Indonesian Observer 12nd May 2000

Wiranto set for grilling on Tuesday over Timor case

JAKARTA (IO) — Suspended Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security, General Wiranto, is to be questioned by the Attorney General's Office here next Tuesday, in connection with violations of human rights which took place in East Timor, his lawyer said yesterday.

"General Wiranto will come here [AGO] next week. It's not a problem," Adnan Buyung Nasution, Wiranto's lawyer told the press here, adding that the former Armed Forces (ABRI)/Indonesian Defense Forces [TNI] Commander had been waiting for a summons for a long time.

The summons arrived yesterday.

Nasution added that Wiranto sought to explain what really happened in the country's former 27th province following last year's UN-sponsored ballot which later saw Timor gain independence.

Nasution praised the approach taken by the AGO as being wiser than the one taken by the government-sanctioned team investigating alleged human rights violation in East Timor (KPP-HAM).

"It differs from the KPP HAM recommendations which disclosed the names of those alleged to have carried out the human rights' abuses," Nasution added.

Even the report compiled by UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson does not disclose names, choosing instead to detail the facts only," he said.

In a related development, Maj.-Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, former director of BIA, the TNI Intelligence Unit, was questioned in his capacity as a member of the task force assigned to secure the implementation of the East Timor ballot.

A joint team comprising AGO officials, Military Police and TNI/Police officers also heard his evidence as a witness in alleged violations of human rights in post-ballot East Timor.

AGO spokesman Yushar Yahya added the former chiefs of the Liquisa military command in East Timor, Lieut-Col. Asep Kuswandi, and the Kovalima military command, Lieut. Col. Ahmad Mas Agus, were also questioned yesterday.

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