News and Comment, by Allan Nairn

Guatemala before the election

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 21:37:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn

As Guatemalans go to the polls there is an ad running on TV encouraging parents to give DNA samples to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) to help with the identification of human remains found near the US border.

In the ad an anxious mother plays and replays a voice message from her son who says that he will contact her "as soon as I cross the frontier."

The presumption is that the call never comes. The loved one has "disappeared."

It is, as the print version of the ad says, the fulfillment of "your greatest fear."

When the CIA invaded in 1954 and ended Guatemalan democracy it also put an end -- for a time, at least -- to the hope of basic human equality.

Today an estimated 47% of Guatemalans under the age of five are malnourished. And the country's rich are very rich and determined to keep it that way.

The military dictators who ran the country, with US backing, until the mid 1980s pursued that end by killing anyone perceived to stand in their way.

Their mission culminated in one of the most intensive slaughters since the Spanish Conquest as the army, by one of its own counts, wiped out 662 indigenous highland villages.

As one of the field commanders, Sergeant Miguel Raimundo, explained it to me at the time "the problem is that almost all the village people are guerrillas." (Allan Nairn, "The Guns of Guatemala, the merciless mission of Rios Montt's army," The New Republic [US], April 11, 1983).

He didn't literally mean armed guerrillas, for, as the then-dictator General Rios Montt told me: "For each one who is shooting there are ten who are working behind him."

Expanding on this, Rios Montt's chief aide, Francisco Bianchi, continued:"[T]he Indians ['Indios,' he called them] were subversives, right? And how do you fight subversion? Clearly you had to kill Indians because they were collaborating with subversion. And they would say, 'You're massacring innocent people.' But they weren't innocent. They had sold out to subversion." (Allan Nairn, "Guatemala Can't Take 2 Roads," The New York Times, op ed, July 20, 1982).

These mountain sweeps, which were developed as a tactic with the US military attache -- as he told me, were a followup to the urban assassinations which decapitated civil society.

Among the victims was Manuel Colom Argueta, the former Mayor of Guatemala City who was shot 45 times as a helicopter hovered overhead.

And in one of those bitter jokes that the gods of history sometimes like to play, it is Colom Argueta's niece-in-law, Sandra Torres, who in today's election is standing as the presidential candidate of that US-invasion-installed old order.

Opposing her, having recently come out of nowhere to take a presumed lead, is Bernardo Arévalo, the son of the first of the two democratic-era presidents who began the land and other reforms that Eisenhower, and United Fruit, found so intolerable.

Arévalo, born abroad while his father was in exile, now faces a depleted Guatemala where economic exile has largely replaced the massacre-era political variety and where the massacre regime has morphed into one known as the Pacto de Corruptos (perhaps best translated as the Covenant of the Corrupt) and where sons and daughters are willing to risk becoming bones to cross the border.

By conventional measures, Arévalo and his reformist party, Semilla ('seed'), are facing an uphill electoral climb since Torres has the money, a big political machine, government agencies that are all-but-openly buying votes for her, and a public prosecutor's office (Ministerio Publico, MP) that is attempting to dissolve Semilla -- moving against it as recently as three days ago.

And on top of that the MP is talking about starting mass arrests -- perhaps tomorrow -- aimed not just at Semilla but also at the national elections board (Tribunal Supremo Electoral, TSE), which in addition to doing shady contracts characteristic of the current Pacto has shocked many by committing the real crime of refusing to knock out Arévalo.

Semilla is one of the many mainly middle-class movements around the world which have shaken and sometimes toppled governments by protesting corruption.

It was born out of the protest movement that brought down President General Otto
Pérez Molina in 2015 not on the grounds of his '80s massacres but on the grounds that he was a thief. (It was Pérez Molina's own troops who described their massacres to me in the field, see references above and also "Titular de Hoy" our documentary with Jean-Marie Simon and Mikael Wahlforss [director], as well as Allan Nairn,"CIA Death Squad," The Nation [US], April 17, 1995 which reports that as army intel chief he was a CIA asset).

In this campaign, Arévalo is running as the "anti-system" candidate but focuses mainly on those parts of the system that involve its obscene, jaw-dropping corruption, while speaking very little of those centered on the distribution of wealth (this while proposing massive increases in health and education spending).

But, apparently, for most Guatemalans -- and for the Pacto rulers -- that is more than enough.

The most credible polls have him leading by roughly twenty points and, especially in the cities, there is something crackling in the air.

Both the people and the Pacto are in agreement that this election is big.

It is shaping up as something like a referendum on the old regime, the first chance for a national turn since the US high crime of '54.

Until days ago there was some doubt if this election would happen at all but now that the voting is underway the battle moves to its next phase.

If Arévalo wins he won't be due to be sworn in until January 14, 2024, and Pacto members have made it clear that they will do what's needed to prevent that.

Merely winning the vote will not be enough; to take office he must first win big, and then many thousands will have to be ready to take to the streets if circumstances demand.

Guatemala has many little-known heroes. A generation of them fell in the hills.

Others, leaving home for the sake of their families, risk disappearing at today's frontier.

By tomorrow, the shape of their struggle -- and possibilities -- should become more clear.

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

Trump's an ogre; but so's the thing that made him.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 23:45:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn

As many, including some corporations, have pointed out, Trump, Republicans and the right incited violence. They should be punished. But it should also be pointed out that violence is at the core of how the US and world system --and much of business -- works.

As the bard of US and corporatist violence, Thomas L. Friedman, memorably put it in the New York Times: "The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist -- McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the builder of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.”

An immediate priority is to turn back the fascistic, racist surge of the Trumpists.

But equally urgent is the need to alter and abolish the system that produced them.

While they were mounting a frenzied assault on the very idea of US democracy, it is also the case that the state of that democracy is such that both their hero Trump and many of the liberals they want to murder are in broad agreement on a series of abominable principles, including the idea that it is tolerable that there are billionaires while others starve, and that the US has the right to invade and kill whomever.

It's great that empowered people have the ability to hold free elections, but its only great to the extent that they're not lording it over the disempowered.

When US voters choose a president they are handing that person the ability & self-assumed right to kill anyone in the world, 98% of whom aren't US voters.

"No annihilation without representation" -- as minimalist a demand as that might be, is still unthinkable as a consensus precept in US politics.

Barely anyone blinks when a US-sponsored army (Indonesia's) assassinates a pastor like West Papua's Yeremia Zanambani , or a CIA death squad executes Muslim schoolboys in Omar Khail, Afghanistan, or the corporate-free-market-preserving F-15s like those lovingly invoked by Thomas Friedman massacre weddings and funerals in Yemen through the dropping of Raytheon bombs.

Beyond the old Hobbes, Max Weber conception of the state as the entity with a legitimated monopoly on the use of violence, the US system -- although legitimated only within the US, domestically -- extends that writ across the globe, and, even domestically, applies it differentially, killing or sparing people, to an important extent, based on race and wealth.

In a system that is a constantly struggled-over mix of one-person-one-vote and one-dollar-one-vote, US rich people & top officials become de-facto demi-gods with global, life-and-death reach.

It's one reason why Trump was such a shock. It was, in a sense, the big reveal. Here, made flesh, was the ugly soul of the machine. He's an ogre; but so's the thing that made him.

-----

“Americans Are Now Getting a Mild Taste of Their Own Medicine” (Transcript of January 7, 2021 appearance on Democracy Now!,the day after the Trump attack on the US Capitol)

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:36:00 +0000

Link to DN! video and transcript

World leaders reacted in horror over the storming of the U.S. Capitol, with the U.N. secretary-general calling on political leaders to demand their followers refrain from violence. Leaders of the U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, France, Germany, NATO and the European Council called for a peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden. Investigative journalist Allan Nairn looks at what steps Trump may take next, and says despite protestations from President-elect Joe Biden and others that the insurrection was “not who we are,” the U.S. has a long track record of disrupting democratic processes elsewhere. “What has shaken the U.S. population so badly, this assault on the Capitol yesterday, is really nothing by comparison to what U.S. operations have done in Latin America, in Asia, in Africa, in the Middle East, to other democratic movements and elected governments over the years,” says Nairn.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

World leaders reacted in horror over the storming of the U.S. Capitol. The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on U.S. political leaders to demand their followers refrain from violence. Leaders of the U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, France, Germany, NATO and the European Council called for a peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden.

In statement, Venezuela’s government condemned political polarization and the spiral of violence, adding, quote, “With this unfortunate episode, the United States is experiencing what it has generated in other countries with its policies of aggression.”

For more, we’re joined by award-winning journalist Allan Nairn, activist, investigative journalist.

Allan, as we watched what happened unfold yesterday in the U.S. Congress, and the difference between what happened with this mob of white supremacists, of what many are calling domestic terrorists — the difference in how the Capitol Police, some of them taking selfies with them, dealt with them versus what we saw in Lafayette Park, what happens with Black Lives Matter activists, or just African Americans in general, your response?

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, Trump, I think, lost his chance to actually seize full power on election night when he failed to stop the vote count. But yesterday he proved that he does have a street mob and that many in law enforcement are ready to stand back and let them rampage, I think, in part, because many in law enforcement see themselves as being on the same team.

The Capitol was under siege from the outside, from the crowd, but at the same time, it was also under siege intellectually from the inside. You had about a third of the Congress that was toying with the idea of abolishing presidential elections.

And Biden said, “This isn’t who we are.” But, in fact, this is consistent with a lot of deep traditions of the U.S. rulers, restricting the franchise, which the Founders always sought to do and which the U.S. right today sees as their only hope for political survival, and also the basic bipartisan U.S. principle of the current establishment that no election is sacrosanct.

Any election can be overturned, as long as it’s a foreign election. The U.S. has supported coups consistently, nonstop, through every administration. Obama and John Kerry — after the Egyptian Army staged a coup and overthrew the elected president, Kerry said they were acting to restore democracy. Trump, when he was president, along with General Kelly, his chief of staff, supported the stealing of an election in Honduras, where the candidate, Nasralla, was winning the vote count, and where, just shortly before, the U.S. had supported a coup to overthrow the elected president of Honduras, Zelaya. That was under Obama.

More recently, Trump supported a coup in Bolivia to overthrow the president, Evo Morales. And after that, Elon Musk, the second-richest man in the world, worth $184 billion, he tweeted this just on July 24th. He said, “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.” And I think that’s a pretty good statement of U.S. foreign policy. But now Trump, in a sense, is bringing that foreign policy home.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Allan, could you talk about the response from — I mean, the widespread condemnation of what happened from leaders around the world? And, in particular, one comment that stands out is the German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, on Twitter, writing, “From inflammatory words come violent actions – on the steps of the Reichstag and now in the Capitol,” in reference to the 1933 Reichstag fire that the Nazi Party used as a pretext to seize power.

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, it’s always been the case that the U.S. establishment was willing to use terror and kill civilians overseas, either to do things like seize oil, seize political power, or basically on whim. The presidency of George W. Bush was a prime example of that.

But Trump brought a unique aspect. He had this — he has this unique ability to unleash the beast in white America, to reach into people’s souls and bring out the worst aspects. And he also has the ability to create a fascistic atmosphere. He’s a product of the American elite. He’s an oligarch himself. But he takes a different approach from the respectable presidents, who have been the soft, friendly face of ruthless American power. And in a way, I think, he is kind of exposing the American system for what it is, in many respects, through his behavior and through the way he talks. But the movement that he has incited is a unique threat. And it has to be stopped.

But at the same time, I think it would be a huge mistake for people who are anti-fascist to respond to that by embracing the establishment, embracing authoritarian measures. You know, imagine how the laws are going to be rewritten now. Imagine how security procedures are going to be rewritten now. It’s almost a guarantee that it’s going to be much harder now to hold demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and in the vicinity of the Capitol. It’s going to be harder for movements legally, for movements like the Black Lives movement, for example, to go out on the streets again. There are sure to be more restrictions. And there are sure to be more restrictions on speech, through the newly empowered corporate censors, like Facebook and Twitter and so on, and perhaps through the government itself.

I think we have to be clear-eyed, and don’t let this Trumpist movement coopt the idea of rebellion. Rebellion against injustice is a good thing. The problem is that they — and the U.S. system is indeed unjust and murderous. But they are rebelling against the aspects of the U.S. system that happen to be good: the democracy, the tolerance, the chance for a democratic space in organizing. That’s what they’re rebelling against, on behalf of evils, like racism, like madness, like blind obedience to the leader, Trump. But we have to be careful and stand against both that, but also the establishment, which is still the main power in the United States and that is now in the middle of gutting the American poor, the American working class. That has to be rebelled against, just as we resist these fascistic forces. And it’s not easy to do both at the same time, but it’s necessary.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Allan, I mean, barring the successful invocation of the 25th Amendment, Trump is still in power for the next almost two weeks. Could you talk about some of the concerns you have about what might happen, what he might do in these 13 days?

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, one deep tradition of the American establishment, and especially the corporate press, is to rally around the flag whenever an American president launches a new war. So, if Trump wanted to and if he could get the military to go along, he could do something like bomb Iran, for example. And he, in fact, recently sent a U.S. warship toward Iran, just to be prepared for that possibility, if his whim pulls him in that direction. He had previously been calling for his law enforcement authorities to do things like arresting Biden, arresting Hillary Clinton. He wasn’t able to pull that off, but, clearly, you know, there’s still a lot — there’s still a lot he could do.

But even after Trump is gone, Elon Musk will still be there. He’ll still have his money. The American oligarchs will still be there. The U.S. security establishment will still be there, ready to do to capitols around the world what Trump’s mob just did to the U.S. Capitol.

Although I have to say, what has shaken the U.S. population so badly, this assault on the Capitol yesterday, is really nothing by comparison to what U.S. operations have done in Latin America, in Asia, in Africa, in the Middle East, to other democratic movements and elected governments over the years. You know, just days before this, remember, the U.S. Congress, by an overwhelming margin, passed the defense authorization bill to pump more money toward the Pentagon and overseas special operations, and, through other measures, is backing those operations of the CIA, basically dedicated to, whenever the order comes down, being ready to go in and overthrow democracy. So, Americans are now getting a mild taste of their own medicine, in a sense.

AMY GOODMAN: We have five seconds.

ALLAN NAIRN: And we have to recognize that and fight against it, stop it.

AMY GOODMAN: Allan Nairn, activist and award-winning journalist,, thanks so much for joining us.

That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. And remember, wearing a mask is an act of love.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

After letting COVID-19 spread, Trump tries to use it to suppress votes. It's time for a real, equal democracy that ends state murder and mass preventable death.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 14:58:00 +0000

The Republicans are working harder to stop votes from being cast and counted than they are to stop the spread of the deadly virus Covid-19.

They assess that the threat to them of Covid-19 is low enough that they can ignore it, even use it, but that the thing that truly endangers them is to let the wrong Americans vote.

While they are working with great vigor to mobilize their own supporters, they are striving still more fiercely to disenfranchise the other side.

While Republican lawyers work overtime to have counts stopped and legal, filled-out ballots destroyed, President Donald Trump, working the street side, tries to scare opposing voters away.

Building on his party’s surgical, race-centered efforts to shut polling places and make voting a trial, Trump has called on his armed tough guys to show up outside the hostile voting venues that—despite best efforts—still remain.

And in a cynical but shrewd bank-shot, Trump is trying to leverage his stack of Covid-19 dead and to turn it into an advantage with the help of judges and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

While dilettanteishly fighting Covid-19 and then languidly opting to let it run wild, Trump was taking careful note of the fact that, contrary to his own reassurances, the Democrats were telling their base that coronavirus-infused particles could indeed kill you.

In his opponents' decision to tell their public this medical truth, Trump appeared to sense naive, contemptible, electorally exploitable vulnerability.

Trump anticipated that his followers, taking him at his repeated word, would be ready to storm the polling booths in person, but that due to this instance of loser honesty by his foe, the Democrats, Trump opponents would end up preferring, on the whole, to vote by mail.

The response was audacious and brilliant: impede the mail where the bad guys live, while at the same time getting his judges to toss legal ballots that were—thanks to his intervention—delayed.

Through his oligarchic henchman—the big party donor DeJoy—Trump commandeered the U.S. Postal Service, gleefully endeavoring to flip this great institution (where many African-Americans work) from a constitutionally mandated public service into a Republican dirty tricks op.

Clearly alluding to this gambit when he spoke November 1 on ABC, Trump aide Jason Miller predicted Trump would win in part because of what he called "media and Democratic suppression for their voters on election day"—ie. media and Democratic Party candor on the pandemic that led their voters to, like suckers, trust the U.S. Postal Service.

If this vast, brazen scheme succeeds it will be a nightstick blow to the head of democracy, but if it doesn't—or perhaps even if it does—it may, and must, inspire deep change.

It's long past time for the US to stop pretending to be some pompous version of a managed democracy, and to give everyone the unimpeded right to cast a cleanly counted, equally-weighted vote.

But beyond the oft-discussed legal and political changes needed to ensure one-person-one-vote, we must also alter and abolish the economic system that imposes the rule of one-dollar-one-vote.

