News and Comment, by Allan Nairn

Note to Readers re. Upcoming Release of Secret Documents

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:57:00 +0000

On November 9 this website ran a piece on TNI (Indonesian armed forces) abduction, murder and targeting of civilians. The piece was based on secret Kopassus documents regarding West Papua.

Later this week we will begin to release several hundred pages of additional documents.

For the Nov. 9 article see: Allan Nairn, "Breaking News: Secret Files Show Kopassus, Indonesia's Special Forces, Targets Papuan Churches, Civilians. Documents Leak from Notorious US-Backed Unit as Obama Lands in Indonesia.," News and Comment, Nov. 9, 2010.

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

Indonesian Armed Forces Chief Confirms, Defends, Targeting Civilians.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:57:00 +0000

The Jakarta Globe has a piece this morning on the TNI response to my November 9 report detailing their targeting of churches and civilians:

"The Indonesian military chief has confirmed claims by a rights activist [Allan Nairn] that the armed forces are actively carrying out intelligence gathering in Papua, and defended the move as crucial for national security... On Thursday, Adm. Agus Suhartono, the recently appointed chief of the Indonesian Military, admitted that they were involved in intelligence gathering operations, but only to guard against threats to the nation’s sovereignty and to back up police operations there. He rejected the idea that gathering intelligence among civilians was wrong, saying all intelligence operations in Papua served to detect and prevent separatist threats. 'What we’re doing is maximizing the use of our intelligence unit for the sake of the military and the country,' Agus said." ( See Markus Junianto Sialoho, "Indonesian Military Chief Defends Spying Operation in Papua," The Jakarta Globe, November 12, 2010).
.
What the TNI does to civilian dissidents in Papua is not just "intelligence gathering operations" but also, as a secret Kopassus report puts it: "abduction [and] murder." (See News and Comment, November 9).

If the TNI wants to defend this practice they should do so in open court. When they commit murder they should stand trial for it, just like any ordinary person.

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

Breaking News: Secret Files Show Kopassus, Indonesia's Special Forces, Targets Papuan Churches, Civilians. Documents Leak from Notorious US-Backed Unit as Obama Lands in Indonesia.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:13:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn

Jakarta, November 9, 2010.

Secret documents have leaked from inside Kopassus, Indonesia's red berets, which say that Indonesia's US-backed security forces engage in "murder [and] abduction" and show that Kopassus targets churches in West Papua and defines civilian dissidents as the "enemy."

The documents include a Kopassus enemies list headed by Papua's top Baptist minister and describe a covert network of surveillance, infiltration and disruption of Papuan institutions

The disclosure comes as US President Barack Obama is touching down in Indonesia. His administration recently announced the restoration of US aid to Kopassus.

Kopassus is the most notorious unit of Indonesia's armed forces, TNI, which along with POLRI, the national police, have killed civilians by the hundreds of thousands.

The leaked cache of secret Kopassus documents includes operational, intelligence and field reports as well as personnel records which list the names and details of Kopassus "agents."

The documents are classified "SECRET" ("RAHASIA") and include extensive background reports on Kopassus civilian targets -- reports that are apparently of uneven accuracy.

The authenticity of the documents has been verified by Kopassus personnel who have seen them and by external evidence regarding the authors and the internal characteristics of the documents.

Some of the Kopassus documents will be released in the days to come, in part via this website.

Those being released with this article are about West Papua, where tens of thousands of civilians have been murdered and where Kopassus is most active. Jakarta has attempted to largely seal off Papua to visits by non-approved outsiders.

When the US restored Kopassus aid last July the rationale was fighting terrorism, but the documents show that Kopassus in fact systematically targets civilians.

A detailed 25-page secret report by a Kopassus task force in Kotaraja, Papua defines Kopassus' number-one "enemy" as unarmed civilians. It calls them the "separatist political movement" "GSP/P, " lists what they say are the top 15 leaders and discusses the "enemy order of battle."

