abu Karim. Suharto wrote back that that was a police matter. I asked him if TNI did the killings. Lt. Col. Suharto replied no, so then I asked by text "So, does that mean you know who the killers are?" He said no to that too, so then I asked him "So how can you know TNI wasn't involved?"

At that point, Lt. Col. Suharto disconnected his cell phone. I tried to call but got a phone company recording. I then sent a text message asking whether he, Lt. Col. Suharto, was "involved in the murder of Abu Karim, or the murders of other PA activists." Phone company signaling indicates that that message was delivered, but as of now, more than 51 hours later, Lt. Col. Suharto has not replied.

Militia members have said that Lt. Col Suharto's men also burnt and threw grenades at the PA offices.

But all this was apparently only one small part of the operation.

In Nagan Raya, in another part of Aceh, the snatching and assassination of Tumijan was carried out by another TNI team, also working under Gen. Sunarko. This is according to numerous officials, including some from POLRI, and, in part, according to Gen. Sunarko himself.

In the Tumijan murder the evidence includes not just statements by inside officials, but also a complex series of actions including the unpublicized detention of some of the low-level hit men who were subordinates of Gen.Sunarko.

The senior Indonesian official who first spoke of the assassination program said that Tumijan had been taken and finished by a group of young Kopassus and other soldiers who, as in the Abu Karim case, also used civilians from TNI's old militias.

He gave the names of some of them, the soldiers Capt. Wahyu and Oktavianus, and the civilian TNI-run militia followers Muhyari, Supardi, Kadir, Herwan, M. Yasin, Suprayogi, Tahmid, and Suparno.

He then made the remarkable claim that though no outsider yet knew it, these lower-ranking killers of Tumijan had been secretly detained and held for many months as part of a sensitive political deal involving POLRI, TNI, and officials who had unexpectedly gotten wind of certain aspects of the still-secret TNI assassination program.

POLRI, he, said, agreed to take the militiamen, the military police handled two of the soldiers, and the officials who had stumbled upon the operation agreed to not discuss it publicly, as did the POLRI which never announced the detentions or attempted to charge the men.

Most importantly, the detentions were confined to street operatives in just one of the murders. The more senior officers were left untouched to continue the operation.

POLRI officials I spoke to confirmed the senior official's account. But they did so with evident reluctance, even fear. They made it clear that they had no intention of going after the "higher ups in Jakarta," or Gen. Sunarko, -- or even Lt. Col. Suharto, who is a mere local commander.

POLRI also kills and tortures civilians, and mounts joint task forces with TNI, but they are fierce institutional rivals, wrestling for money, power, and extortion turf, and though POLRI has recently ascended somewhat, TNI still has more guns and cash, and they lack POLRI's political burden of having to claim that they're enforcing the murder laws.

On Thursday, I reached the Aceh POLRI commander, Police Gen. Aditya, on his cell phone, and though he first said he would only speak privately, face to face, and then tried to end the conversation, he did confirm -- for the first time publicly -- that the lower level hit men in the Tumijan assassination had indeed been detained.

When I asked him if it was true that TNI Gen. Sunarko had in fact supervised assassinations of activists, Police Gen. Aditya replied “It is not in my capacity to disclose that information,” and abruptly hung up the phone.

On Friday, I reached Gen. Sunarko on his cell phone and asked him about the assassinations, and Sunarko acknowledged that his TNI men had a role in the killings.

But he said that assassinations by TNI officers and men should not necessarily be classified as being official acts of TNI "as an institution." Gen. Sunarko was remarkably calm.

Though it was not yet public, he knew about the detention of his subordinates for the Tumijan murder (Gen. Sunarko raised the matter before I mentioned it), but the General indicated that he was not worried about any follow-up action by POLRI or other authorities.

Gen. Sunarko seemed familiar with the Tumijan killing, and said that Capt. Wahyu and Oktavianus, two of those detained, had worked for his, Sunarko's, then-headquarters in Aceh, the Iskandar Muda regional KODAM (the command covering all of Aceh).