If the Democrats win it will be in no small part because they out-monied the Republican money-men, enabling them to sell Biden with the cash of Bloomberg and the college-plus suburbanites whom they proudly tout as their grass-roots replacement for the alienated working class and poor, that vast, multi-ethnic cadre that has fled the party or elected not to vote.

But beyond the political clout of sums like the extra trillion dollars US oligarchs gained during Trump and Covid-19 , lie the material harms of this skewed system that include mass preventable death. Domestically, that includes the fallout of our failure to treat food, shelter, and healthcare as among one's rights, but internationally it includes the routine US practice—starting long before Trump was born—of being willing to cause the mass death of foreign civilians, on whim, for interest, or for fleeting gain.

Perhaps due to Trump and the mortal consequences of the rightist revolution he dragged to power, the notion is finally starting to broadly dawn that certain things—like flirting with extinction, and brutality, are unacceptable, and if you allow them there's a chance that they'll come home to hit you too.

Covid-19 is somewhat like that, but so are many deep parts of the US and world system. Let Trump be the occasion to start rooting them all out, once and for all.

A version of this piece appeared at Common Dreams

NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fundraising 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: Rapat strategis Prabowo merencanakan penangkapan massal lawan-lawan politik dan kaum Islamis; upaya di balik layar untuk menyenangkan AS, termasuk perintah Prabowo untuk menggagalkan gugatan melawan Freeport-McMoRan dan janji untuk “menghancurkan” FPI, HTI, PKS; Partai Demokrat juga ditarget; rencana mengembalikan Angkatan Darat ke perannya seperti zaman “Orde Baru”

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 02:59:00 +0000

April 15, 2019

Oleh Allan Nairn
Jakarta

Prabowo Subianto, seorang pensiunan jenderal yang sekarang sedang mengincar jabatan presiden Indonesia telah menyusun rencana untuk melakukan penangkapan massal baik terhadap lawan-lawan politik maupun para sekutunya hari ini.

Menurut notulensi rapat strategis yang digelar Prabowo bersama rekan-rekan jenderal lingkaran dalamnya dan sejumlah orang lainnya yang tergabung dalam tim inti pada akhir Desember 2018, Prabowo--seorang 'anak didik' Amerika Serikat yang telah lama terlibat dalam kasus pembunuhan massal, penculikan, dan penyiksaan, juga berencana mengembalikan Angkatan Darat Indonesia ke posisinya seperti di era kediktatoran Suharto.

[For full scrollable text of Notulensi Rapat see link, and bottom of this piece]

Menurut notulensi rapat tersebut, Prabowo--yang pernah berbicara ngalor-ngidul di hadapan saya tentang upaya merebut kekuasaan dan soal "[dijuluki] diktator fasis"--rupanya telah mempersiapkan "Malam Belati Panjang" (Night of the Long Knives) versinya sendiri, untuk mengonsolidasikan kekuasaan di tangannya sekaligus menjilat Washington.

Dalam pertemuan yang diadakan pada 21 Desember 2018 di kediaman Prabowo di Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta, Prabowo dan dan tim membuat penugasan-penugasan khusus tak hanya untuk "mengadili sebanyak-banyaknya lawan politik," tapi juga "melumpuhkan" kelompok-kelompok Islamis yang kini menyokong kampanyenya. Rencana ini akan dilaksanakan setelah Prabowo menjabat presiden.

Selama ini Prabowo berkampanye melawan apa yang dikecamnya sebagai "antek asing". Namun notulensi rapat menyebutkan ia diam-diam berjanji untuk "bekerja sama dengan Amerika Serikat" dengan cara "menangkap ulama-ulama radikal" dan "serdadu-serdadu [Islamis]" yang membantunya berkampanye saat ini.

Meski ihwal besar yang diserang dalam kampanye Prabowo adalah perampasan kekayaan nasional oleh asing, di belakang layar Prabowo telah campur tangan--seperti yang dikatakan wakil ketua partainya kepada saya--untuk menyokong aktor utama perampas kekayaan itu, yakni Freeport-McMoRan, perusahaan tambang raksasa asal AS.

—-

Freeport--beserta tambang emas dan tembaganya yang telah menduduki Papua secara de facto--telah berulang kali kepergok menyuap pejabat dan satuan-satuan militer serupa Kopassus-nya Prabowo. Freeport juga telah menyebabkan kerusakan lingkungan. Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Indonesia melaporkan kerusakan ini diperkirakan mencapai Papua Barat, sebuah wilayah pendudukan secara de-facto. Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Indonesia pada 2017 memperkirakan kerusakan akibat kerusakan lingkungan ini mencapai $13 miliar.

Beberapa tahun belakangan, perusahan yang beroperasi secara global itu dikendalikan oleh kawan Presiden Donald Trump, Carl Icahn.

Lawan Prabowo yang berasal dari kalangan sipil, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), belakangan sebagian menasionalisasikan Freeport--sebuah langkah yang disikapi dengan keberatan oleh AS.

Namun, dalam sebuah wawancara on-the-record, wakil ketua Gerindra memberi tahu saya bahwa Prabowo--secara diam-diam--telah ikut campur atas nama Freeport.

"Artinya dia tidak anti-asing itu," kata Waketum Gerindra Arief Poyuono menekankan sikap Prabowo kepada saya. Ia menyatakan Prabowo "marah" dan ikut campur dalam kapasitas pribadi untuk menggagalkan gugatan para pekerja Freeport melawan Freeport. Gugatan ini diajukan ke pengadilan oleh Poyuono.

Menurut pengakuan Poyuono, setelah terjadi sebuah kecelakaan kerja di Freeport, Poyuono bertindak dalam kapasitasnya sebagai pimpinan sebuah serikat buruh untuk mengajukan gugatan hukum tanpa berkonsultasi dengan Prabowo. Tapi setelah Prabowo mengetahui hal itu, Poyuono menarik gugatan tersebut. "Saya cabut," katanya.

"Prabowo marah sama saya," kata Poyuono. "'Eh, Jangan,' katanya, 'itu nggak boleh,' kata Poyuono menirukan Prabowo. 'Jangan begitu, mereka [Freeport] sudah investasi banyak!'"

Poyuono menambahkan pandangan Prabowo terhadap Freeport "sangat positif" dan mengatakan bahwa Prabowo menganggap nasionalisasi parsial Freeport oleh Jokowi sebagai langkah yang "terlalu kasar".

Poyuono adalah satu dari tiga orang sipil yang disebut-sebut hadir dalam rapat strategis di rumah Prabowo pada 21 Desember.

Selain Prabowo, ada enam purnawirawan jenderal dan tiga purnawirawan laksamana yang hadir dalam rapat tersebut.

Di antara perwira yang datang, ada Glenny Kairupan dan Yunus Yosfiah yang masing-masing terlibat dalam teror bumihangus dan pembantaian massal pasca-referendum Timor Timur yang diadakan PBB dan pembunuhan lima jurnalis Australia dan Selandia Baru (peristiwa Balibo).

Pernyataan-pernyataan Poyuono kepada saya saya tentang Prabowo dan Freeport--juga tentang Prabowo dan Trump, (Poyuono mengaku Prabowo telah mencoba bertemu Trump dan memujinya "bagus", serta menggunakan taktik kampanye Trump)--konsisten dengan pokok-pokok berulang (repeated allusions) dalam catatan rapat yang mengacu pada hasrat Prabowo untuk menyenangkan Washington--sebuah niat yang berada di urutan kedua setelah keinginan Prabowo menyingkirkan lawan-lawannya.

Meskipun Prabowo baru-baru ini bersumpah di muka publik tidak akan menggunakan kekuatan koersif negara untuk kepentingan politiknya sendiri, catatan rapat strategis tertutup justru menggambarkan rencana-rencana detail Prabowo untuk memanfaatkan negara demi kepentingan politik pribadi.

Mandat untuk "mengadili sebanyak-banyaknya lawan politik" akan diserahkan kepada Jaksa Agung baru Prabowo (partai-partai yang disasar adalah yang anti-Prabowo dan pro-Jokowi: PDIP, Nasdem, Golkar, PKB, dan PPP) dan nampaknya juga kepada Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) yang kelihatannya independen. Dalam catatan rapat tersebut, tiga pimpinan KPK saat ini ditulis akan "diserang" dan "dijatuhkan" sebagai" target utama dalam operasi pengendalian KPK."

Secara terselubung, ada "agenda penyerangan terhadap lawan politik" yang akan dilancarkan oleh BIN (Badan Intelijen Negara)--mitra CIA di Indonesia yang mungkin dikenal karena telah meracuni dan membunuh pahlawan HAM sekaligus teman saya, Munir, pada 2004. (Pembunuhan ini diperintahkan oleh seorang jenderal, Hendropriyono, yang kini menjadi penasihat Jokowi).

Begitu Prabowo mengambil alih kekuasaan, cara-cara ekstra-legal BIN akan digunakan untuk menghadapi koalisi partai-partai yang sekarang berkampanye untuk Prabowo, tentu dengan Gerindra (partai politik Prabowo) sebagai pengecualian.

Salah satu dari sekian target adalah pimpinan Partai Demokrat Jenderal Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), seorang mantan presiden yang turut memecat Prabowo dari Angkatan Darat setelah kejatuhan Suharto. Selama kampanye tahun ini, SBY terlihat hangat-hangat kuku mendukung Prabowo. Dalam sebuah surat pribadi yang bocor, SBY mengkritik rencana kampanye besar-besaran Prabowo sebagai tindakan yang memecah belah.

Seperti yang telah terjadi, rapat strategis Desember 2018--menurut notulensi rapat--dimulai begitu Prabowo pulang dari acara pertemuan dengan SBY di Jakarta.

Notulensi rapat menyatakan: "Tugas lain dari BIN nanti adalah melemahkan partai koalisi untuk meningkatkan dominasi Gerindra dalam pemerintahan: PKS dan Partai Demokrat akan digembosi habis-habisan melalui berbgai kasus Korupsi lama dan yang baru. Para petinggi partai akan dipenjara karena korupsi. Dengan begitu, Prabowo tampak sebagai presiden yang kuat dan tegas dalam menegakkan hukum."

Pemenjaraan politik ini akan diperintahkan jauh-jauh hari sebelum ada fakta, sebelum bukti-bukti dikumpulkan, sebelum pengadilan digelar. Penugasan ini hanya dilakukan untuk kasus korupsi baik sungguhan maupun baru dugaan, bukan untuk kasus pembunuhan massal, penyiksaan, atau pelanggaran HAM berat lainnya.

BIN di bawah kekuasaan Prabowo juga akan ditugaskan untuk "melumpuhkan kelompok HTI [yang telah dilarang oleh pemerintah karena dianggap sebagai ancaman negara dan keselamatan publik], FPI [organisasi yang awalnya dicetuskan oleh tentara dan polisi sebagai "preman" untuk menyerang aktivis pro-demokrasi], JAD, dan [kelompok-kelompok] yang setara dengan itu." Kerja-kerja ini akan mengiringi tugas POLRI untuk "melemahkan gerakan HTI dan FPI; menangkap ulama-ulama radikal untuk menunjukkan pada Amerika dan sekutu bahwa Prabowo-Sandi tegas mengatasi radikalisme dan terorisme di Asia Tenggara.

Mungkin inilah aspek yang paling kontroversial secara politis dari rencana tersebut, karena HTI, FPI, PKS, kelompok-kelompok serupa, dan "ulama-ulama radikal" adalah motor di balik kampanye akar rumput Prabowo.

Dan Prabowo--yang mengampanyekan dirinya sebagai musuh bebuyutan "antek-antek asing"--secara eksplisit menarget organisasi Islamis dan "ulama radikal" demi Amerika Serikat:

Dalam pertemuan itu, "Dikabarkan juga, pada pertengahan Desember 2018, Prabowo Subianto sempat diundang oleh Dubes Amerika untuk Indonesia bertemu di kediaman Dubes Joseph R. Donovan, Jr. Selain membicarakan perang dagang Cina-AS, keduanya membahas komitmen Indonesia melawan terorisme ke depan. Prabowo berjanji akan mendukung penuh AS dalam memerangi kelompok radikal dan teroris di Indonesia.”

Tentang upaya Prabowo mendekati AS, notulensi itu memaparkan: "jika terpilih sebagai presiden, langkah awal yang dilakukannya [Prabowo] adalah menghancurkan radikalisme di Indonesia"--sebuah komitmen penting bagi seorang kandidat yang dalam pawai terbesarnya berkampanye bersama pimpinan FPI (melalui streaming video dari Arab Saudi); seorang kandidat yang dalam salah satu video viraalnya terlihat memberi hormat di hadapan khalayak dari atap limusin yang disediakan oleh seseorang yang mengaku sebagai "Presiden ISIS Indonesia" dan mengirim kombatan-kombatan Indonesia ke Irak dan Suriah.

Salah satu alasan kenapa rapat strategis itu diadakan adalah (selain merencanakan "balas dendam politik") "untuk menentukan langkah konkrit menghadapi sejumlah isu strategis seperti tuduhan Prabowo-Sandi mendukung Khilafah... Seperti diketahui, Prabowo, sampai saat ini, belum menyatakan sikap tegas apakah mendukung atau menentang Kelompok HTI, FPI, dan kelompok lain yang mendukung berdirinya Khilafah di Indonesia. Prabowo sengaja diam karena ia ingin menjadikan mereka serdadu [untuk] memenangkan pertempuran politik 2019."

Tetapi Prabowo dan "orang-orang inti dari lingkaran dalam"--notulensi menyebutkan nama enam jenderal yang hadir, tiga laksamana, tiga agen (operative) sipil, namun tidak ada tokoh Islamis--mengambil keputusan yang jelas untuk mengorbankan 'serdadu-serdadunya' begitu pertempuran berakhir.

Tentang apa yang terlihat seperti imbalan politik yang dilebih-lebihkan untuk untuk pengkhianatan ini, notulensi rapat menyatakan Prabowo "berjanji bekerjasama dengan Amerika Serikat, Singapura, dan Australia yang konon saat ini sudah memberikan sinyal dukungan terhadap pasangan Prabowo-Sandi."

Mungkin ini berlaku pada Singapura, namun nampaknya tak demikian bagi AS. Kedutaan Besar AS di Jakarta belum menanggapi permintaan saya untuk memberikan komentar.

Catatan rapat strategis yang berjudul "NOTULENSI RAPAT TERTUTUP PRABOWO SUBIANTO DAN TIM," ini telah beredar secara terbatas di lingkaran aparat keamanan termasuk BIN, dan telah sampai baik ke tangan para pejabat yang loyal kepada Presiden Jokowi maupun pejabat-pejabat lain yang mendukung Prabowo.

Karena telah diidentifikasi sebagai informasi yang diterima "dari 'orang dalam' Prabowo-Sandi", informasi ini tampaknya tidak digunakan secara politis, karena dipandang bermasalah bagi kedua kubu pendukung.

Akan memalukan bagi kubu pendukung Jokowi untuk mengakui bahwa mereka memata-matai Prabowo, sebagaimana yang pernah dituduhkan oleh Prabowo sendiri. Notulensi ini juga melemahkan narasi sejumlah pihak di kubu Jokowi bahwa Prabowo adalah seorang Islamis ekstremis, berkebalikan dengan yang telah ditunjukkan oleh karirnya--dan oleh dokumen ini--sebagai orangnya Suharto, Angkatan Darat, Washington, dan seorang pendukung kediktatoran yang masih berambisi mengejar kekuasaan mutlak.

Bagi kubu pendukung Prabowo, notulensi ini melemahkan klaim Prabowo sendiri karena di situ disebutkan bahwa Prabowo bekerja--bukan melawan--pihak asing, dan pada akhirnya secara eksplisit berencana menjadikan dirinya satu-satunya pemimpin yang berdiri tegak dengan cara merepresi orang Indonesia dari semua kubu.

Berangkat dari sana, rapat strategis tersebut membahas kediktatoran Orde Baru yang dipimpin oleh bekas mertua Prabowo, Soeharto.

Sesuai saran AS, Suharto menggunakan tentara untuk mengkudeta bapak pendiri bangsa Indonesia, Sukarno, dan mengkonsolidasikan kekuasaan melalui pembantaian 1965 yang menewaskan 400.000 hingga satu juta warga sipil. Pembantaian ini didukung oleh AS.

Disokong oleh uang, senjata, dan pelatihan dari AS--banyak dari pelatihan Angkata Darat yang difasilitasi Prabowo--Suharto berhasil menjaga rezim yang membuatnya berkuasa selama lebih dari tiga dekade hingga ia dilengser dalam pergolakan pro-demokrasi yang juga menyebabkan kejatuhan Prabowo. Kejatuhan Prabowo sendiri bermula setelah AS mencampakkannya begitu ia kalah dalam perebutan kekuasaan dengan saingannya, Jenderal Wiranto. (Sebelumnya Prabowo mengatakan kepada saya bahwa dirinya adalah "anak kesayangan Amerika.")

Di bawah Orde Barunya Suharto, para penyintas dan keturunan mereka dipenjara, dilarang beraktivitas politik, dan digambarkan bak iblis. Sementara Angkatan Darat--yang terus melakukan pembunuhan, seperti yang masih terjadi sampai sekarang khususnya di Papua--menjadi sangat kaya dan berkuasa atas kehidupan politik hingga tingkat desa.