All of those listed are civilians, starting with the head of the Baptist Synod of Papua. The others include evangelical ministers, activists, traditional leaders, legislators, students and intellectuals as well as local establishment figures and the head of the Papua Muslim Youth organization.

The secret Kopassus study says that in their 400,000 - person area of operations the civilians they target as being political are "much more dangerous than" any armed opposition since the armed groups "hardly do anything" but the civilians -- with popular support -- have "reached the outside world" with their "obsession" with "merdeka" (independence/ freedom) and persist in "propagating the issue of severe human rights violations in Papua," ie. "murders and abductions that are done by the security forces."

(See SATGAS BAN - 5 KOPASSUS, LAPORAN TRIWULAN I POS KOTARAJA, DANPOS NUR WAHYUDI, LETTU INF, AGUSTUS 2007, p. 8, 12, 9, 6, 5, )

The Kopassus document cited above is embedded below, followed by supplementary field reports.

Satgas Ban - 5 Kopassus Triw

lapharian

Given that the Kopassus report states as settled fact that security forces do "murder, abduction," those who they define as being the enemy can be presumed to be in some danger.

In its' discussion of "State of the enemy" Kopassus identifies the enemy with two kinds of actions: "the holding of press conferences" where they "always criticize the government and the work being done by the security forces" and the holding of private meetings where they engage in the same kind of prohibited speech. (LAPORAN TRIWULAN p. 9)

The Kopassus "enemies" list -- the "leaders" of the "separatist political movement" includes fifteen civic leaders. In the order listed by Kopassus they are:

-- Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman, chair of the Papua Baptist Synod

-- Markus Haluk head of the Association of Indonesian Middle Mountains Students (AMPTI) and an outspoken critic of the security forces and the US mining giant Freeport McMoRan

-- Buchtar Tabuni, an activist who, after appearing on the Kopassus list, was sentenced to three years prison for speech and for waving Papuan flags and was beaten bloody by three soldiers, a guard, and a policeman because he had a cell phone

-- Aloysius Renwarin, a lawyer who heads a local human rights foundation

-- Dr. Willy Mandowen, Mediator of PDP, the Papua Presidium Council, a broad group including local business people, former politcal prisoners, women's and youth organizations, and Papuan traditional leaders. His most prominent predecessor, Theys Eluay, had his throat slit by Kopassus in 2001.

-- Yance Kayame, a committee chair in the Papuan provincial legislature

-- Lodewyk Betawi

-- Drs. Don Agustinus Lamaech Flassy of the Papua Presidium Council staff

-- Drs. Agustinus Alue Alua, head of the MRP, the Papuan People's Council, which formally represents Papuan traditional leaders and was convened and recognized by the Jakarta government

-- Thaha Al Hamid, Secretary General of the Papua Presidium Council

-- Sayid Fadal Al Hamid, head of the Papua Muslim Youth

-- Drs. Frans Kapisa, head of Papua National Student Solidarity

-- Leonard Jery Imbiri, public secretary of DAP, the Papuan Customary Council, which organizes an annual plenary of indigenous groups, has staged Papua's largest peaceful demonstrations, and has seen its offices targeted for clandestine arson attacks

-- Reverend Dr. Beny Giay, minister of the Protestant evangelical KINGMI Tent of Scripture church of Papua

-- Selfius Bobby, student at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology (LAPORAN TRIWULAN p. 6)

Reached for comment, Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman of the Baptist Synod laughed when told he headed the Kopassus list. He said that churches were targeted by TNI/ Kopassus because "We can't condone torture, kidnapping or killing." He said that he has received anonymous death threats "all the time, everywhere," but that as a church leader he must endure it . He said the real problem was for Papua's poor who "live daily in pressure and fear."

Markus Haluk said that he is constantly followed on foot and by motorcycle, has been the subject of apparent attempts to kill him, and receives so many sms text death threats that he has difficulty keeping current with the death-threat archive he tries to maintain for historical and safety purposes.

