| Subject: TNI
denies role in Dutch journalist's murder
Received from Joyo Indonesian News
Jakarta Post December 31, 1999
TNI denies role in Dutch journalist's
murder
JAKARTA (JP): A former battalion
commander in East Timor admitted on Thursday that his troops ambushed two
foreign journalists in the territory's capital of Dili on Sept. 21.
However, Maj. Jacob Joko Sarosa, who
commanded battalion 745 Sampada Yudha Bakti, denied involvement in the
murder of Dutch journalist Sannder Thoenes, who was slain two kilometers
from where his troops concurrently stopped British reporter Jon Swain and
American photographer Chip Hires.
"My men seized two cameras and some
50 rolls of film from those journalists and I was sentenced to seven days'
imprisonment for failing to control my subordinates," Jacob said
after being questioned by the Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights
Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor. He said his soldiers were
"emotional and frustrated with white-skinned people" due to
their belief there were unfair practices during the UN- administered
ballot, which resulted in the rejection of an autonomy proposal within
Indonesia.
"Tension was also high as my men had
already been intercepted many times by Falintil members on their way from
Los Palos, so the battalion stopped a taxi to check whether there were any
proindependence supporters in it. But they turned out to be
journalists."
Jacob said Thoenes, the Jakarta
correspondent for London's Financial Times, was murdered when the
battalion was passing the East Dili area of Becora on its way from Los
Palos to the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang.
He noted that "apart from battalion
745, at that time a number of other TNI units were still in Becora".
He did not elaborate.
Thousands of the Indonesian Military (TNI)
personnel were pulled from East Timor and dispatched to neighboring East
Nusa Tenggara when the International Force for East Timor (Interfet) began
to trickle into the territory in September.
Thoenes was killed one day after the
arrival of the multinational troops and less than two hours after he
arrived in the province.
His body was found in Becora on Sept. 22
with multiple wounds and a severed ear.
Eyewitnesses said Thoenes was killed
after he tried to flee a roadblock manned by a number of armed civilians
in the area. Swain and Hires escaped into bushes, made their way to a
nearby village and phoned their office in London, who conveyed contacted
Interfet in Dili.
A rescue operation was mounted involving
a light armored vehicle, 100 troops and a number of Black Hawk
helicopters.
KPP HAM in its midterm report claimed
that, based on a preliminary investigation and witness accounts, TNI was
directly or indirectly involved in the violence perpetrated by militias.
Former TNI chief Gen. Wiranto and a
number of army generals have denied the allegations, saying the violence
was an emotional outburst which was neither premeditated nor controllable.
Other Army officers questioned included
Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri and former East
Timor military commander Col. M. Noer Muis.
KPP HAM members said former foreign
affairs minister Ali Alatas was scheduled to be questioned next week.(byg)
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights
Campaign 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK Phone:
0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322 email: tapol@gn.apc.org Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in Indonesia, East Timor,
West Papua and Aceh
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