Dalam rapat Desember tersebut, Prabowo dan tim mengusulkan--dalam artian tertentu--untuk kembali menghidupkan Orde Baru.

Mereka memutuskan: "Peran Angkatan Darat akan diperkuat seperti pada jaman Orde Baru"), sebuah usulan luar biasa mengingat kekuasaan--dan impunitas--yang telah dimiliki Angkatan Darat hari ini.

Jika dibandingkan dengan para perwira manapun, mungkin Prabowo terlibat dalam lebih banyak tindaak kekerasan termasuk penyiksaan langsung di Timor Timur, teror anti-Cina di Jakarta 1998, penculikan dan eksekusi para aktivis di Jakarta, operasi pembunuhan massal di Aceh, pembantaian "beberapa ratus" warga sipil di Kraras 1983 pembantaian, dan sebuah operasi di Papua di mana orang-orang Prabowo menyamar sebagai Palang Merah Internasional untuk menembaki warga sipil dengan senapan mesin dari sebuah helikopter.

Namun, terlepas dari tuntutan para penyintas yang gigih dan berani, Prabowo, sebagai seorang jenderal, belum juga tersentuh hukum.

Dia cukup merasa aman ketika berbicara kepada saya (yang notabene lawannya) pada 2001 tentang sebuah pembantaian (pada 12 November 1991, di pemakaman Santa Cruz, Dili, Timor Timur--saya selamat dari pembantaian ini) sampai-sampai ia mengkritik teknik rekan-rekannya: “Anda tidak semestinya membunuh warga sipil di depan pers internasional,” katanya. “Komandan-komandan itu bisa saja membantai di desa-desa terpencil sehingga tak diketahui siapapun, tapi bukan di ibukota provinsi!”. Sekali lagi, yang dikritik oleh Prabowo adalah teknik rekan-rekannya, bukan pembantaian terbuka atas 271 warga sipil di Santa Cruz.

Jokowi, seorang petahana sipil, sangat takut pada Angkatan Darat sampai-sampai ia tak menepati janji untuk memprosekusi para pelaku pelanggaran HAM dan membiarkan tentara memegang posisi penting di dalam timnya. Ia membiarkan orang-orang ini--beserta kolega-kolega TNI-nya, intel, dan polisi--untuk perlahan-lahan meraih kembali privilese yang mereka miliki selama era Orde Baru.

Fakta tersebut sangat mengecewakan banyak penyintas dan aktivis sehingga dalam pemilu ini mereka bersumpah untuk golput.

Tak diragukan lagi, hal ini disambut Prabowo dan orang-orangnya. Ia telah membunuh orang-orang dicintai dan dihormati oleh para penyintas dan aktivis. Tapi dengan golput, mereka mungkin memusulkan Prabowo untuk menang.

——

Menurut notulensi rapat, orang yang ditugaskan mengawali proses pengembalian tentara ke kedudukannya seperti di zaman Orde Baru adalah Jenderal Gatot Nurmantyo, mantan panglima TNI--setelah berbulan-bulan jabatannya ditinjau ulang oleh presiden--yang akhirnya diberhentikan oleh Jokowi.

Jenderal Gatot secara terbuka mendukung teori "Proxy Wars" yang menempatkan aktivis, pembangkang, gerakan sosial di Indonesia--dan kaum LGBT--sebagai agen asing.

Setelah meninggalkan jabatannya di TNI, Gatot menyatakan netral secara politik. Namun, minggu lalu ia secara terbuka menyatakan dukungan untuk Prabowo.

---

Notulensi Rapat Tertutup Pr... by on Scribd

Link ke versi Bahasa Inggris

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: Prabowo strategy session planned mass arrests of political opponents, Islamist allies; behind-the-scenes effort to please US includes Prabowo order to kill lawsuit v Freeport-McMoRan, pledge to "crush" FPI, HTI, PKS; SBY's Demokrats also targeted; plan to return Army to "New Order" role

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 05:00:00 +0000

April 15, 2019

By Allan Nairn
Jakarta

[Link ke versi Bahasa Indonesia]

Prabowo Subianto, a retired general now seeking the presidency of Indonesia, has made plans to stage mass arrests of political opponents and his current allies.

According to minutes of a strategy session he held with fellow generals and others last December, Prabowo — a longtime US protege who has been implicated in mass killing, abduction, and torture, has also made plans to restore Indonesia’s army to the role it played in the Suharto dictatorship.

[For full scrollable text of Minutes see link, and bottom of this piece]

At the meeting, held last December 21 at a Prabowo home in Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta, he and his team made specific assignments for "putting on trial as many political opponents as possible," but also for "crippling" the Islamist groups that now propel his campaign, after he assumes the presidency.

Prabowo, who once mused to me about seizing power and "be[ing] called a fascist dictator," is apparently, according to the Minutes, preparing his own political night of the long knives, in part to consolidate power in his own hands but also to curry favor with Washington.

The general has publicly campaigned against what he calls "foreign lackeys" ("antek asing"), but the Minutes indicate that privately he has pledged to "collaborate with the United States" by "arrest(ing) the radical clerics" and other "foot soldiers" of his current campaign.

Likewise, though a major attack point of his campaign has been the extraction of national wealth by foreigners, behind-the-scenes Prabowo has intervened -- his party's vice chair tells me -- in favor of the main extractor of that wealth, the US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan.

---

Freeport, which strip-mines gold and copper in de-facto-occupied West Papua, has repeatedly been caught paying-off officials and army units like Prabowo's Kopassus, and has inflicted environmental damage of an estimated thirteen billion US dollars, according to Indonesia's national audit agency (Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan).

A global operation, it has in recent years been controlled by Trump friend, Carl Icahn.

Prabowo's opponent, the civilian incumbent, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has recently -- over US objections -- partially nationalized Freeport Indonesia.

But Prabowo has nonetheless attacked Jokowi for being soft on foreigners, and has repeatedly told his cheering crowds "The Motherland is being raped" ("Ibu Pertiwi sedang diperkosa").

In an on-the-record interview, however, Prabowo's party vice-chair told me that Prabowo has -- outside public view -- stepped in on behalf of Freeport.

Apparently trying to make the point to me that Prabowo "is not anti-foreigner"
("Artinya, dia tidak anti asing, itu"), his party vice chair, Arief Poyuono revealed
that an "angry" ("marah") Prabowo personally intervened to kill a large workers'-rights lawsuit against Freeport that he, Poyouono, had filed.

Poyuono said that following an industrial accident at Freeport, acting in his capacity as a union leader, he had filed the suit without consulting Prabowo but "I pulled it" ("Saya cabut") after Prabowo got wind of it.

"Prabowo got mad at me," ("Prabowo marah sama saya") Poyuono said, and ordered him: "'Arief, don't. You're not allowed to do this'" because "'Freeport has made a big investment'" ("'Eh, Jangan,' katanya, 'itu nggak boleh,' katanya. 'Jangan begitu, mereka sudah investasi banyak!'").

Poyuono added that Prabowo's view of Freeport is "extremely positive" ("sangat positif") and said that he viewed Jokowi's partial nationalization as "too harsh" ('terlalu kasar").

Poyuono was one of only three civilians named in the Minutes as participating in Prabowo's December 21 strategy session.

The other named attendees, besides Prabowo, were six retired generals and three retired admirals.

These officers included the generals Glenny Kairupan and Yunus Yosfiah, who have been implicated in -- respectively -- the 1999 UN referendum East Timor arson/massacre terror, and the Timor Balibo murders of five Australian and New Zealand journalists.

Poyuono's statements to me regarding Prabowo and Freeport -- and also Prabowo and Trump (he said Prabowo has been trying to meet Trump, and that he and Prabowo regard Trump as "excellent" ["bagus"] and they have been using Trump's campaign tactics) -- are consistent with the repeated allusions in the Minutes to Prabowo's desire to please Washington, a motive that comes across as second only to his desire to eliminate competitors.

---

Although Prabowo recently swore at a rally to not use state coercive forces for his own political interests, the Minutes of his closed strategy session lay out detailed plans to do precisely that.

The mandate for "putting on trial as many political opponents as possible" was to be handed to Prabowo's new Attorney General (with the party targets being the anti-Prabowo pro-Jokowi PDI Perjuangan, Nasdem, Golkar, PKB, and PPP) and also, apparently, the ostensibly independent Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), three of whose current leaders were named to be "attacked," "toppled" and "removed" as "principal targets of the operation to get control of the KPK."

On the covert side, there is "the agenda of attacks on political opponents" to be carried out by BIN (Badan Intelijen Negara), the State Intelligence Body -- a liaison partner of the CIA, perhaps best known for its 2004 arsenic assassination of my friend, the human rights hero Munir (an assassination commanded by a general, Hendropriyono, who currently advises Jokowi).

Once Prabowo takes power, BIN's extra-legal means are also to be unleashed against the coalition of parties now campaigning for him, with a crucial exemption for his personal political vehicle, Gerindra.

One of the designated targets for Prabowo's BIN is the leadership of the Demokrat Party of General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (known as SBY), a former president who helped cashier Prabowo from the army after the fall of Suharto. In this year's campaign, SBY seemed to endorse Prabowo somewhat reluctantly. In a leaked private letter he criticized plans for Prabowo's biggest rally as being divisive.

As it happens, the December strategy session only started, according to the Minutes, at 9:00 pm, as soon as Prabowo returned from a Jakarta sit-down with SBY.

The Minutes state: "Another future task of the BIN is to debilitate the coalition parties in order to increase Gerindra's dominance inside government: PKS [Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, the influential Islamist party] and the Demokrat Party will be completely defeated through various cases of Corruption, old and new. Party leaders are going to be jailed for corruption. With that, Prabowo will appear to be a strong and firm president in enforcing the law."

These political jailings are mandated before the fact, before evidence is gathered or trials held. And they are mandated only for real or claimed corruption, not for mass murder, torture or similar state crimes.

Prabowo's BIN is also to get the assignment of "crippling of the HTI [the Indonesian chapter of Hizb ut-tahrir, banned by the government as a threat to the state and public safety], FPI [originally launched by the army and police as "preman" (street thugs) to attack pro-democracy activists] JAD and equivalent groups," which complements the order to POLRI (the national police) to "debilitate the HTI and FPI movements and arrest the radical clerics to show America and its allies that Prabowo-Sandi are resolute in subduing radicalism and terrorism in Southeast Asia."

This is politically perhaps the most explosive aspect since HTI, FPI, the political Party PKS, similar groups and "the radical clerics" are the driving force of Prabowo's grassroots campaign.

And Prabowo -- the supposed arch enemy of the "foreign lackeys" is explicitly doing this for the US:

At the meeting, "It was also made known that in mid-December 2018 Prabowo was invited by the American Ambassador to meet in the residence of Ambassador Joseph R. Donovan, Jr. Apart from discussing the China-US trade war, the two discussed Indonesia's commitment to oppose terrorism going forward. Prabowo promised he will fully support the American effort to wage war on the [Islamist] radical forces and terrorists of Indonesia."

Explicating his pitch to the US, the Minutes state: "if chosen as president the first step he [Prabowo] will take will be to crush [Islamist] radicalism in Indonesia,"(emphasis in original), a notable commitment for Prabowo who, in his biggest rally, campaigned alongside the FPI leader, Habib Rizieq Shihab (who beamed-in by video from Saudi Arabia), and who in one of his iconic videos is seen saluting the crowds from the sunroof of a limo provided by the self-proclaimed "president of ISIS Indonesia," who sent Indonesian fighters to Iraq and Syria.

One of the reasons for convening the strategy session (apart from planning "political revenge") was, according to the Minutes, "to decide on concrete steps regarding several strategic issues like the charge that Prabowo-Sandi [Sandiaga Uno, a private equity man, is Prabowo's running mate] support the establishment of The Caliphate [i.e. Indonesia becoming a caliphate]... As is known, Prabowo, up until this moment, has not yet publicly expressed a strong position on whether or not he supports or opposes HTI, FPI, and other forces supporting the creation of a Caliphate in Indonesia. Prabowo has been intentionally silent because he wishes to use them as foot soldiers to win the 2019 political battle."

But Prabowo and his "core people from the inner circle" -- six named generals, three named admirals, three named civilian operatives, but no Islamist leaders -- took the clear decision to sacrifice the foot soldiers once the battle was done.

In what appears to be an overestimate of the political payoff to be had for this, the Minutes say Prabowo "has promised to collaborate with the United States, Singapore, and Australia who are now said to have given a signal of support for the Prabowo-Sandi ticket."

While that may be the case with Singapore, with the US it does not appear to be so. The US Embassy in Jakarta has not yet responded to a request for comment.

The Minutes of this strategy session, entitled “MINUTES OF CLOSED MEETING, PRABOWO SUBIANTO AND TEAM,” have circulated, in limited fashion, inside security forces including BIN, and have been handled by officials loyal to President Jokowi as well as by others who back Prabowo.

Identified as having been received "from Prabowo-Sandi 'inside people,'" they were never used politically, apparently because they were seen as problematic for both partisan sides.

For the Jokowi forces it was embarrassing to admit they were spying on Prabowo, as he had charged. And the Minutes undercut the narrative of some in the Jokowi camp that Prabowo is himself an Islamist extremist, as opposed to being, as his career -- and now this document -- indicates, a Suharto, army, Washington, and dictatorship man who still aspires to sole power.

For the Prabowo forces, the Minutes undercut his basic claim by portraying him as working for --not fighting -- the foreigners, and as explicitly planning to, in effect, make himself the only leader left standing by repressing Indonesians on all sides.

Pursuant to that, the strategy session discussed the New Order dictatorship of Prabowo's father-in-law, Suharto.

Suharto used the US-advised army to stage a coup against the Indonesian founding father, Sukarno, and, subsequently, to consolidate power with a US-backed massacre that, starting in 1965, killed 400,000 to a million civilians.

Sustained by US finance, weapons, and training -- much of the
latter facilitated by Prabowo -- Suharto succeeded in imposing a regime that kept him in power for more than three decades, until he fell in a democratic uprising that also led to Prabowo's downfall, after the US dumped him (he told me he had been "their fair-haired boy") when he lost a power struggle to a rival general, Wiranto.

Under Suharto's New Order, massacre survivors and their descendants were jailed, banned and demonized, and the army -- which kept on murdering, as it still does today, mainly in West Papua --was elevated to great wealth and to be the arbiter of even neighborhood and village-level politics.

In their December meeting, Prabowo and team proposed to, in a sense, revive that.

They decided: “the role of the Army will be strengthened to be as it was in the New Order era” (“Peran Angkatan Darat akan diperkuat seperti pada jaman Orde Baru”), a remarkable proposition considering the strength -- and impunity -- that army has now.

Prabowo himself has been implicated in more atrocities than perhaps any officer, including hands-on torture in East Timor, the '98 Jakarta terror against ethnic Chinese, the Jakarta kidnapping and execution of activists, mass killing operations in Aceh, the '83 Kraras mountainside massacre of "several hundred" civilians, and an operation in West Papua in which Prabowo's men posed as the International Red Cross to machine-gun civilians from a helicopter.

Yet, despite the brave, persistent demands of survivors, he, as a general, is still untouchable.

He feels secure enough that when talking to me -- an adversary -- in 2001 about a massacre I survived (on November 12, 1991, at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, East Timor) he was critical not of the open slaughter of at least 271 civilians but, rather, of his colleagues' technique: "You don't massacre civilians in front of the world press," he said. "Maybe commanders do it in villages where no one will ever know, but not in the provincial capital!"

Jokowi, the civilian incumbent, is so afraid of the army that he has retreated from promises of prosecution, and has let the army hold key posts inside his team and let them and their TNI colleagues, and intel, and the Police, slowly start to claw-back several of their New Order privileges.

This fact has so disappointed many survivors and activists that in this election they vow to Golput -- in effect, abstain.

This is no doubt delightful for Prabowo and his men: he has killed the ones they cherish, but, by abstaining, they may help him win.

---

The official assigned to start the process of restoring the army to its New Order status is, according to the Minutes, General Gatot Nurmantyo, a former TNI commander who -- after months of presidential waffling -- was eventually removed by Jokowi.

General Gatot openly espouses a strategic theory called "Proxy Wars" that defines Indonesian activists, dissidents, social movements -- and LGBT people -- as foreign agents.

After leaving his armed forces post, Gatot stated he was politically neutral. But last week he came out and openly endorsed General Prabowo.

---

Full scrollable text of Minutes, Bahasa Indonesia original:

Notulensi Rapat Tertutup Pr... by on Scribd

Link to my piece now out on The Intercept: "Trump's Indonesian Allies in Bed With ISIS-Backed Militia Seeking to Oust Elected President"

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 18:36:00 +0000

Trump's Indonesian Allies in Bed With ISIS-Backed Militia Seeking to Oust Elected President

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

The US Upheaval Begins

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 13:16:00 +0000

The US is in the early days of a long social upheaval. The working class collapse has reached politics and some of the rules have been suspended.