When I asked specifically if he, Gen. Sunarko, was involved in the assassinations, he responded lightheartedly: "That would be the work of a crazy person," he said, "and I am not yet crazy."

When I asked Gen. Sunarko about his subordinate, Lt. Col. Suharto, he said that he knew him well, but when I asked him if Lt. Col. Suharto had run the killing of Abu Karim, Gen. Sunarko replied "I don't know," but then added: "If that had happened, I'd know.”

General Sunarko also said, before I broached the matter of the assassinations, that he was an enthusiastic supporter of President Obama's plan to boost aid to Kopassus and to TNI generally.

Sunarko said that the US and TNI had had a long, close partnership that had "raised the capacity of TNI," and that Obama's restoration of aid would make for "a still more intimate ("akrab") collaboration."

The general said that he was himself was a longtime colleague and admirer of US forces, having received US training at various sites in Indonesia "many times" since the 1980s.

Using the English-language names of some of the courses and of the US units that gave them, he said that US Army instructors in Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) from the Pentagon's Pacific Command (PACOM, in Hawaii) had trained him in “Jungle Warfare” and “Logistics” as well as in other subjects that he did not name. He said that his US training included special exercises in 1994 and 1998, and that his fellow TNI trainees included other Kopassus and Kostrad men. Gen. Sunarko said his most recent US training was in 2006, when he was the chief of staff of Kostrad, soon to become the Kopassus commander.

The general also suggested that the training was good for the Americans too, since it enabled TNI and the US military to “learn lessons from each other,” and best situated the US to "get what it needs" from TNI.

President Obama had been due to leave for Indonesia today, but the visit has been postponed.

Still on the table is a big aid package for TNI, negotiated over recent months, the political centerpiece of which is an apparent renewal of open aid for Kopassus.

Though most every unit of TNI (and POLRI) has been implicated in mass atrocities, those of Kopassus are the most celebrated, and, as their former commander, the US-trained Gen. Prabowo, once told me, they have historically been the unit most closely identified with Washington. It was thus especially galling to TNI when US activists -- myself included -- were able to successfully press Congress to interrupt US aid to Kopassus in the 1990s .

Obama's planned give-back of aid to Kopassus is now awaited by TNI as sweet vindication, and by many of the survivors of TNI terror as America's green light for more.

But, as with most of the other atrocities by TNI, the assassination program reported in this piece involves multiple TNI components beyond Kopassus: Kopassus, but also BAIS intelligence and the mainline regional and local commands, KODAM, KOREM, and KODIM, all of them, most importantly, reporting ultimately to the national TNI commanders and other "higher ups in Jakarta."

And regardless of whether the US restores the aid for Kopassus, TNI as a whole already has the green light.

2,800 TNI men are now reportedly being trained in the US (this according to Indonesia's Defense Minister; see Olivia Rondonuwu and Ed Davies, "Interview -- Indonesia Sees U.S.Lifting Military Training Ban ", Reuters, March 4, 2010) and Obama's Pentagon is pushing weapons and equipment sales and US loans that would further empower TNI overall.

That being said, Kopassus does indeed have a special swagger and symbolic potency.

During the recent Obama - TNI aid negotiations in anticipation of his trip, the Kopassus commanding general came to Washington and was welcomed by the Obama team. Back in Indonesia, also during the talks, a Kopassus man felt confident enough to attempt to board a commercial flight out of Aceh while carrying a pistol fitted with a silencer -- a classic assassination weapon. This was of interest to the Indonesian official who described the incident, because one victim in Aceh had apparently been executed with a silenced pistol, at night (The victim's roommate didn't awaken).

An airport security man affiliated with the air force took the Kopassus man's pistol away.

But later, a Kopassus delegation arrived and made him give it back.


NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.

Email Me