One threat, written months after his name appeared as a target in the Kopassus documents promised to decapitate him and bury his head -- 200 meters deep, while another imagined his head as a succulent fruit to be devoured and swallowed by security forces.

But as a famous figure in Papua, Haluk enjoys, he thinks, a certain kind of protection since when security forces have actually arrested him it has at times touched off street uprisings.

Village Papuans, he said, enjoy no such advantage. For them, being targeted by Kopassus "can get you killed. If there's a report against you, you can die."

Contacted in prison, Buctar Tabuni, the number three enemy on the Kopassus list, told of getting a death threat with a rat cadaver, described living with round-the-clock surveillance, and said the threats to him repeatedly stated that "you will be killed unless you stop your human rights activities."

Three days ago, writing from his prison cell, Buctar Tabuni called on President Obama to cut off aid to TNI and back a democratic vote on Papuan independence. He told me that Indonesia follows the US lead and that the US was complicit since, as he wrote Obama, US-trained "troops in cities and villages all over West Papua treat the people like terrorists that must be exterminated."

Anti-terrorism was indeed Obama's main argument for restoring US aid to Kopassus, but the documents make clear that Kopassus mainly targets unarmed civilians, not killers.

In fact, the main unit that wrote the secret documents, SATGAS BAN - 5 KOPASSUS, is ostensibly doing anti-terrorism, with the Kopassus Unit 81, Gultor.

Obama justified the Kopassus aid restoration to Congress by saying that the initial US training would be given not to Kopassus as a whole but only to its' anti-terror forces. The White House and Pentagon suggested that these forces were less criminal than the rest of Kopassus and of TNI/POLRI, but the documents establish that they, like the rest, go after civilians like the Papuan reverends and activists.

Reverend Giay said, when reached for comment that TNI, Kopassus and POLRI were making the case that "it's OK to kill pastors and burn churches since the churches are separatist."

Among Giay's collection of anonymous sms death threats was a political missive demanding that "the reverend stop using the platform of the church to spread the ideology of free Papua."

Giay said that "they need ideological and moral support from the Indonesian majority and the media" so they use Kopassus and others to attack the churches as constituting security threats.

He compared TNI/Kopassus actions in Papua now to those earlier in East Timor and the Malukus where "they created this conflict between Muslims and Christians" to expand their presence and get more money and power.

Reverend Giay said that "local pastors have been targeted. They kill them off and report them as separatists."

The Kopassus documents boast that "in carrying out the operational mission of intelligence in the kotaraja area, we apportion work in order to cover all places and avenues of kotaraja society..." (LAPORAN TRIWULAN p. 11).

The files show that Kopassus indeed penetrates most every part of popular life. In addition to plainclothes Kopassus officers who go undercover in multiple roles, Kopassus fields a small army of non-TNI "agents" -- real people with real lives and identities, who are bought, coerced or recruited into working covertly.

Kopassus Kotaraja area agents discussed in the secret personnel files include reporters for a local newspaper and for a national TV news channel, students, hotel staff, a court employee, a senior civil servant who works on art and culture, a 14 year old child, a broke, "emotional, drunken" farmer who needs money and "believes" that Kopassus will "take care of his safety," a "hardworking" "emotionally stable" farmer who also is a need of funds, a worker who "likes to drink hard liquor," is poor and "likes to believe things," a motorcycle taxi driver, a cellphone kiosk clerk who watches people who buy SIM card numbers, and a driver for a car rental company who "frequently informs on whether there are elements from the Separatist Political Movement who hire rental cars and speak regarding independence/freedom (merdeka)" (SATGAS BAN - 5 KOPASSUS, POS I KOTARAJA, BIODATA AGEN, RAHASIA).

In the file, though, the word "merdeka" is not spelled out. In accord with Kopassus practice, only an initial is written, in quotation marks: "'M'", the unwritable, unspeakable M-word.

The documents support the longtime word on the street: you rarely know who is Kopassus. So best watch what you say if you care for safety, especially if what you say is "freedom."

