Bloody Hands and a Crucial Victory

As he was in the campaign, Jokowi is, in government, surrounded by killers.  

He could have kept them all out, but he chose not to.  

The blood on their hands is now on his.  

But that does not necessarily mean that the killers will, in the end, prevail. 

(Though it is quite possible that they will kill more civilians in the meantime).  

This is an epic struggle for power.  

If people put pressure on Jokowi there's a decent chance they can win concessions.

Indeed that has apparently happened already, in a crucially important way.  

As of noon Friday, General Wiranto had been written in as MENKOPOLKAM, a coordinating post that in the hands of a man like him could have given him vast de facto power over the army, police, and intelligence.

But according to very high level people, Wiranto was removed at the last minute -- Saturday night -- specifically in response to objections from mobilized critics/ activists. (See Friday - Sunday blog entries and Tweets at @AllanNairn14).

At the same time, though, Jokowi gave power to General Ryamizard, the TNI's ideologist for killing civilians, a man who oversaw Aceh massacres and praised the army assassins of a Papua leader as "heroes."

The chief of BIN (intelligence) was not announced Sunday with the cabinet posts, but As'ad, implicated in the Munir assassination, is said to still be in the running.

Allan Nairn


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