The system almost snapped left but Sanders fell short and now it has snapped right with Trump.

The oligarchic Republicans of the radical right could not have won an election on their own but now the collapse and Trump have given them their break and they come into office prepared.

They want to eliminate programs that serve the poor and expand subsidies for the rich. They want to place public assets in private hands and give corporations state-like powers.

They want to further skew an already skewed system and make voting them out all but impossible. They want to lift regulations on business excess and impose them on public resistance.

They want to kill off the US public school and cripple the labor union. They want the corporation to inhabit the state and the state to break and tame the public.

But at the same time they need a public base. They can’t impose their program alone.

Trump offers that with his simultaneous appeals to fear, hatred, pride and material justice.

He rallies people against the other - whoever the convenient other may be - and most importantly he rallies them against the rich elites he defends and in so doing in effect rallies them against themselves since he calls on people to save their jobs by further empowering the rich elites who’ve destroyed them.

Its a complex but classic ploy for elites: attack yourself to expand your powers.

Mao’s communists pulled it off with the Cultural Revolution, Wall Street’s capitalists did it with the Tea Party.

It’s effective when done right but also destabilizing. Mobilization can get dangerous.

Trump is not what the oligarchs had in mind. He dragged them to power kicking and screaming.

He self-exposed himself and them for the racists they are. He pulled the riggers and murderers into the White House but at the price of confiding to the public that the system was rigged and murderous. This telling of uncomfortable truths in the service of the big lie was not the oligarchs’ cup of tea, but it got them inside the palace.

The result is dramatic. The consequence is that many extra thousands will die and that institutions will be altered to make dislodging these new rulers difficult.

Yet its now at their moment of triumph that they are also most vulnerable.

They’ve seized power but have not yet consolidated it and with full power they stand exposed, in the spotlight.

The same country and system that elevated them could just as well have gone for Clinton or Sanders, and could just as well, with organizing and persistence, go for something deeper still.

The fight is ancient and recurring, developing.

This new phase has just begun.

The US Presidential Election: a Referendum on Rightist Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 23:27:00 +0000

The November 8 election has become a referendum on right revolution.

The referendum on left revolution was held, and did surprisingly well, but the system stopped Sanders.

Now we must help the system stop Trump.

Its a complex moment, full of paradox.

The US/world system is criminal. It kills civilians, most overseas, directly with bombs, drones and bullets, and indirectly —but still more lethally — by withholding available wealth, food, resources.

That system deserves to be dismantled.

But Trump and co. will make it far worse.

He and his teams represent revolution.

But its revolution in the wrong direction.

Some compare him to Mussolini, even Hitler.

One of his principal teams is indeed the modern neofascists (the alt right).

In lieu of going back in epochs to observe and compare him to dead tyrants, one can instead travel overseas, to the US/world system outposts, where repressive violence — along with much production and pollution — has been largely outsourced.

Having spent decades fighting US-backed mass killers overseas I have had

countless occasions to combat and meet fascistic figures.

On the one hand, systematic comparison to Trump is near-impossible given differing contexts.

For decades, stateside Americans have largely lived in a bubble regarding political violence.

Labor and other forms of violent repression are still involved in creating US wealth and production but most of the violence no longer

occurs in US south and midwest factories.

It happens in distant countries, and most Americans neither hear nor suspect.

It helps give rise to foreign political systems that are more hands-on and dangerous than our own and on occasion (with US help) gives rise to leaders who kill often, directly.

In a sense it is perversely unfair (to them) to compare these blood-soaked men to the pipsqueak Trump, but I have to say that when I think of them, and then see Trump, I feel a certain subjective resonance.

Had Trump been born in Guatemala, the rich-kid rite of passage there involved, in the 80s, going out and killing any troublesome workers from daddy’s plantations and factories.

There was also the droit de seigneur, peasant/worker women — and dissidents —were theirs for the taking.

Their partner, Colonel Chupina, the Police chief, cruised the city in a van, snatching Guatemalan “10s” for rape and burial, and, he hoped, oblivion.

Across the border in El Salvador there was a catchy tune that rich boys sang that — with one edit; delete “communists,” insert “immigrants” —could have been played in the background when Donald Trump came down the escalator.

"Tremble, tremble," the hymn began. It was a warning to adversaries, people who were, the lyrics went, "criminals, with the souls of animals."

"They have killed. They have raped," it continued. You heard it all the time on the radio.

"They have ruined our fatherland," but the country would become a "tomb" for them, "Saving in this way America [the continents], our immortal America."

That was the song of Roberto D'Aubuison's civilian death squad party, ARENA.

They were the ones who killed Archbishop Romero. They featured telegenic, crazed oligarchs.

With CIA data, they broadcast death lists. But in the death squad system, they were secondary.

The bulk of the assassinations were done by the state, with secret army/police death squads run by bureaucrats.

Their founder was an army general, Jose Alberto "Chele" Medrano, Washington's principal asset in El Salvador.

In comparison to D'Aubuisson, who, in person, vibrated with a sick charisma, Medrano was matter-of-fact, a technocrat, a death technician.

But as I sat with him for hours I realized he was also lunatic, a crackpot consumed by conspiracy theories and by his own and Washington's propaganda. When not telling tales of his work with the Green Berets or his private visit to the Oval Office he would draw elaborate diagrams with which he purported to explain to me how most every last nun and campesino was controlled from Moscow by the KGB.

Years later, in a Jakarta office tower, General Prabowo, "the Americans' fair-haired-boy," by his own description, spent hours ranting to me about the proper way to do a massacre, musing on whether he "ha[d] the guts" to seize power and "be called a fascist dictator," and insulting Indonesia's then-president, the popularly-beloved Muslim cleric Gus Dur because he was civilian, legally blind, and not as "young [and] handsome" as W. Bush, Blair, or Putin: "The military even obeys a blind president!," the General said, "Look at him! He's embarrassing!"

The whole thing was surprising. We were meeting in private, as adversaries. I had long publicly called for his arrest -- and that of his US sponsors -- for war crimes (He was the country's most notorious killer, famous for torturing and executing abductees personally), and had helped to start a grassroots lobby that had contributed to his (and his father-in-law Suharto's) downfall, yet here he was venting at length about the other generals who years ago had mocked him (he said they called him "The American") and expressing his palpable hurt about being dumped by Washington as soon as he lost power.

In 2014, having never seized power, Prabowo declared as a candidate for president.

He launched his campaign in a stadium, on horseback, dressed up like Mussolini. One of his backers, a bad-boy rich-kid rock star, did an endorsement music video in Nazi SS garb.

Prabowo had told me he had "fifteen servants" and had kept "slaves" in occupied East Timor. He was a rich man with a billionaire brother, so he decided to run as a man of the mass.

He said that only he could uplift Indonesia. He said his opponent, a not-rich civilian, was weak.

And he positioned himself against the foreigners (In 1998, while still a powerful general, as the country rose in rebellion against the regime, Prabowo had been accused of organizing riots, mass rapes and arson against Jakarta's ethnic Chinese). Without mentioning his US "fair-haired boy" past, he said only he would stand up to the Americans.

His had his opponents labeled as ”foreign stooges" ("antek asing").

At first, few took Prabowo seriously.

But as he rose precipitously in the polls, I decided to publish our old off-the-record discussions. A campaign-long confrontation ensued.

He demanded that the army capture me, and said he would have me charged for speech crimes (including “inciting hatred against the army”) but when I said yes, please arrest me, I look forward to facing you in court, he backed down and was ridiculed. On the last campaign day he filed the charges.

At one point in our running televised battle, an agitated Prabowo (the press described him as speaking "in a high tone") gave a speech in which he assailed the rakyat (the masses/ the volk/ the people) for listening to me instead of him. "What's with you? One foreigner speaks and you get all worked up? One white-skinned guy and we have to get agitated?" ("Kenapa sih kamu, kalau satu orang asing bicara, kok kamu ribut sih? Satu orang kulit putih kita harus ribut."

"We are 240 million people. Just stay calm. Ask the rakyat, don't ask foreigners." ("Kita ini 240 juta orang, tenang saja. Tanya rakyatmuh lah, jangan tanya orang asing.")

I responded by saying that if he loved the rakyat, why did he kill so many of them, and if the issue was foreigners why had he worked for decades for US intelligence?

Prabowo's Gus Dur insult made waves among the poor, especially religious Muslims. In East and West Java street banners went up quoting what Prabowo had told me, and were quickly torn down by plain-clothes teams from the Kopassus special forces, the kidnap/murder-specialist US-trained red berets that Prabowo had once commanded (Many of the banners were then put back up, and the tear-down cycle repeated).

With days do go before the election I met with the Gus Dur family and they issued a statement calling on Prabowo to explain himself.

The family had made a point of staying neutral in the election. Their statement was surprisingly forceful.

But as the hours ticked by without a Prabowo response, I became increasingly nervous, fearing that I might have inadvertently handed him a breakthrough opportunity.

If Prabowo had gone to Gus Dur’s widow, prostrated himself and begged forgiveness, it could have electrified the electorate. It would have been a TV sensation.

But as it turned out, those fears were groundless. Apology was apparently not an option.

Even with state power on the line, the General wasn't admitting error.

Prabowo sent out a spokesman who told the cameras that the Gus Dur family wouldn't be getting an apology and that Prabowo didn't owe any explanation to anyone.

Soon after, Prabowo lost the election. Behind the scenes, he put out coup feelers, but failed.

It took weeks, but Prabowo eventually conceded that he had lost.

Last September, after his “Mexican rapists” launch, with his campaign in a bit of trouble, Trump arranged a press conference at Trump Towers. His staff had found him some foreigners.

Standing behind Trump as he spoke was Prabowo’s right-hand-man Fadli Zon. Prabowo and Fadli Zon were forever denouncing opponents for not being true Muslims. Some of their campaign rallies had featured army/police-backed thugs waving ISIS flags.

After the Trump Tower press conference Fadli Zon posted a series of grinning Trump selfies, and brought forth real fury from Indonesians at home and abroad.

The Grand Imam of the Indonesian mosque in New York City issued a statement pointing out that Trump was famous in US politics primarily for being a racist, and that his particular targets included immigrants and the Muslim faith.

After Trump proclaimed the Muslim ban, Gen Prabowo’s man spoke out. The press headline read: “Fadli Zon is sure that a US president Trump will not be anti Muslim.”

-----

Although this vote is a referendum on right revolution, many don't see it that way. Some vote for him for jobs, to fight corruption, to stay out of stupid wars, and this scam becomes easy for him because his opponent, Clinton, is a corporate Democrat.

Trump could not have gotten away with this nonsense if his opponent were Bernie Sanders because Sanders could outflank him on all of these issues and offer real, constructive solutions

The debate on money in politics is perhaps the most painful to watch. Both Sanders and Trump -- alone among the candidates, say the system is rotten. But Clinton, as she feels she must, denies that money influences her, and, by way of defense, says, hey, Obama takes more Wall Street money than I do!

Trump's reply is devastating. It's one reason he often beats her in polls on "honesty." He says, hey I'm a crook! I've been buying politicians all my life! But now I'll be a crook for you, the American people. Screw this system!

On trade deals he crushes her even though his solutions make no sense and she must squirm to defend a pillar of her and her husband's life's work.

In fact, a close reading of Trump, and those around him strongly suggests that should he win, he'll end up in roughly the same spot on TPP as Clinton.

Unlike Sanders, Trump doesn't attack the trade deal corporate tribunals that allow the rich to go around the world repealing national laws and regulations that cramp their style. He instead accepts the corporate frame that views trade deal clashes as nation v nation, as opposed to the fact that they're mainly big transnational firms v most everyone else.

With the help of Paul Ryan and the Chamber of Commerce , Trump's and Clinton's real stances will converge: face-saving minor modifications that he (or she) can tout as basic change.

On the issues in which Trump seems left of Clinton, on close examination it's illusion and mist. The factors that make him radical are all radicalism of the right.

When one votes for US president one is voting not just for a person but for teams. Evan McMullin, the ex Congressional staffer, points out that when Trump sat down with Paul Ryan, he pledged to follow the program and cut Social Security (a bipartisan DC favorite long pushed, under Obama by Gene Sperling, now at Clinton's right hand as one of her economic chiefs. Clinton, nonetheless, was compelled by Sanders forces to make a clear statement in debate that she will not cut Medicare of Social Security. We'll see how long that lasts.)

Trump's 28-point policy plan, which had Newt Gingrich in ecstasy, puts the oil companies in charge of the environment and promises to slash safety/labor/health regulation more precipitously than positions that Ryan and the Kochs have tacitly accepted in legislation.

The presidential election of any Republican now would be a quasi revolution because the party has become so radical as the servant of the thug fringe of the rich.

But Trump adds in additional teams, like the open racists and trigger-happy police that his own unique persona bids to drag across the political finish line.

But Trump is more than a vehicle for the vilest elements of the right.

He has his own unique capacity to unleash the beast on countless fronts.

On killing policy, its the murder adventurers like Cheney, Rusmfeld, Boykin and Flynn who support him, as opposed to the murder bureaucrats, who line up firmly for Clinton. He talks about nuclear weapons like a modern Gen. Curtis LeMay (its forgotten that Trump once-amateur studied nukes, and, while still a playboy, gave interviews on nuke policy.)

And perhaps more ominous is this one's man's singular drive and capacity to unleash the beast in White America.

Its one of the elements that resonates most when I think of Trump alongside the killers I've known.

Recent Trump-like movements around the world have a certain variety in their targets, (In the Philippines and Europe they claim to be for working people; in Egypt and Thailand they despise the masses).

What they have in common includes a middle class base, led by sometimes-fringe rich elites, and a feeling -- a semi or not-semi violent atmosphere of rage and hate that transcends continents.

In Thailand, the royalist elite helped the army topple two elected presidents with relentless mass middle-class sit-ins that paralyzed airports, downtown streets, state offices.

At one point they rode under the banner of The People's Alliance for Democracy, and their main demand was oppsition to democratic elections on the grounds that poor farmers were too corrupt and stupid to be trusted with the vote.

Now and then, when working on their second elected president, Yingluck Shinawatra, upper crust figures would mount the rally stages and demand that Mrs. Yingluck be impeached, arrested, jailed, and then - for good measure - gang raped.

When the Phlilppine Donald Trump -- as he's known, though he doesn't like Trump because Trump called the Phillippines "terrorist" -- Rodrigo Duterte got elected president on an open death squad platform, he immediately loosed cops and vigilantes and they murdered 3000 "drug dealers," at least two of them mayors; one of whom was just executed in his prison cell.

When Senator Lila de Lima herocially stood up and exposed Duterte in death squad hearings, he got her fired from her Senate Chairmanship, threatened with death by smearing her as a drug dealer, had her home address and phone number published, and was subjected to open taunts from Duterte officials about a purported "sex tape."

It could have been ripped from the headlines of the Trump campaign, except that under current Phillipine conditions, the brave Senator's life is clearly in danger.

Thats a difference, at least for now.

Debate Night 1, 2016. Notes on Trump and Clinton: Restraint

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 23:25:00 +0000

The US policy has been to run the world and Trump has said he's against that.

But thats also what Bush Junior said. Just as Trump is doing with Clinton, Bush ran to the left of Gore on intervention and repudiated nation building.

And then Bush responded to the attack of 9/11 by invading and occupying two nations, causing the death of perhaps a million civilians and sending US troops into sustained combat.

Does anyone think that once Trump takes office attacks on US targets will cease?

And does anyone think that Trump will be more restrained in responding to such attacks than Bush?

And, for that matter, will Trump allow himself to be called less of a drone killer than Obama?

Trump talks about nuclear weapons for Saudi Arabia. He backs the Egyptian mass killer al Sisi even more warmly than does Clinton. And Trump wants to give more weapons to Israel than does either Obama or Clinton.

Trump says he will sink Iranian ships if their sailors give the US the finger and will void the Iran nuclear deal which inevitably -- from the DC point of view -- will then require outright bombing.

So, open war in yet another country.

And in Syria, Trump says of ISIS, that he will stand beside them if they take the fight to Assad.

---

Whichever gets elected, mass murder wins. The question is how much murder?

The bureaucrats of the US killing system tend to back Hillary Clinton.

The murder adventurers Cheney and Rumsfeld are backing Donald Trump.

The murder bureaucracy isn't going away. Trump and Congress will sustain it. He openly calls for mass expansion of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

But Trump adds the additional element of animal spirits to the death business.

He has the gleam of a nuclear gamble that a Cheney or a Gen. Curtis LeMay could appreciate.

He has already called for China to "disappear" Kim Jong Un.

Those who think that the white supremacist proto-fascist will be less lethal abroad are failing to look at Trump's proposals and failing to look at the past.

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

Reports Claim Indonesian President Set to Name Indicted War Criminal to Cabinet

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 03:10:00 +0000

Press reports claim that the indicted war criminal, General Wiranto, is set to be named Indonesia's security chief by the country's president, Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

General Wiranto is under indictment by a UN-sponsored prosecutor for the massacre, rape, and arson campaign in occupied East Timor in 1999.