Link to view Democracy Now! (TV/radio, US) interview re. this piece

Link to view Radio France Internationale interview, coverage re. this piece

Link to view Jakarta Post coverage re. this piece: "'Leaked' file shows civilians targeted in Papua"

Link to view Radio New Zealand International coverage re. this piece: "Leaked Documents Offer Glimpse of Kopassus Motives in Papua"

Link to view Tempointeraktif.com (Indonesia) coverage re. this piece: "Panglima TNI Belum Baca Dokumen Operasi Kopassus yang Bocor," ("TNI Commander Has Not Yet Read Leaked Kopassus Operational Documents")

Link to view Czech coverage re. this piece

Link to view Guardian (UK) editorial re this piece: "Obama's missed opportunity in Jakarta. Even as President Obama landed, evidence of Indonesia's spotty record on human rights emerged. Yet he said nothing"

Link to view The Courier-Mail (Australia) editorial re. this piece: "Military Violence Threatens Progress"

Link to view Jakarta Globe coverage re. this piece:"Indonesian Military Chief Defends Spying Operations in Papua ," Excerpt: "The Indonesian Military chief has confirmed claims by a rights activist that the armed forces are actively carrying out intelligence gathering in Papua, and defended the move as crucial for national security..."

Link to view Koran Tempo (Indonesia) coverage re. this piece: "Panglima TNI Maklum Dokumen Rahasia Bocor," ("TNI Commander Informs Regarding Leaked Secret Document")

Link to view Tempointeractive.com (Indonesia): "TNI Commander Agrees Leaks of Secret Documents Not Impossible."

Link to view Jakarta Globe on reaction to this piece: "Activist Papuan Priests Say They Won't Be Intimidated."

The US, Israel, Gaza, and The Rule of Law. "We would be surprised if not everybody ... was killed."

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:26:00 +0000

Some say the US should admonish Israel for its attack on the Gaza aid ship.

But Israel is not violating US doctrine. Israel is implementing it.

A former US national security chief just said on CNN: "I mean, imagine for a moment if you had videotape of a U.S. Navy SEAL being thrown by civilians off the side of a ship. We would be surprised if not everybody on that ship was killed as a result of that." (CNN, The Situation Room, May 31, 2010).

There were 600 people on that ship. US doctrine, evidently, says: kill them.

Saying this was Frances Fragos Townsend, the former top adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism to US President George W. Bush, and a current member of President Obama's CIA External Advisory Board.

Townsend also served as Assistant Commandant for Intelligence at the US Coast Guard.

Under President Clinton, at the US Department of Justice, Townsend's official biography states, she "played a critical part in establishing the [Criminal] Division's international training and rule of law programs."

The problem is not just one of stopping Israel's crimes, but of stopping Washington from authorizing them -- and from exporting worldwide a US version of "rule of law" that legalizes official killings of civilians.

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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

"Arrest me and prove me wrong." As Assassinations Crisis Continues, Jakarta Post Runs Interview.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:28:00 +0000

They sat on it for ten days, but the the English-language Jakarta Post has finally run this interview with me about TNI (Indonesian armed forces) assassinations:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/12/arrest-me-and-prove-me-wrong.html

The Post piece contains transcription errors in the last two sentences. They should read: " If the TNI can do that, then maybe the Kopassus aid will go forward. If not, if the open trial decides the TNI is lying, that might kill the Kopassus aid."

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Scroll down for English items re. assassinations by the Indonesian military (TNI), Obama's plan to boost their aid, & TNI effofts to kill the story

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 05:21:00 +0000

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TNI Secara Diam-diam Mengaku Bersalah. Seseorang Ditanyai Hanya Karena Menelpon Saya. Para Elit Jakarta Ketakutan. Hanya Rakyat Yang Tak Gentar.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:21:00 +0000

Jumat, 02 April, 2010

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

Pada hari Selasa, 23 Maret, jam 9.59 malam saya ditelpon di HP saya
oleh seorang Indonesia yang saya kenal. Dalam waktu 24 jam dia telah
ditanyai oleh intelijen negara Indonesia. Mereka bertanya: “Mengapa
kamu menelpon Allan? Apa hubunganmu dengan dia?”

Sebagai catatan, dia menelpon hanya untuk memberitahukan, “Mereka
menayangkan gambarmu di berita TV .” Hubungan saya dengan dia adalah
hubungan pertemanan biasa dan dia tidak ada hubungannya apapun dengan laporan saya tentang pembunuhan-pembunuhan yang dilakukan tentara Indonesia yang didukung oleh AS itu.

Tidak ada satupun dari aktivis atau jurnalis, termasuk mereka yang
dalam beberapa hari belakangan ini berhubungan atau bertemu dengan
saya, memperbincangkan (isi artikel) yang membuat heboh itu.

Saya sengaja menulis tentang hal ini karena, sebagaimana dikatakan
oleh seorang terkemuka dua hari yang lalu, “Sangatlah berbahaya
memperbincangkan artikel kamu di depan publik” -- dan (siapa tahu?)
bahkan mungkin lewat telepon.

Setelah Metro TV memotong siaran saya persis ketika saya mulai
mendiskusikan tentang pembunuhan-pembunuhan itu (lihat posting tanggal
24 maret 2010), salah seorang anggota stasiun TV tersebut menulis
kepada saya tentang kawan-kawan sejawatnya: “Saya tidak percaya
mereka.”

Angkatan bersenjata Indonesia telah secara diam-diam mengaku bersalah
karena mereka punya kesempatan untuk menahan saya kemarin, tetapi itu tidak dilakukan sekalipun mereka telah menggembar-gemborkan bahwa mereka akan menangkap saya untuk membersihkan nama mereka di depan peradilan terbuka.

Sebelum kemarin sore, mereka masih bisa berkilah seacara teknis karena
secara formal mereka tidak tahu saya berada dimana, namun setelah
pukul 5.30 atau pukul 6 sore, seluruh bangsa mestinya sudah tahu
karena saya harus melakukan wawancara dalam siarang langsung.

Namun Kopassus membunuh siaran tersebut persis pada saat saya sedang
menujun studio TV One di Jakarta. Komandan Jendral mereka, Lodewijk,
gagal tidak saja dalam menghadapi saya secara langsung tetapi juga
mengabaikan kesempatan untuk memborgol saya karena saya secara hukum “mencemarkan nama baik TNI” (lihat posting 31 Maret 2010)

Ketika kemudian saya bertanya kepada eksekutif TV One tentang mengapa mereka membatalkan wawancara tersebut, ia menjawab bahwa itu ‘terlalu beresiko’ untuk mereka. Ia menyebutkan bahwa mereka pun, bisa kena tuduhan pelanggaran yang sama seperti yang tengah saya hadapi.

Besok, hari Sabtu, saya dijadwalkan melakukan wawancara dengan media
cetak. Seseorang yang terlibat dalam wawancara tersebut menulis, “[Kami] tidak sabar menunggu wawancara ini. [Kami] sudah beritahu redaksi kami dan mereka pun senang sekali. Saya hanya berharap bahwa tidak akan pembatalan di menit-menit terakhir seperti yang terjadi dengan TV One.”

Saya berani bertaruh bahwa tidak akan ada pembatalan. Media cetak bisa
diedit dan -- karena merupakan medianya elit -- tidak akan menjangkau
rakyat biasa sebagaimana halnya televisi.

Apa yang seharusnya saya sampaikan di TV One setelah membeberkan
fakta-fakta pembunuhan adalah dengan semata-mata mengulang apa yang
dikatakan banyak orang namun tidak pernah terdengar dari pembaca
berita di Jakarta:

‘Mengapa setelah membunuh, menyiksa dan memperkosa ratusan ribu
rakyat, tidak ada satupun Jendral TNI yang dipenjara karena kejahatan
ini? Semua orang di Indonesia tahu: para hakim takut dan tunduk
sebagaimana halnya dengan para politisi dan lembaga-lembaga pers yang
besar. Tetapi rakyat tidak takut. Anda tahu apa yang dikatakan rakyat
miskin tentang TNI? Mereka menyebutnya ‘[orang] sadis.’ TNI sendiri
mengakuinya dalam website mereka. (Lihat posting 8 November, 2007).