Though forces under Wiranto's command raped nuns and staged mass executions of civilians he has evaded arrest for 17 years and -- if the press reports prove correct -- will now be placed in overall charge of Indonesia's vast security forces.

Wiranto's indictment and the brief supporting the outstanding warrant for his arrest can be accessed below:

Wiranto Indictment by Cabang1

Brief in Support of Arrest Warrant for Gen. Wiranto by Cabang1

For further background re Gen. Wiranto and his crimes:

"Admiral Dennis Blair, Prospective Obama Appointee, Aided Perpetrators of 1999 Church Killings"

"Bloody Hands and a Crucial Victory"

"Lembaga Negara Mendesak Jokowi Tidak Memasukkan Pembunuh ke Kabinet"

"A Government Body Asks Jokowi to Exclude Murderers from the Cabinet"

"Breaking News: Jokowi Siap Memasukkan Para Jenderal Pembantai Massal Wiranto dan Ryamizard ke Kabinet"

"Red Marks Next to Their Names: Is Jokowi Serious About Being Clean?"

"Tanda Merah Calon Menteri: Apakah Jokowi Sungguh-Sungguh Ingin Membangun Kabinet Bersih?"

Kompas: "Jurnalis Investigasi Allan Nairn Ingatkan Jokowi Jangan Pilih Menteri Pelanggar HAM"
(2014/10/22)

Tweets During the Guatemalan Uprising of 2015 and the Fall of Perez Molina: August 25 Installment

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 22:02:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn (@AllanNairn14)

@AllanNairn14 Aug 25

68)In his hour of desperation,PerezM has gone demagogue.This longtime partner of th CIA&CACIFis now denouncing th rich&foreignrs #JuicioTito

69) It is a familiar scam: Mass killers who are closest to foreign powers and th rich sometimes like to pose as their opponents..#JuicioTito

70) They claim to be nationalists while selling the country's wealth to foreign corporations…#JuicioTito

71) ... And they claim to be populists while letting the local rich starve the people. #JuicioTito

72)Th rich&foreign sponsors of th demagogue just chuckle at th charade.They know it is necessry 2 deceive th people&keep control #JuicioTito

73) In this case, thats what the US is doing. Perez Molina is still useful to them (for the moment)... #JuicioTito

74) The US doesn't want a regime collapse that could unleash a deep popular movement... #JuicioTito

75)But CACIF is having a family spat with their little brother,Tito.He has become an embarrassment.They just want him to move on #JuicioTito

Allan Nairn retweeted @guatemalajustice:

“Both #RiosMontt and #Rodriguez Sanchez will be tried behind closed doors. Only victims will be allowed to attend. #Guatemala”

Allan Nairn added: “Rios Montt killed many 1000s but he couldnt kill their souls.For eternity he will have 2 face them,& their survivors”

Gustavo Berganza @GBerganza tweeted to @Allan Nairn14:

“Lástima que no viniste a atestiguar al juicio contra Ríos y Rodríguez. Hubiera sido útil oírte hablar de Otto.”

Allan Nairn replied: “Re mi testimonio que estaba programada para el juicio1 de Ríos Montt: http://goo.gl/Rof233 http://goo.gl/qzPws2 http://goo.gl/w3VH6j “

Re my scheduled testimony for the first trial of Rios Montt: http://goo.gl/Rof233 http://goo.gl/qzPws2 http://goo.gl/w3VH6j

English versn of interv re my scheduled Rios Montt testimony"The witness who would have accused the US & Pérez Molina”http://goo.gl/oBV13f

[A]When I asked Rios Montt-a firm believer in the death penalty-if HE should be executed for his role in the slaughter.. http://goo.gl/pNZGqI

[B]…[Rios Montt] leapt to his feet and shouted "Yes! Try me! Put me against the wall!"... http://goo.gl/pNZGqI

[C]But he [Rios Montt] said that the Americans should be put on trial too. http://goo.gl/pNZGqI

76)Th US&CACIF at th moment disagree on if Tito shld resign.Its just a tactical difference:they both,jointly,want 2 keep control #JuicioTito

77) For decades Perez Molina helped them[US/CACIF/foreign corps]loot the country.But now that some of the people have risen up…#JuicioTito

78) ... Perez Molina's usefulness (to the US,CACIF,foreign corps) has come into question…#JuicioTito

78) The US/CACIF don't care about Perez Molina personally.They care about preventing deep, popular change.#JuicioTito

79)Tito is terrified, but the US and CACIF are scared too. They want to end this unpredictable time of crisis swiftly, quietly. #JuicioTito

80But it is in no way preordained thtUSCACIFTitoArmy will prevail.History is now-for1brief momnt-largely in th hands of th peopl #JuicioTito

Allan Nairn retweeted Prensa Libre @prensa_libre: “Cacif y empresarios no apoyan paro nacional, argumentan pérdidas en economía http://bit.ly/1JwKPG6 Vía @rbolanos_pl

Allan Nairn added the comment: “CACIFwants2remove Tito wthout giving an opening 2 a mass movemnt.Thy want2assure that only he-not them-is overthrown

[A] Guatemala now somewhat resembles Indonesia '98 in that th elites want 2 remove their chosen leader cuz he has lost control of th people…

[B]…but want to make sure that only he falls,&that they-the elites-maintain control.In Indonesia it was the US-backed mass killer, Suharto…

[C]..In Guate it is th USbacked mass killer PerezMolina.In Indonesia,th elites succeeded.Th army took control.They had 2 concede some reforms..

[D]….but the same people still ran society. Moments where deep change is possible are brief.In Guatemala, this is one of them.

Allan Nairn retweeted Ejército Guatemala:” @Ejercito_GT

Somos garantes de la Institucionalidad del Estado de Guatemala, esencialmente apolítico, obediente y no deliberante”

Allan Nairn added the comment:”A) The army says they are the ‘guarantors of the Institutionality of the State of Guatemala.’”

B)...Previously that has meant committingmassacre,torture,disappearance,rape,& doing so in collaboration with foreign powers like the US..

C)...Señores del Ejercito: What does "guaranteeing the Institutionality of the State of Guatemala" mean today?

Link to August 23 Installment: goo.gl/w569xk
Link to August 24 Installment: goo.gl/6KeuCl

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

Tweets During the Guatemalan Uprising of 2015 and the Fall of Perez Molina: August 24 Installment

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 20:32:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn (@AllanNairn14)

@AllanNairn14 Aug 24

53)The only ones who have not yet abandoned Guatemalan Pres Gen Perez Molina r Army/Police commanders,some diehard oligarchs,&…#JuicioTito

54)...some corrupt politicians/officials.The highest profile force now pushing 2 keep him (Perez Molina)in power is th US/Europe #JuicioTito

55) The US/Europe say privately they want "stability," but its the stability of theft, hunger, and terror. #JuicioTito

56) The US would never tolerate a full murder prosecution/ investigation of its long-time protege, Perez Molina. #JuicioTito

57) Neither would CACIF, the oligarchs, who ran their own civilian death squads. #JuicioTito

58) But CACIF sees that Perez Molina has lost control of the populace. They want to move him out, for corruption ... #JuicioTito

59)..&in th hope of retaining control of hs successor(VP Maldonado Aguirre,ex MLN,th self-described"party of organized violence”)#JuicioTito

60)...and in the hope of deactivating the popular movement and getting control of any "reform" process... #JuicioTito

61)...&in response 2 th fear that if Perez M stays,th protests will progress frm th issue of corruption 2th issue of mass murder #JuicioTito

62) But even on narrow corruption grounds, keeping Gen. Perez Molina (@ottoperezmolina) in office is wrong... #JuicioTito

63)...It gives him (Perez Molina) time to find & destroy evidence & to use the wealth & coercive powers of the state ... #JuicioTito

64) ... to bribe, intimidate, and incapacitate witnesses, prosecutors, judges, legislators, and election commissioners ... #JuicioTito

65)It also gives him time 2 steal far more money.Keeping Perez M in office makes th prospect of real reform far more difficult . #JuicioTito

66)In Guate criminal court-& live on national TV-th public is now hearing phone intercepts implicating Perez M's ex VP in theft..#JuicioTito

67)..Imagine if th US were this advanced,& in a US crim court it were possibl to hear th NSA intercepts implicating US VPs&Prezs #JuicioTito

Link to August 23 Installment: goo.gl/w569xk
Link to August 25 Installment: goo.gl/r0hIAu

Tweets During the Guatemalan Uprising of 2015 and the Fall of Perez Molina: August 23 Installment

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 18:56:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn (@AllanNairn14)

@AllanNairn14 Aug 23

1)Guatemalan PresGen Otto Perez Molina may b tried fr corruptn.But he shld also b put on trial fr massacre,torture,assassination #JuicioTito

2) Perez Molina implemented the Rios Montt program of massacre in the Ixil. I interviewed him then and he told me, on film, ... #JuicioTito

3) ..all the families are with the guerrillas.” #JuicioTito See: http://goo.gl/YXwuHB http://goo.gl/jdPVVU http://goo.gl/E0AuK2

4)Perez Molina,a special Kaibil troop &US protege,ws using th pseudonym“Major Tito” His subordinates told me how they massacred #JuicioTito

5)Under Tito’s command,fm Nebaj,his men swept thru th mountns.Thy burnt & bombed villages,raped,strangled civilians& committed…#JuicioTito

6) ... many hundreds of murders. #JuicioTito http://goo.gl/8xr8Gl http://goo.gl/UVISPC

6)Tito’s men told me it didn’t matter that the victims were unarmed, including old people, women, children. #JuicioTito

7)Their crimes were genocidal. They rank with those of today’s ISIS. And their commander later became the country’s president. #JuicioTito

8)But Perez Molina/Tito,though criminally responsible,was following orders from the top.His boss was th dictatorGen. Rios Montt #JuicioTito

9)Rios Montt and Perez Molina had the full support of the United States (and Israel). Tito proudly showed me his US-weaponry. #JuicioTito

10)One of Tito’s officrs,Lt Romeo Sierra,a leader of massacres,told me thUS support was determinative-“definitivo"-in their work #JuicioTito

11)Within Guatemala, it was the oligarchs (CACIF) who backed Rios Montt, the army, and the massacres. #JuicioTito

12)Now th oligarchs have abandoned a sinking ship.With Perez Molina in corruption trouble thy have belatedly called4 him 2quit.. #JuicioTito

13) But they, CACIF/ the oligarchs, don’t want a murder trial for Perez Molina. #JuicioTito

14)When a Guat trial court convicted Rios Montt of genocide CACIF demanded th verdict b set asideThe corrupt high court complied #JuicioTito

15)CACIF cn’t tolerate criminal trials becuz most murders were done by th natl army thy sponsored.&,still more dangerous fr thm..#JuicioTito

16) ... a significant number of the '80s murders were done by CACIF oligarchs personally. #JuicioTito

17)In th‘80s,young oligarchic men wld organize their own civilian death squads.Thr targets wr unionists, peasant lders,students.#JuicioTito

18)Thy killed in concert w th far mor prolific Guat army/policeBut many rich boys took specl pride in gettng thr own hands dirty #JuicioTito

19) These Guatemalan oligarchy death squads were the counterparts of the D’Aubuisson death squads of El Salvador... #JuicioTito

20) Indeed, the Guatemala and ES oligarchy death squads sometimes trained together, and shared intel on cross-border targets. #JuicioTito

21)Today those murdering young CACIF men r in their 50s,60s.Th skeletons in thr closets are literal.Thy cant risk actual justice #JuicioTito

22)But suddenly,as if from a coma,parts of Guatemala hve awakened.Theyre in th streets, demanding justice.Th issue is corruption #JuicioTito

23) But every Guatemalan of a certain age, especially the Mayans, knows the real issue that lies beneath:... #JuicioTito

24)...the men (and some women)theyve now caught for stealing could do so becuz they had power,&they got that power due 2 murder.#JuicioTito

25)In '80,Fred Sherwood of AMCHAM,th US corp partner of CACIF,explained 2 me tht whn workers at his factory tried to unionize... #JuicioTito

26) ... he would give their names to National Police chief Col. German Chupina, the legendary rapist and torturer . #JuicioTito

27)The AMCHAM US exec Sherwood told me a joke about how Chupina was such a good torturer he could even make mummies talk. #JuicioTito

28) Sherwood said the Colonel solved his union problem by “disappearing” the workers. #JuicioTito

29)Perez Molina shld be on trial 4 murder,but so shld his US sponsors & other murderers,be they army,police,CACIF orUS corporate #JuicioTito

[30] Strting now,&in days 2 come,I’ll b tweeting facts& links re this skein of murder,incl. perhps,new info re Perez Molina, & others #JuicioTito

31) Last night, at the Palace, there were two small signs amid the massive cry for Tito’s downfall… #JuicioTito

32)One said:“Otto (Tito) el pueblo Ixil no olvida las masacres.” The other:“Cuando Los de Abajo se mueven … los de arriba caen!!”#JuicioTito

33) One sign said (rough translations):“Otto (Tito) the Ixil people will not forget the massacres”... #JuicioTito

34) The other: “When Those Below stir themselves…those who are above fall down.” #JuicioTito

35) Perez Molia/Tito me dijo,en el Ixil '82:"Todas las familias estan con la guerrilla."Su Sargento,Miguel Raimundo, me dijo:.. #JuicioTito

@AllanNairn14 Aug 23

Breaking News: US and Europe, behind the scenes, are telling Perez Molina not to resign.

They fear "collapse of the regime." #JuicioTito

Perez Molina takes the US/Eur order telling hm not 2 resign & thn in a speech 2 th natn,blames his corrup indictmt on foreigners #JuicioTito

36).."Casi toda la gente en las aldeas son guerrilleros."El Cabo Felipe,otro hombre de Tito me dijo que cuando el Ejrcito llega..#JuicioTito

37)..."Ellos huyen de sus casas. Huyen hacia la montaña.

–¿Qué hacen ustedes?

–Capturamos a algunos vivos, y otros ...." #JuicioTito

38)"...no los pdemos capturar vivos.Cndo ellos salen corriendo hcia la mntaña,nos obligan a matarlos"dijo el Cabo de Tito,Felipe #JuicioTito

39)Perez Molina/Tito told me, in the Ixil’82:”All the families are with the guerrillas.” His Sargent,Miguel Raimundo,told me:…”#JuicioTito

40).."Almost all the village people are guerrillas."Corporal Felipe,another of Tito's men, told me that when the Army arrives... #JuicioTito

41)..."They flee from their houses. They run for the mountain.

--And what do you do?

--Some we capture alive, and others..." #JuicioTito

42)"...we cant capture alive..When they run & go into th mountains tht obligates one to kill them,"said Tito's Corporal, Felipe #JuicioTito

43)Pregunte al hombre de Tito,Cabo Felipe:"Entre aquellos que uds tienen que matar,¿qué clase de gente es:hombres o mujeres?" #JuicioTito

44) Cabo Felipe (de Tito):"–Algunas veces [matamos a] hombres, otras veces mujeres.

–¿En qué aldeas ha sucedido eso?" #JuicioTito

45) ElCabo de Tito (Felipe) sobre sus matanzas:"Ha sucedido en una serie de aldeas.En Acul,Salquil,Sumal Chiquito,Sumal Grande”#JuicioTito

46)Pregunte a Felipe, Cabo de Perez Molina/Tito"--En esas aldeas, ¿cuánta gente mataron ustedes?

–No muchas, unas cuantas." #JuicioTito

47)"–¿[Uds mataron] más de 10,más de 20,más de 100?

–Oh,no.Cerca de 20.

–¿En cada aldea?

–Sí,por supuesto.Eso no fue mucho.”#JuicioTito

48) I asked Felipe, Tito’s Corporal: ”Among those you have to kill, what kind of people are they? Are they men or women?” #JuicioTito

49)Perez Molina/Tito’s Corporal Felipe: “—At times [we kill] men, at times women.

—In which villages has this happened?” #JuicioTito

50)Tito's Corporal Felipe re massacres: ”Oh, it’s happened in lots of [villages]. In Acul,Salquil,Sumal Chiquito, Sumal Grande” #JuicioTito

51) I asked Felipe, Perez Molina/Tito’s Corporal:”-- In those villages, about how many people did you kill?

-- Not many, a few." #JuicioTito

52)"--[You killed] more than 10? More than 20? More than 100?

--Oh no, about 20

--In each village?
--Yes,of course.Its not many"#JuicioTito

Link to August 24 Installment: goo.gl/6KeuCl
Link to August 25 Installment: goo.gl/r0hIAu

Breaking News: Rekaman Wawancara Hendropriyono Tentang Perannya di Talangsari. Jenderal yang terlibat dalam pembantaian mengklaim para korban "bunuh diri," mengancam akan "menyerang rumah-rumah gubuk," dan bersedia diadili untuk kejahatan HAM

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 17:20:00 +0000

[Versi teks dari wawancara ini telah dimuat di sini pada 27 Oktober 2014 dengan judul: "Breaking News: Pengakuan 'Tanggungjawab Komando' Jenderal Hendropriyono dalam Pembunuhan Munir, Mengklaim Para Korban Talangsari 'Bunuh Diri,' Kesetujuannya Diadili untuk Pelanggaran HAM; dan Implikasi Hukumnya untuk As'ad, Wiranto, CIA."

Selasa, 10 Februari pukul 10:00 WIB, saya akan bersaksi di depan POLDA Metro Jaya, dalam kaitannya dengan kasus kriminal sang jenderal yang diajukan oleh para penyintas Talangsari beserta keluarga.

Mereka berpendapat bahwa Jend. Hendro melakukan "pencemaran nama baik" ketika mengatakan kepada saya dalam wawancara ini bahwa para korban Talangsari--ratusan jumlahnya-- "melakukan bunuh diri" massal saat itu juga:]

Oleh Allan Nairn

Jakarta

Jenderal A.M. Hendropriyono, salah satu sosok orang kuat di Indonesia, mengakui "tanggungjawab komando" atas pembunuhan aktivis HAM terkemuka Indonesia.

Dalam dua wawancara malam hari di rumahnya yang mewah pada 16 Oktober lalu, Hendropriyono melontarkan pernyataan-pernyataan yang kelihatannya bisa membuatnya diproses dan bakal menimbulkan masalah untuk CIA, TNI, dan Jokowi--presiden Indonesia yang baru.

Hendropriyono adalah penasehat kunci Jokowi, pemimpin inti TNI, dan sedang bekerjasama dengan CIA ketika badan Intelijen yang dipimpinnya (BIN) menghabisi nyawa Munir.

Lebih detilnya, dalam perbincangan-perbincangan on the record itu, akhirnya Hendropriyono—mungkin tanpa sengaja—membiarkan dirinya larut menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang saya ajukan

Pada saat wawancara selesai, praktis Hendro mengugurkan sejumlah pembelaan yang sudah lama sekali dipegang oleh dirinya dan TNI. Ia sepakat diadili untuk tiga kasus: pembunuhan Munir, kampanye terror 1999 yang mengluluhlantakkan Timor Timur (saat itu masih diduduki pasukan TNI), serta pembantaian Talangsari tahun 1989 yang memuatnya menyandang julukan "Jagal Lampung."

Hendropriyono pun akhirnya sepakat agar semua dokumen internal yang dipegang oleh pemerintah Indonesia dan AS terkait kasus-kasus tersebut dirilis.

Dengan mengakui "tanggungjawab komando" dan membukakan jalan untuk fakta-fakta tertentu, Hendropriyono turut memberikan tekanan legal kepada dua orang--Wiranto, sang jenderal, dan As'ad, sang intel—yang kian melesat ke jantung politik Indonesia setelah dipromosikan untuk duduk di Kabinet Jokowi.

Perjumpaan dengan Hendropriyono adalah hal yang tak saya perkirakan sebelumnya dan seringkali terasa ganjil. Sesi pertama pertemuan tersebut dimulai dengan sikapnya yang memuji-muji saya, dan berakhir dengan ucapan saya padanya bahwa saya berharap pembunuh Munir dihukum seumur hidup.

Di sela-sela itu, obrolan yang berlangsung antara kami berdua tak jarang berliku. Saya akan memaparkannya dalam beberapa bagian.

----

Dari New York, saya menghubungi nomor ponsel Hendropriyono pada 14 Oktober. Saya ingin mendengar komentarnya langsung tentang perannya dalam pembantaian warga sipil.

Sepanjang pemilu presiden Indonesia musim panas lalu—yang akhirnya dimenangkan Jokowi—berulangkali saya menyerukan agar Hendro diadili untuk kasus-kasus kejahatan kemanusiaan.

Akan tetapi, yang mendapatkan perhatian besar—seringkali bahkan diliput hingga ke detil-detilnya --adalah konfrontasi saya dengan Prabowo, lawan Jokowi. Saya pernah menerbitkan wawancara off the record di mana Prabowo bicara panjang lebar tentang kediktatoran fasis, tentang cara melakukan pembantaian, tentang upaya-upaya kerjasamanya yang luas dengan Pentagon/Intelijen AS. Dalam wawancara itu pula, dia menghina mantan presiden sekaligus ulama yang sangat dihormati, Gus Dur.

Prabowo menuntut supaya tentara menangkap saya. Ia menyebut saya pembohong, imperialis Amerika, "musuh negara," dan menyatakan—kali ini dengan tepat—bahwa sebanyak tujuh kali TNI telah menangkap saya, dan bahwa Suharto sudah melarang saya masuk ke Indonesia sebagai "ancaman terhadap keamanan nasional." Menanggapi Prabowo, TNI mengumumkan bahwa saya berstatus "Target Operasi (TO).”

Saya sendiri sudah menantang tentara untuk menangkap saya. Saya menantang Prabowo untuk mengajukan saya ke pengadilan. Terkait Imperialisme Amerika, saya menantang Prabowo untuk bergabung bersama saya mengutuk presiden dan para mantan presiden AS yang masih hidup supaya mereka diadili karena kasus-kasus kejahatan. Saya juga sempat menantang Prabowo untuk bersama-sama menyerukan agar raksasa tambang AS, Freeport McMoRan, didepak dari Indonesia. Prabowo mundur dari semua tantangan tersebut dan menjadi bahan olok-olok, hingga akhirnya—di hari terakhir kampanye—ia pun memperkarakan saya. Para asisten Prabowo kemudian menjelaskan bahwa perkara yang diajukan antara lain terkait dengan "memancing kebencian terhadap militer," yang kemudian bertambah lagi setelah hasil pemilihan keluar: "menyebabkan kekalahan Prabowo."

----

Dengan latar belakang inilah Hendropriyono, salah satu penopang kampanye Jokowi, menyarankan saya untuk bertemu langsung dengannya di Jakarta, alih-alih lewat telepon. Saya pun terbang ke Jakarta, dan beberapa jam setelah masuk ke wilayah Indonesia, saya tiba di pekarangan eksklusif milik Hendro di Senayan, Jakarta.

Sementara Hendro menemani utusan dari badan intelijen Malaysia, dan saya menunggu di ruang tamu, seorang anggota keluarga Hendro memberitahu saya bahwa sebelumnya Jokowi sudah menawarkan tiga jabatan menteri kepada Hendro, termasuk Menkolpokam, yang tidak lain adalah pos tertinggi untuk militer dan intelijen. Masih sehubungan dengan hal itu, pada hari yang sama, menantu Hendro, Jenderal Andika, baru saja diumumkan sebagai kepala Paspampres (pasukan pengawal kepresidenan) yang baru. Di dalam lemari kabinet di hadapan saya, terdapat foto Hendro bersama Jenderal Wiranto dan Sutiyoso, sementara di samping kanan foto Hendro dengan ajudan lamanya, Jendral Susilo yang di kemudian hari menjadi presiden. Di antara kedua foto tersebut, terdapat patung dada (bust) Napoleon--yang menurut seorang anggota keluarga merupakan tokoh kesukaan Hendro.

----

Setelah mempersilakan saya masuk, Hendro memulai pembicaraan. Dia mengatakan bawah dirinya merasa "terhormat" bisa bertemu dan menyambut saya, karena saya telah menggembosi kampanye Prabowo. Ia menerangkan bahwa Prabowo adalah seorang "totaliter."

Jawaban saya: saya menyerang semua jenderal, termasuk dirinya. Hendropriyono mengatakan dia tahu akan hal itu, dan kalau tidak keliru, lanjutnya, saya menyerangnya khusus terkait Talangsari.

Saya mengangguk, tapi saya menambahkan: saya menyerangnya untuk banyak kasus, termasuk pembunuhan Munir dan teror di Timor tahun 1999.

Pertama-tama, Hendro ingin bicara tentang Talangsari.

Menurut semua laporan—termasuk yang dituturkan Hendro pada saya, yang terjadi di Talangsari adalah banjir darah. Namun Hendro memulai ceritanya dengan mengatakan: “Tak ada cara lain, Allan Nairn.”

Ia mengatakan bahwa sebagai komandan resort militer (danrem), ia mengendalikan tentara dan Brimob, lalu masuk ke Talangsari untuk menghadapi kaum militan agama yang bersenjata “busur dan panah.”

Ia mengatakan, “Mereka bilang saya thogut. Thoghut artinya ekstremis yang akan selalu menghabisi kaum Muslim...”

Tentang perang antara senapan vs. panah itu, Hendro mengatakan, “Tentunya ... kami menang karena kami lebih kuat.”

Hendro mengatakan: “Kami mengepung gubuk-gubuk yang mereka bangun di dusun bersama warga. Tidak ada yang keluar (dari gubuk) karena dilarang oleh para tetua mereka, oleh pemimpin-pemimpin mereka... Saya katakan, ‘Kami akan menyerbu. Saya minta kalian keluar dari rumah dan menyerah.’”

Lalu pada satu waktu, dalam laporan Hendro—dan banyak laporan lainnya—pengepungan gubuk-gubuk itu menyulut api.

Para penyintas dan saksi mata mengatakan bahwa orang-orang Hendro menyulut api, menempak dan menyiksa warga desa yang tak bersenjata.

Kesaksian mereka di depan Komnas HAM dan kelompok-kelompok HAM seperti Kontras (yang didirikan Munir) sangat terperinci.

Namun saya terkejut: di saat kami tengah berbincang di rumah mewahnya di Jakarta, Hendropriyono mengatakan bahwa korban Talangsari sebetulnya melakukan bunuh diri.

“Tiba-tiba mereka bakar gubuk mereka sendiri. Itu yang bikin banyak orang mati,” katanya.

(Ia memperkirakan angka koran tewas sebesar 100 orang—mungkin 200—tak bersenjata dan ada banyak anak-anak dan perempuan di antaranya)

[Audio: "Attack the Huts:"]

[Note: the recording time stamp icon is set on New York time]

Tidak percaya begitu saja, saya tanya dia, “Anda mengklaim mereka menghabisi diri mereka sendiri?”...

“Ya, mereka membakar... mereka membakar gubuk mereka.”

“Dengan kata lain, Anda mengatakan mereka bunuh diri.”

“Ya ...”

“Bunuh diri?”, kali ini saya bertanya dalam bahasa Indonesia.

“Bunuh diri”, jawab Jenderal Hendropriyono dalam bahasa Indonesia pula.

Ia menunjukkan bahwa tindakan tersebut didorong oleh fanatisisme.

Saya kembali ke pokok supaya lebih jelas:

“Jadi, bapak kata bahwa orang itu bunuh diri?”

“Bunuh diri,” Hendro menjawab tegas.

[Audio: "Bunuh Diri:"]

Dan saya pun mengatakan:

"Saya yakin Anda tahu hal ini: ada banyak kesaksian langsung dari penyintas Talangsari yang diberikan ke Komnas HAM dan lembaga-lembaga lain yang mengatakan bahwa 100-200 korban itu dihabisi oleh pasukan Anda dalam sebuah pembantaian. Mengapa tidak dihadapi di pengadilan saja? Apa Anda sepakat untuk diadili dan menjelaskan argumen Anda di pengadilan seperti yang baru Anda lakukan di depan saya?"

"Yah, tentunya itu tidak benar," jawab Hendro seraya mengelak dari pertanyaan.

Saya katakan: "Anda bisa mengatakan itu di pengadilan. Anda bisa bilang itu ke hakim."

Tapi sekali lagi, Hendro tak ingin menjawab.

Dia malah mengalihkan pembicaraan. Dia mulai dengan serangan terhadap "organisasi-organisasi HAM Indonesia," yakni Kontras-nya Munir dan kelompok-kelompok serupa.

Hendro mengatakan bahwa kelompok-kelompok HAM ini telah membayar saksi-saksi supaya dirinya "dikasuskan". Tuduhan ini ironis karena Hendro sendiri telah melakukan pembayaran ke saksi-saksi dengan tujuan--katanya pada saat itu--sedekah. Dan fakta ini sudah dilaporkan secara luas.

(Ketika saya menyebut uang pemberian Hendro di meja yang penuh dengan orang-orang Kontras, mereka terkejut--dan tertawa terbahak-bahak, "Kayak kita punya duit aja!" salah seorang berseloroh.)

Namun hal yang paling mengganggu Hendro adalah fakta bahwa kelompok-kelompok HAM, termasuk Komnas HAM, sudah sepakat untuk mendengar kesaksian dari penyintas anak-anak Talangsari, atau lebih tepatnya, orang-orang yang masih di bawah umur ketika bencana itu terjadi.

Dia jelas gusar dengan fakta bahwa anak-anak yang kini masih hidup itu dianggap serius.

Mereka "[dulu] masih anak-anak," katanya. Mereka "tidak tahu apa yang sedang terjadi."

Dalam kasus Talangsari, saksi anak-anak akhirnya memang dirujuk.

Tapi itu karena Hendro dan anak-anak buahnya membunuh orangtua mereka, menurut kelompok-kelompok HAM.

Sebetulnya ada pula kesaksian dari para penyintas dewasa, dan kesaksian anak kapanpun sering digunakan untuk kasus-kasus semacam itu.

Pada tahun 2013 saya diminta untuk bersaksi dalam pengadilan genosida di Guatemala. Mantan diktator yang didukung AS, Jenderal Efrain Rios Montt, duduk di kursi pesakitan.

Dalam kasus tersebut, kesaksian orang-orang yang masih kanak-kanak saat peristiwa terjadi, digunakan secara luas. Rios Montt didakwa melakukan pembunuhan massal berencana dan dijatuhi hukuman 80 tahun (oligarki kemudian membekukan kasus ini; sang jenderal tetap berada di tahanan rumah.)

Jenderal Hendropriyono tidak ingin ada kesaksian semacam itu di sini.

----

Namun ketika megeluh tentang kesaksian yang melibatkan anak-anak itu, Jenderal Hendro nampaknya keceplosan.

Dia sendiri yang membuka kembali kemungkinan untuk menghadap pengadilan.

"Saya yakin, jika kita ingin ke pengadilan, pengadilan akan mencari saksi-saksi," katanya. Yang dia maksud adalah, pengadilan tidak akan menganggap penting anak-anak kecuali sebagai saksi palsu atau bayaran.

Saya pun segera menanggapi: "Jadi ketika Anda bilang kasus ini harus diurus pengadilan, Anda harus diadili untuk Talangsari dan Anda tidak takut, Anda akan menerima itu? Anda bisa menerima kenyataan seandainya Anda disidang untuk kasus Talangsari?"

Hendro diam sejenak, bimbang, lalu bergumam: "Saya tidak bisa, mmm, Sepertinya saya sudah...."

Tak dinyana dia berkata: "Jika ada orang yang bukan saya--anggap saja Anda--kalau Anda jadi saya waktu itu, saya cukup yakin Anda akan melakukan hal yang sama."

"Tidak, saya tidak akan melakukan hal yang sama," saya jawab. "Saya tidak akan melakukan hal yang sama."

"Apa yang akan Anda lakukan? Apa yang akan Anda lakukan jika Anda jadi saya waktu itu," sang jenderal mendesak.

"Saya tidak akan bunuh orang," saya menjawab. Tapi saya ingin kembali ke pokok permasalahan:

"Tapi saya ingin memastikan bahwa saya paham apa yang Anda katakan. Saya hanya ingin mendapatkan pemahaman yang jelas tentang itu. Apa Anda bilang Anda siap diadili untuk Talangsari? Anda bersedia membela diri di pengadilan dan membawa bukti-bukti Anda?"

"Oh ya tentu saja!" jawab Hendropriyono.

Kelihatannya ada titik cerah di sini.

Tapi saya ingin mengoreknya lagi, dan dia pun menghindar.

"Jadi, Anda bersedia diadili untuk Talangsari?"

"Kapan? Di jaman itu?," jawabnya.

Dia merujuk ke tahun 1989, saat pembantaian terjadi.

"Maksud saya sekarang," saya menjawab. "Waktu itu sudah berakhir. Saya bicara sekarang."

Tepat di titik ini, pembelaan emosional--dan hukum--Hendropriyono mulai kelihatan goyah.

"Segala sesuatu yang saya lakukan," katanya, "segala sesuatu yang mereka tuduhkan pada saya, tidak ada alasan bagi saya untuk tidak menerimanya. Saya akan mengadapinya."

Titik cerah itu memang sungguh ada. Jenderal Hendropriyono menyatakan setuju untuk diadili.

Setelah puluhan tahun TNI--dan Hendro-- membentengi diri dengan berbagai pembelaan dan alasan guna menghindari pengadilan, sang komandan jenderal--sekaligus mitra CIA--ini ternyata memberikan contoh untuk masa depan.

"Karena segala sesuatu yang telah saya lakukan, saya bukan binatang, saya manusia," katanya.

"Dan Anda paham, saya bisa merasakan, saya punya anak, saya punya keluarga, dan saya bisa merasakan bagaimana perasaan mereka. Jadi bagi saya, saya bertanggung jawab atas segala yang sudah saya perbuat. Saya tidak akan menolak apapun. Saya mengerti maksud Anda. Jika saya diadili di pengadilan pelanggaran HAM, saya akan terima."