Saya nggak sabar untuk menyebutkan kata itu, dan kemudian mendengarkan reaksi dari orang-orang yang duduk, dan menonton dari lantai-lantai mengkilap seperti beberapa dari mereka yang saya kenal.

Sungguh menyenangkan mendengar pikiran-pikiran Anda bergema dari
panggung kecil, seperti studio TV. Dan ia menggemakan pidato populer
yang kadang-kadang menciptakan petir politik.

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TNI Tacitly Admits Guilt. Man Questioned for Calling Me on Phone. Establishment Jakarta is Afraid. Only the People Don't Tremble.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 20:27:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn (www.allannairn.com)

On Tuesday, March 23 at 9:59 at night I received a call on one of my cell phones from an Indonesian man I know. Within 24 hours he had been questioned by Indonesian state intelligence. They asked: "Why are you calling Allan? What's your relationship with him?"

For the record, he was calling to exclaim "They're showing your picture on the TV news!" Our relationship is, he's a friendly acquaintance and he had nothing whatsoever to do with my recent report on assassinations by the US-backed Indonesian armed forces (TNI).

Nor did any activist or journalist, including those who, in recent days, have been in touch with or met with me to discuss the ensuing uproar.

I'm putting this in print because, as one public figure said two nights ago, "It can be dangerous to discuss your article in public" -- and, who knows?, maybe even by phone.

After Metro TV pulled me off-air in minutes when I started discussing assassination specifics (see posting of March 24, 2010), one member of the station wrote to me saying of their colleagues: "I don't trust them."

The Indonesian armed forces have already tacitly conceded their guilt since they had a chance to arrest me yesterday, but didn't, even though they've been proclaiming that they want to do so to clear their name in open court.

Before yesterday afternoon they had the technical excuse that they didn't formally know my location, but as of 5:30 or 6pm the nation would have known since I was due for a live TV sit-down.

But Kopassus killed the interview as I was en route to the Jakarta TV One studio. Their commanding General, Lodewijk, backed down not just from confronting me face-to-face verbally, but from the chance to have the cuffs slapped on me for legally "defiling" TNI's "good name" (See posting of March 31, 2010)

When I later asked a TV One executive why they too had pulled the plug, he said it would have been "too risky" for them. He claimed they could face the same felony charge I'm facing.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I'm due for a print interview. One person involved with it has written: "[We]can't wait to make this interview. [We]'ve told [our] editors and they are excited. I'm just hoping no last minute cancelation like TVOne did."

I'm betting there won't be a cancellation. Print is edited and -- in elite outlets -- doesn't reach the rakyat biasa, the regular people, like live TV does.

What I would have said on TV One after stating the murder facts would have been to simply repeat what people say but never hear from the Jakarta presenters:

'Why is it that after murdering, torturing and raping many hundreds of thousands, not a single TNI General is in prison for these crimes? Everyone in Indonesia knows: the judges are afraid, or complicit, as are the politicians and the big press. But the rakyat is not as frightened. You know what poor people call the TNI? They call them "the sadists." The TNI even acknowledged this on their website.' (See posting of November 8, 2007).

I couldn't wait to say those words, then listen for the responses from people sitting, watching from reed-brushed floors like the ones I know.

It's nice to hear your own sentiments echo back from a distant podium, like a TV studio. And it is echoed popular speech that sometimes makes political thunder.

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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.