[Audio: Hendro Agrees to Stand Trial:]

----

Tarik-ulur Talangsari ini menciptakan pola perbincangan kami tentang kasus-kasus kekerasan lainnya: biasanya Hendropriyono akan sampai pada titik dimana ia menegaskan--kadang terdengar sangat tidak masuk akal--bahwa keberadaan mayat-mayat yang masih menjadi pertanyaan bukanlah murni kesalahannya; namun pada saat bersamaan, ia mengakui fakta bahwa akhirnya dialah yang berwenang, dan bahwa mengadili seorang jenderal senior seperti dirinya untuk kasus pembunuhan adalah tindakan yang tepat.

Persetujuan ini amat penting dan membuka banyak jalan.

Gaungnya akan sangat signifikan untuk perbincangan kami selanjutnya terkait Munir.

Dan efeknya tidak hanya berlaku untuk Hendro, tapi juga untuk BIN, As'ad, dan CIA.

Akhir dari bagian I tulisan tentang Hendropriyono.

Lihat:

"The Komnas HAM Report on the Talangsari Massacre"

"Meeting Monday With Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Government Human Rights Commission"

KontraS: Latar Belakang Proses Hukum Kasus Talangsari

"Breaking News: Secret Documents Link Hendropriyono, As'ad to Munir Assassination. Suppressed Report Says Munir Was BIN "Operational Target," Urges Criminal Probe of Hendro. Draft of As'ad Letter Surfaces; BIN Candidate Worked With Poisons Expert. Assassination Was "Carefully Planned." Hendropriyono: Part 2."

"Red Marks Next to Their Names: Is Jokowi Serious About Being Clean?"

"Tanda Merah Calon Menteri: Apakah Jokowi Sungguh-Sungguh Ingin Membangun Kabinet Bersih?"

"A Government Body Asks Jokowi to Exclude Murderers from the Cabinet."

"Lembaga Negara Mendesak Jokowi Tidak Memasukkan Pembunuh ke Kabinet"

"Bloody Hands and a Crucial Victory"

Breaking News: Hendropriyono Talangsari Audio Released. In Interview, General Implicated in Massacre Says Victims "Committed Suicide." Speaks of Threatening to "Attack Huts." Agrees to Stand Trial for Rights Crimes.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 11:21:00 +0000

[The newly released audio of General Hendropriyono is embedded in the article below.

The text version of this piece was printed on this website on October 27, 2014 under the title: "Breaking News: Gen. Hendropriyono Admits "Command Responsibility" in Munir Assassination. Says Talangsari Victims "Committed Suicide." Agrees to Stand Trial for Atrocities; Legal Implications for As'ad, Wiranto, CIA. Hendropriyono: Part 1."

On Tuesday, February 10, at 10:00 am WIB I will testify to the Indonesian police (POLDA Metro Jaya) in connection with a criminal case against the general brought by massacre survivors and their families.

They are contending that Gen. Hendro committed criminal libel ("pencemaran nama baik") when he said to me, in this interview, that the Talangsari victims -- hundreds of them, all at once -- "committed suicide" ("bunuh diri").]

By Allan Nairn
Jakarta

General A.M. Hendropriyono, one of Indonesia's most powerful figures, has admitted "command responsibility" in the assassination of the country's leading rights activist.

In two nighttime interviews at his Jakarta mansion on October 16 Hendropriyono made statements that appear to open him to prosecution and may create problems for the CIA, the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), and for Joko Widodo -- Jokowi -- Indonesia's new president.

Hendropriyono is a key Jokowi adviser, is a core leader of the TNI, and was working with the CIA when his intelligence unit, BIN, killed the activist Munir.

In detailed, on-the-record discussions with me Hendropriyono, perhaps inadvertently, ended up submitting himself to close questioning.

By the time it was over he had abandoned some of his and TNI's longest standing defenses, and had agreed to stand trial for three major atrocities: the Munir murder, the 1999 terror campaign that devastated occupied East Timor, and the 1989 Talangsari massacre that earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Lampung."

Hendropriyono also ended up agreeing that he was calling for the release of all internal documents held by the Indonesian and US governments relating to these cases.

By admitting "command responsibility" and opening to the door to certain facts, Hendropriyono places legal pressure on two men -- the general, Wiranto and the intelligenge man, As'ad -- who have moved to the center stage of Indonesian politics after being touted for the Jokowi cabinet.

The encounter with Hendropriyono was unexpected and at times bizarre. The first session started with him trying to flatter me, and ended with me telling him that I hoped Munir's killers would be jailed for life.

In between, the discussion was, at times, complex. It will be described in several installments.

-----

I had called Hendropriyono's cell phone, from New York, on October 14 hoping that I could get a comment from him on his role in killing civilians.

During last summer's Indonesian presidential campaign that resulted in Jokowi's election, I had repeatedly called for Hendro to be tried for crimes against humanity.

But what got far more attention, indeed, at times saturation coverage, was my running confrontation with Jokowi's opponent, General Prabowo. I had published an off-the record interview with Prabowo in which Prabowo ruminated on fascist dictatorship, talked about how to do massacres, discussed his extensive work with the Pentagon/ US Intelligence, and insulted the highly regarded cleric and late President, Gus Dur.

Prabowo demanded that the army capture me, called me a liar, an American imperialist, an "enemy of the state," and pointed out -- correctly -- that the TNI had previously captured me seven times and that Suharto had banned me from the country as "a threat to national security." Responding to Prabowo, TNI declared that I had become an "Operational Target" (TO).

I challenged the army to grab me, challenged Prabowo to bring me to court, and -- on the matter of American Imperialism -- challenged Prabowo to join me in calling for the living US presidents to be put on trial for atrocities, and for the US mining giant, Freeport McMoRan, to be expelled from Indonesia. Prabowo backed down on all fronts and received ridicule, so finally, on the campaign's last day, he filed criminal charges against me. His aides later explained that among other things the charges related to "inciting hatred of the army," and, after the election results were in, "causing Prabowo to lose."

It was against this background that Hendropriyono, one of the pillars of the Jokowi campaign, indicated that rather than talking on the phone he wanted to talk in person, in Jakarta. I was heading to Jakarta anyway, and within hours of entering the country, went to Hendro's corner estate in Senayan, Jakarta.

As he entertained a delegation from Malaysian intelligence, and I waited in a sitting room, a member of Hendro's family told me that Jokowi had already offered him three ministries, including MENKOPOLKAM, the top military/ intelligence post. Relatedly, just that day, Hendro's son-in-law, General Andika, had been announced as the new head of PASAMPRES, Jokowi's personal security detail. In a cabinet in front of me was a photo of Hendro with Generals Wiranto and Sutiyoso, and to the right a photo of Hendro with his old aide, General Susilo, who later became President. In between was a bust of Napoleon -- a Hendro favorite, a family member explained.

----

After he ushered me in, Hendro started by saying that he was "honored" to meet and receive me because I had hurt Prabowo in the campaign. He suggested that Prabowo was "totalitarian."

I replied that I attacked all the generals, including him. Hendropriyono said he knew that, and said that if he was not mistaken I had attacked him particularly for Talangsari.

I said that was true, but I had attacked him for many things, also including Munir and 1999 Timor.

Hendro wanted to talk about Talangsari first.

By all accounts -- including Hendro's to me, what had happened there had been a bloodbath, but he started by saying: "There was no other way to do it, Allan Nairn."

He said that as regional commander he controlled both the army and the National Police BRIMOB, and moved in to confront religious militants who were armed with "bows and arrows."

He said "They said I was togut. Togut means extremist who will always finish the Muslims..."

He said of the rifles vs. arrows showdown, "Of course ... we won because we were stronger."

Hendro said: "We encircled the huts that they built in the village together with the villagers. Nobody was out (of the huts) because of forbidden by their chiefs, by their leaders... I said that 'we will attack you and I ask you to go out from the house and surrender.'"

Then at some point, by Hendro's account -- and that of everyone else -- the encircled huts went up in flames.

Survivors and witnesses say Hendro's men lit the fires, and shot and tortured unarmed villagers.

Their testimony to the government human rights commission (KOMNASHAM) and to human rights groups like Munir's Kontras is detailed.

But, to my astonishment, as we sat there in his Jakarta mansion, Hendropriyono said that the dead at Talangsari had actually killed themselves.

"Suddenly they burned their own huts. That made so many people die," he said.

(He estimated the death toll at 100, maybe 200, overwhelmingly unarmed, with many women and children)

[Audio: "Attack the Huts:"]

[Note: the recording time stamp icon is set on New York time]

I asked incredulously, "So you're claiming they killed themselves?"...

"Yes, they burned, they burned their huts."

"In effect you're saying they committed suicide."

"Yes ...

"Bunuh diri?" ('Committed suicide?'), I asked in Indonesian.

"Bunuh diri" ('Committed suicide'), General Hendropriyono replied.

He suggested they might have done this out of fanaticism.

I returned to the point, seeking clarity:

"Jadi, bapak kata bahwa orang itu bunuh diri?" ('So you're saying that those people committed suicide?')

"Bunuh diri," -- suicide, Hendro replied with finality.

[Audio: "Bunuh Diri:"]

So I said:

"As I'm sure you know, there are many witness testimonies from survivors of Talangsari given to KOMNASHAM and others that say that those hundred or 200 were killed by your troops, were killed by you in a massacre. So why not face this in a trial? Would you agree to be put on trial and make the argument in a court like you've just made to me?"

"Yeah, of course it was not true," Hendro replied, skirting the question.

I said: "You could say that in court. You could tell it to the judge."

But again, Hendro did not want to answer.

Instead, he digressed. He started with an attack on "the Indonesian human rights organizations," i.e. Munir's Kontras, and similar groups.

Hendro said that the human rights groups had paid off witnesses to implicate him, a charge that was ironic since it had been extensively reported that Hendro himself had made payments to witnesses, for, he said at the time, religious purposes.

(When I later mentioned Hendro's payoff charge to a table full of Kontras people, they were shocked -- and couldn't stop laughing; "As if we had the cash!," one exclaimed.)

But the thing that most bothered Hendro was the fact that the rights groups, including KOMNASHAM, had agreed to hear testimony from child survivors of Talangsari, ie. from people who were still minors at the time of the inferno.

He was evidently upset that these surviving children had been taken seriously.

They "were still kids," he said. They "didn't know what was going on."

It was, of course, the case that Talangsari child witnesses were resorted to.

But this was because Hendro and his men had killed their parents, according to the rights groups.

And in fact there was testimony from adult survivors as well, and in any event child testimony was often used in such cases.

In 2013 I was called to testify in a genocide trial in Guatemala. In the dock was the US-backed ex dictator, General Efrain Rios Montt.

In that case, then-child testimony was used extensively. Rios Montt was convicted of planned massacres and sentenced to 80 years (the oligarchy later froze the case; the General remains under house arrest.)

General Hendropriyono didn't want such testimony here.

----

But while complaining about the children, General Hendro appeared to slip up.

He himself reopened the issue of possibly being compelled to stand trial.

"I'm quite sure that if we go to court, (the) court will go and look at the witness(es)," he remarked, his point being that the court would disregard the children and false, paid-off witnesses.

So I jumped in: "So then what you're saying is that it should go to court, and you should be put on trial for Talangsari, and you do not fear that, you would accept that? You would accept being put on trial for Talangsari?"

Hendro, paused, recoiled and mumbled: "I cannot, mmm, I think I have..."

And then he said, incredibly: " If anybody instead of me -- say like yourself -- if you were me at that time I'm quite sure that you would do the same thing."

"No, I would not do the same thing," I replied. "I would not do the same thing."

"What would you do? Tell me, what you would do if you were me," the General insisted.

"I would not kill people," I said, but I wanted to get back to the point:

"But I want to make sure I understand what you're saying. I just want to get a clear understanding of it. Are you saying that you would accept being put on trial for Talangsari? And then in the court you would make your arguments and you would bring forth your evidence?"

"Oh yes of course!," Hendropriyono replied.

This appeared to be the breakthrough.

But I wanted to nail it down, and he hedged.

"So you would accept being put on trial for Talangsari?"

"At that time," he replied.

He was referring to 1989, the time of the massacre.

"I'm talking about now," I said. "Because that time has passed. I'm talking about now."

At this point, Hendropriyono's emotional -- and legal -- defenses appeared to break.

"Everything that I did," he said, "everything that they accused me (of), there is nothing for me to prefer not to accept. I will face."

The breakthrough had indeed happened. General Hendropriyono had agreed to face trial.

After decades of the TNI -- and himself -- erecting defenses, excuses, for not facing justice, this commanding general -- and CIA partner -- had set a precedent.

"Because everything that I did, I'm not animal, I'm human," he said.

"And you know, I feel, I have children, I have family, and I can feel how they feel. So to me, I'm responsible for everything that I did and there is nothing that I will refuse. I understand what you mean. If there is a court for me for human rights violations, I will accept."

[Audio: Hendro Agrees to Stand Trial:]

----

This Talangsari back-and-forth set the pattern for our discussion of other atrocities: Hendropriyono reaching -- sometimes deeply implausibly -- to assert that the corpses in question weren't exactly, really, his fault, but at the same time owning up to the fact that, in the end, he had been in charge, and that it was appropriate for he, the senior General, to be placed on trial for murder.

This concession was fundamental, and it opened doors.

It had particularly significant repercussions for our later discussion regarding Munir.

Repercussions not just for Hendro, but for BIN, As'ad, and the CIA.

End of Hendropriyono: Part 1.

See:

"The Komnas HAM Report on the Talangsari Massacre"

"Meeting Monday With Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Government Human Rights Commission"

KontraS: Latar Belakang Proses Hukum Kasus Talangsari

"Breaking News: Secret Documents Link Hendropriyono, As'ad to Munir Assassination. Suppressed Report Says Munir Was BIN "Operational Target," Urges Criminal Probe of Hendro. Draft of As'ad Letter Surfaces; BIN Candidate Worked With Poisons Expert. Assassination Was "Carefully Planned." Hendropriyono: Part 2."

"Red Marks Next to Their Names: Is Jokowi Serious About Being Clean?"

"Tanda Merah Calon Menteri: Apakah Jokowi Sungguh-Sungguh Ingin Membangun Kabinet Bersih?"

"A Government Body Asks Jokowi to Exclude Murderers from the Cabinet."

"Lembaga Negara Mendesak Jokowi Tidak Memasukkan Pembunuh ke Kabinet"

"Bloody Hands and a Crucial Victory"

Diskusi Publik: Hendropriyono dan Talangsari, Jumat 30 Januari, 14.00 s/d 17.00 WIB, Kantor KontraS, Jl. Borobudur No.14, Jakarta

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 02:09:00 +0000

Dari KontraS:

"Term of Reference (TOR)

Diskusi Publik

“Keterlibatan A.M. Hendropriyono dalam Peristiwa Talangsari: Jokowi Tahu Nggak?”

Rangkaian Peringatan 26 Tahun Peristiwa Talangsari

Latar Belakang

Keadilan merupakan sebuah harapan seluruh masyarakat dari berbagai lapisan dan sektor, termasuk keadilan atas terjadinya suatu peristiwa di masa lalu maupun di masa kini. Dalam praktiknya, keadilan adalah sebuah tatanan yang sangat sulit untuk diwujudkan, padahal konstitusi Indonesia telah dengan jelas mengatur tanggung jawab Negara-dalam hal ini adalah pemerintah-untuk memberikan perlindungan, pemajuan, penegakan dan pemenuhan hak asasi. Komitmen tersebut juga tertuang dalam UU No. 26 tahun 2000 tentang Pengadilan HAM dan dua konvensi kembar internasional yang telah dirativikasi dalam tata hukum positif Indonesia.

26 tahun sudah korban dan keluarga korban Talangsari berjuang menuntut terpenuhinya hak atas rasa keadilan. Korban menuntut agar harkat dan martabatnya kembali dipulihkan secara layak oleh negara. Rezim berganti rezim, keadilan tak juga datang menghampiri, namun korban tetap lantang menyuarakan dan menuntut tanggung jawab pemerintah.

Korban dan keluarga korban Talangsari sempat mendapat angin segar dari pemerintah, yakni ketika Presiden Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono menerima perwakilan korban dan keluarga korban pelanggaran HAM berat masa lalu lainnya untuk membicarakan penyelesaian kasus pelanggaran HAM tersebut di Istana Negara, pada 23 Maret 2008. Dalam pertemuan itu, Presiden SBY berjanji akan menyelesaikan kasus Talangsari dan akan segera membangun infrastruktur (jalan, air bersih dan listrik) di lokasi terjadinya peristiwa Talangsari, namun hingga kini janji tersebut belum terealisasi.

Terpilihnya Joko Widodo sebagai Presiden Republik Indonesia yang ketujuh menjadi harapan tersendiri bagi korban dan keluarga korban pelanggaran HAM berat masa lalu. Harapan tersebut tertuang dalam visi-misi Jokowi-JK yang dikemukakan pada saat kampanye calon presiden dan wakil presiden, spesifiknya pada poin ff yang berbunyi:

“Kami berkomitmen menyelesaikan secara berkeadilan terhadap kasus-kasus pelanggaran HAM di masa lalu yang sampai dengan saat ini masih menjadi beban social politik bagi Bangsa Indonesia seperti : Kerusuhan Mei, Trisakti, Semanggi I dan II, Penghilangan paksa, Talangsari Lampung, Tanjung Priok, Tragedi 1965”.