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Pls. scroll down for English language postings re. assassinations by the Indonesian military (TNI), and Obama's plan to boost their aid.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:14:00 +0000

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Below are Indonesian translations of challenge to military to arrest me live, on air, and re. cancellation of that TV appearance due to TNI pressure.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:55:00 +0000

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Perkembangan Pembunuhan: Tekanan dari Kopassus Kabarnya Membuat TV One Membatalkan Wawancara Langsung

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:47:00 +0000

Oleh Allan Nairn (www.allannairn.com)

Pada saat saya sedang menuju ke studio untuk menghadiri wawancara
tentang TNI sebagaimana yang sudah disepakati sebelumnya, saya
mendapat telpon yang mengabarkan bahwa TV One, sebuah TV berita di
Indonesia, telah memutuskan untuk membatalkan acara itu akibat tekanan dari Kopassus.

Kopassus adalah salah satu unit yang telah saya laporkan terlibat
dalam pembunuhan politik di Aceh. Presiden Obama kabarnya ingin
meningkatkan bantuan Amerika Serikat kepada Kopassus, dan laporan saya tampaknya telah menciptakan krisis bagi tentara Indonesia dan AS.

Meskipun TV One telah sepakat sebelumnya untuk mewawancarai saya
selama 15 atau 30 menit, mereka memutuskan secara sepihak -- tanpa
memberitahu saya sebelumnya -- bahwa mereka akan menayangkan saya
hanya jika komandan Kopassus, Jendral Lodewijk, ada disana untuk
memberikan bantahan kepada saya.

Saya tentu saja sangat senang untuk berhadapan langsung dan mengajukan pertanyaan kepada sang Jendral, tetapi masalahnya si Jendral itu menolak untuk menghadapi saya.

Demikianlah, karena Kopassus, wawancara langsung saya dengan TV One
dibatalkan.

Jendral Lodewijk dan TNI, mengapa Anda takut menghadapi kenyataan?

Dan kepada TV One, kenapa Anda takut untuk membiarkan saya berdiskusi kenyataan itu, sebagaimana yang telah kita sepakati sebelumnya?

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TV One Menyebutkan, Wawancara Langsung Tentang Pembunuhan, Rabu, 31 Maret Jam 5.30 atau 6 Petang, Waktu Jakarta

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:41:00 +0000

Oleh Allan Nairn

TV One, sebuah TV berita di Indonesia, menyatakan bahwa mereka akan melakukan wawancara langsung dengan saya di studio sehubungan dengan laporan saya tentang pembunuhan-pembunuhan yang dilakukan oleh TNI pada jam 5.30 atau jam 6 petang WIB(jam 6.30 atau 7.00 pagi waktu Timur Amerika).

Semalam mereka sepakat bahwa saya akan diwawancarai sendirian selama
15 atau 30 menit dan akan dijinkan berbicara bebas tanpa penyensoran,
sebagaimana yang sudah terjadi minggu lalu dengan METRO TV (lihat
posting dibawah).

Kita lihat saja apa yang akan terjadi

Karena TNI mengancam akan menahan saya, maka ini ada sebuah kesempatan untuk mereka. Mereka bisa menahan saya dan disiarkan secara langsung oleh TV nasional di Studio TV One, Jakarta. Kemudian, kita akan berhadapan dengan pengadilan public dimana saya akan mendiskusikan fakta-fakta kejahatan mereka, dan mereka yang mensponsorinya yakni pemerintah Amerika Serikat.

Jika mereka gagal melakukannya maka ini akan merupakan pengakuan
diam-diam bahwa apa yang saya laporkan adalah benar adanya, karena
mereka menuduh bahwa saya telah ‘mencemarkan nama baik’ TNI, yang
merupakan sebuah kejahatan di Indonesia, dan karena mereka menyatakan pula bahwa mereka akan membersihkan nama baik itu dengan tuntutan criminal.

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:20:00 +0000

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?

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:35:00 +0000

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.

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Please scroll down for English language postings.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:01:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:48:00 +0000

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

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:52:00 +0000

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.

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:33:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:49:00 +0000

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.

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:15:00 +0000

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.

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Assassination Interview Censored by METRO TV, Indonesia.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:19:00 +0000

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.

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 06:20:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:23:00 +0000

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.

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:49:00 +0000

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.

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

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:58:00 +0000

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.

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