Harapan korban dan keluarga korban Talangsari pada komitmen Presiden Joko Widodo seketika sirna. A.M. Hendropriyono, yang pada saat peristiwa menjabat sebagai Komandan Korem Gatam 043, masuk dalam lingkaran kekuasaaan pemerintahan baru sebagai penasihat Tim Transisi dan dicalonkan sebagai salah satu anggota Dewan Pertimbangan Presiden (Watimpres).

Sekilas Proses Hukum Kasus Talangsari

Pada 9 Mei 2007, Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia (Komnas HAM) melakukan penyelidikan atas peristiwa Talangsari yang tejadi pada tahun 1989. Hasil penyelidikan menyatakan bahwa ada dugaan pelanggaran HAM berat dalam peristiwa tersebut. Pada tanggal 16 Oktober 2008, Komnas HAM menyerahkan hasil penyelidikan ke Kejaksaan Agung RI dengan surat Nomor: 435/TUA/X/2008. Komnas HAM juga meneruskan hasil penyelidikan ke DPR-RI, maka dari itu Kejaksaan Agung berdalih menunggu sampai terbentuknya Pengadilan HAM Ad Hoc baru dapat memberikan petunjuk, baik formil maupun materiil.

Jaksa Agung Muda Tindak Pidana Khusus, melaui surat Nomor: ND-306/B/F/F.6/05/2009 tertanggal 30 Mei 2009 mengampaikan Net Konsep Surat Jaksa Agung RI kepada Komnas HAM perihal pengembalian berkas hasil penyelidikan peristiwa Talangsari.

Berdasarkan hal tersebut, maka korban dan keluarga korban bersama dengan masyarakat umum harus terus mengupayakan tetap terjaganya ingatan publik terkait peristiwa Talangsari. Upaya tersebut juga harus terus dilakukan seiring dengan upaya mendesak instansi terkait untuk menuntaskan kasus Talangsari.

Tujuan

Mengungkap fakta keterlibatan A.M Hendropriyono dalam peristiwa Talangsari
Merumuskan strategi solusi penyelesaian kasus.
Mendesak pemerintah untuk segera memprioritaskan penuntasan kasus masa lalu dalam agenda kerjanya dan tidak melibatkan kembali A.M. Hendropriyono dalam tatanan pemerintahan.

Narasumber

Roichatul Aswidah [Komisioner Komnas HAM]

Topik: Perkembangan hasil penyelidikan kasus Talangsari pasca pengembalian berkas oleh Kejaksaan Agung pada tahun 2009.

H. M. Prasetyo [Jaksa Agung]

Topik: Urgensi menindaklanjuti berkas penyelidikan Komnas HAM ke tahap penyidikan sebagai langkah konkret penyelesaian kasus Talangsari.

M.M. Billah [Mantan Komisioner Komnas HAM]

Topik: Penyelesaian kasus Talangsari dan posisi politis Hendropriyono.

Allan Nairn [Jurnalis]

Topik: Keterlibatan Hendropiyono dalam Peristiwa Talangsari.

Amir [Korban Talangsari]

Topik: Tanggapan korban terhadap pernyataan Hendropriyono dan Harapan terkait perbaikan kondisi di lokasi kejadian dan penuntasan kasus Talangsari.

Yati Andriyani [KontraS]

Topik: Kuasa Hendropriyono dalam lingkar pemerintahan Jokowi.

Pelaksaanaan

Hari/Tanggal : Jumat, 30 Januari 2015
Pukul : 14.00 s/d 17.00 WIB
Tempat : Kantor KontraS, Jl. Borobudur No. 14, Jakarta

Penutup

Demikian kerangka acuan ini dibuat. Atas perhatian dan kerjasamanya kami ucapkan terima kasih."

----

Lihat:

"The Komnas HAM Report on the Talangsari Massacre"

"Breaking News: Gen. Hendropriyono Admits 'Command Responsibility' in Munir Assassination. Says Talangsari Victims 'Committed Suicide.' Agrees to Stand Trial for Atrocities; Legal Implications for As'ad, Wiranto, CIA. Hendropriyono: Part 1"

"Breaking News: Secret Documents Link Hendropriyono, As'ad to Munir Assassination. Suppressed Report Says Munir Was BIN 'Operational Target,' Urges Criminal Probe of Hendro. Draft of As'ad Letter Surfaces; BIN Candidate Worked With Poisons Expert. Assassination Was 'Carefully Planned.' Hendropriyono: Part 2"

"Meeting Monday With Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Government Human Rights Commission"

Breaking News: Secret Documents Link Hendropriyono, As'ad to Munir Assassination. Suppressed Report Says Munir Was BIN "Operational Target," Urges Criminal Probe of Hendro. Draft of As'ad Letter Surfaces; BIN Candidate Worked With Poisons Expert. Assassination Was "Carefully Planned." Hendropriyono: Part 2.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 10:04:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn

Jakarta

General A.M. Hendropriyono, the CIA asset and presidential adviser, has been implicated by a secret report in the assassination of rights activist, Munir.

The report by an Indonesian government fact-finding commission led by a Police general found that Munir was an "operational target" of the intelligence unit Hendro led (BIN, Badan Intelijen Negara) and that an operation including "acts of terror" culminated in a "carefully planned" assassination.

("LAPORAN AKHIR, TIM PENCARI FAKTA [TPF] KASUS MENINGGALNYA MUNIR, [Keputusan President Nomor 111 Tahun 2004], JAKARTA, 23 JUNI 2005" paragraphs 117, 118, 119, 146, 147 ).

The report referred Hendropriyono and other BIN personnel for criminal proceedings (paragraph 167) and revealed hitherto undisclosed evidence about the 2004 murder of the human rights legend.

At the same time, another secret document has surfaced implicating Hendro's deputy, As'ad, in placing a BIN agent in position to kill Munir by slipping him a lethal dose of arsenic.

As'ad -- with Hendro's backing -- is a leading candidate to become the new BIN chief.

The decision on the intelligence post is now being weighed by President Jokowi.

Though the documents are explosive on their face, they become still more significant when viewed together with other facts, including my interviews with the principals (e.g. Munir [2002], As'ad [2010], and Hendropriyono [2014]).

Munir told me on April 5, 2002 that Hendro -- like another US-backed general, Wiranto -- was sending mobs to attack him.

This is consistent with the secret report's finding that Munir, since at least 2002, was a BIN "operational target," and that operations against him included "acts of terror" that were later escalated to outright murder. (paragraphs 117, 118, 146, 147).

As'ad told me on May 27, 2010, that he and BIN worked with a doctor named Irawan (he also gave me Irawan's cell phone number and told me the doctor was in Aceh), who was a former special forces (Kopassus) Lt. Colonel who had an expertise in poisons.

The secret report names Irawan along with Hendropriyono in connection with the "conspiracy to kill Munir" (paragraphs 167, 82, 83).

US cables indicated that police investigators had found that Irawan had "allegedly developed the arsenic used to murder Munir" (Cable 07JAKARTA1223_a, published by Wikilileaks) and that a BIN document showed that a Kopassus/BIN doctor who fit Irawan's description had attended a Hendropriyono-chaired assassination-planning session at BIN in which "They agreed that Munir should be finished off by poisoning his food or drink" (Cable 08JAKARTA1825_a).

Official investigators told me in 2010 that they believed Irawan handled the poison.

----

Hendro told me on October 16, 2014 that he had "command responsibility" for murdering Munir, but he attempted to deny that he had ordered the assassination or that he or BIN had cared about Munir.

The secret report, however, refutes this claim at length.

It describes how BIN "gave special attention [to Munir] because Munir was regarded as having interfered with the interests of BIN" (paragraph 115). The report said that Munir had specifically interfered with Hendro's interests with a host of actions, including suing to stop his appointment as BIN chief (due to his command of the Talangsari massacre; See Hendropriyono: Part 1) and attempting to stop intelligence legislation that gave Hendro the power to issue guns and kidnap (paragraph 114).

When I asked Hendro if he had monitored Munir or if he had ever discussed Munir with the BIN men he flatly denied both, but the secret report shows that BIN documents and testimony refute this. The report says that Hendropriyono and his BIN third in command Gen. Muchdi approached two senior Munir associates in a futile attempt to stop Munir's attacks (paragraph 115).

The result of this failure, the report indicates, was a "careful" process of "planning to murder" that included choosing a "colorless, undetectable, odorless, quick-dissolving" poison, deploying the hands-on-assassin, and selecting the time and venue of killing in a manner that would make it difficult -- or impossible -- to save Munir and to assure that the killers would be able to "remove their traces" (paragraphs 119, 118-120, 137-145).

After being slipped arsenic at a coffee shop while in transit at the Singapore airport, Munir died, vomiting, in midair. They say he expired somewhere over Romania. His hands were beginning to turn blue.

Hendropriyono also admitted to me that -- as the Washington Post had reported -- he "worked very well with the CIA," carrying out kidnap/renditions for them and even meeting CIA chief George Tenet.

Both As'ad and Hendro told me that CIA and BIN had a "liaison relationship."

That relationship was in place at the time of the murder (and may still be active today).

Hendro met CIA before and after the killing, but, interestingly, Hendro told me the CIA never asked him who killed Munir and never in any way reprimanded him.

Hendro also said, in response to my question, that though his BIN was the national intelligence agency they never conducted their own investigation of the assassination that became a global issue.

BIN's institutional sponsor, the US Government, publicly condemned Munir's assassination.

But they did not mention that BIN, the unit reportedly behind it, had for years been on the US payroll.

----

The secret government report of the Tim Pencari Fakta (TPF) Munir can be read by scrolling through the Scribd box below .

The report was commissioned by the previous president, Gen. Susilo (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; "SBY"), but on -- presumably -- reading its contents, the General suppressed it.

A four-page summary and procedural fragments have previously leaked. The text below comprises the full 49-page, 1304-line report.

A report annex several hundred pages long will be published on this website shortly.

-----

The Full Secret TPF Report on the Munir Assassination

-------

The Scribd-box As'ad document below is from the BIN computer system.

It is the draft of a letter from As'ad ordering the Indonesian national airline, Garuda, to give cover and full access to the BIN agent, Pollycarpus.

In the guise of "internal security" and in the name of "national and state interest" the As'ad letter gave Polly the access he needed to get close to and poison Munir.

The edited, signed print-out of this letter was received by the Garuda director, Indra, but according to his testimony it later disappeared, as apparently did any copies that were officially archived in the files of BIN.

The As'ad letter print-out below (as is sometimes done, it spells his name As'at) was obtained by police file-recovery experts from a hard drive of the BIN computers that were being used by the office of Hendro's number 3, Gen. Muchdi.

A summary of the letter was referred to in the trial of Pollycarpus.

That proceeding and those against Muchdi were denounced by legal experts as farcical. There was open intimidation of witnesses, judges, and prosecutors, all the top BIN people (and President Megawati, to whom Hendro reported) -- and BIN as an institution -- got ignored, and key BIN witnesses who implicated Hendro or As'ad disappeared, recanted their testimony, fled the country and/or died.

----

Draft Secret BIN Asad Letter

----

Pollycarpus is in prison but could be released in two years. Muchdi was acquitted on appeal. Hendro's number 2 As'ad has not yet been charged -- instead, he could end up promoted.

Hendropriyono himself refused to cooperate and was left untouched.

But after I questioned him closely, in his home, this past October 16 Hendro admitted command responsibility (tanggung jawab komando) and said he was ready to stand trial for Munir, Talangsari and the '99 Timor terror.

Hendro also, when I pressed him, agreed that he was calling for the release of all documents held by the US or Indonesian governments relating to those three cases.

In the wake of the publication of Part 1 of my report on Hendro, I was called to the Indonesian government human rights commission KOMNASHAM (See "Meeting Monday With Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Government Human Rights Commission"), and Indonesian authorities have tried -- but failed -- to privately question Hendro.

KOMNASHAM took the unusual step of releasing their classified reports on seven atrocities, and there are indications that they are looking to revive the Munir case.

As'ad was originally slated to be named as BIN chief a month ago, but the BIN announcement has been delayed and delayed as Jokowi wrestles with the Hendro fallout.

Hendro has called associates to ask if he mishandled his interview with me.

Some generals are said to be furious, feeling Hendro has endangered the system.

His admission of "command responsibility" indeed has implications for all his colleagues, since if Hendro has command responsibility for the assassination of Munir, then other generals have it too for atrocities by their subordinates.

Among those now drawn into this web is Gen. Ryamizard, the new Defense Minister, who bears such responsibility for massacres during the Aceh State of Emergency. (Ryamizard openly defends such murders. See: "Gen. Ryamizard, the Ideologist for Killing Civilians").

There are also deep implications for the US government and the CIA.

If their man, Hendro, killed Munir, they bear responsibility. "Tanggung jawab komando" extends to Washington as well.

Indonesian prosecutors have the right to subpoena US personnel and documents.

They also have the right to indict US officials as accomplices to murder.

Jokowi's pick as attorney general has been derided as a political hack.

But that official, Prasetyo, made an interesting point.

The new attorney general said he was a "puppet," awaiting orders from the president.

And he's right, the president sets policy.

The question now becomes: whither Jokowi?

Is he brave enough to stop the killers?

And, if he isn't, will the people make him?

----

End of Hendropriyono: Part 2

Coming Up: Hendropriyono: Part 3

The Komnas HAM Report on the Talangsari Massacre

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 05:38:00 +0000

The KOMNASHAM Report on the Talangsari Massacre

See:

"Breaking News: Gen. Hendropriyono Admits 'Command Responsibility' in Munir Assassination. Says Talangsari Victims 'Committed Suicide.' Agrees to Stand Trial for Atrocities; Legal Implications for As'ad, Wiranto, CIA. Hendropriyono: Part 1"

"Meeting Monday With Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Government Human Rights Commission"

Jakarta Post, Nov. 15, 2014: "Komnas HAM publishes reviews of 7 major human rights abuses"

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

Meeting Monday With Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Government Human Rights Commission

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 04:37:00 +0000

I am due to meet today (1:00 pm, Monday, November 3 WIB) with Komnas HAM, the Indonesian government Human Rights Commission.

The agenda will be up to the commissioners, but I hope we will be able to discuss my recent interviews with Gen. Hendropriyono and their implications for legal prosecutions.

Hendropriyono admitted "command responsibility" (tanggung jawab komando) in the 2004 assassination of Munir, and agreed to stand trial for Munir and the massacres in Talangsari ('89) and East Timor ('99).

He also agreed that he was calling for the release of all internal Indonesian and US government documents relating to these atrocities.

The agencies holding such documents include BIN (Indonesian intelligence), the TNI (armed forces) and POLRI (national police), and the US CIA and NSA and the US State Department and White House.

Appropriate targets for prosecution for killing civilians include Generals Hendropriyono, Wiranto, Prabowo, Ryamizard, Sjafrie and Sutiyoso, as well as the ex intelligence man As'ad.

As'ad was Hendropriyono's top deputy at the time of the Munir assassination and is currently touted as a top candidate to be President Jokowi's new BIN chief.

It has been reported that Generals Sjafrie and Sutiyoso are also in contention for the BIN job.

Gen. Ryamizard has just been appointed as Indonesia's new Defense Minister .

And just as Hendropriyono bears command responsibility for the assassination of Munir, Ryamizard bears command responsibility for the massacres by his forces in Aceh.

Gen. Wiranto is under UN indictment for command responsibility in '99 Timor.

Hendropriyono's acceptance of command responsibility strengthens the cases against these generals.

I especially would like to urge that Komnas HAM investigate the US government, and move the Indonesian authorities toward prosecution of US officials.

General Hendropriyono told me that he worked with the CIA.

At the time of the Munir assassination, CIA and BIN had a "liason relationship."

All of the Indonesian officials named above had US government backing and sponsorship.

Hendropriyono, Prabowo and Sjafrie were especially close to US agencies (CIA, DIA, and Special Forces, respectively), and Wiranto received a US green light at a crucial moment in the Timor terror.

Indonesian authorities could subpoena US documents and call US officials to testify. And they have the right to indict US officials who served as murder accomplices.

I will tell Komnas HAM that I will do whatever I can to aid their efforts.

Allan Nairn

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: Gen. Hendropriyono Admits "Command Responsibility" in Munir Assassination. Says Talangsari Victims "Committed Suicide." Agrees to Stand Trial for Atrocities; Legal Implications for As'ad, Wiranto, CIA. Hendropriyono: Part 1.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:50:00 +0000

By Allan Nairn
Jakarta

General A.M. Hendropriyono, one of Indonesia's most powerful figures, has admitted "command responsibility" in the assassination of the country's leading rights activist.

In two nighttime interviews at his Jakarta mansion on October 16 Hendropriyono made statements that appear to open him to prosecution and may create problems for the CIA, the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), and for Joko Widodo -- Jokowi -- Indonesia's new president.

Hendropriyono is a key Jokowi adviser, is a core leader of the TNI, and was working with the CIA when his intelligence unit, BIN, killed the activist Munir.

In detailed, on-the-record discussions with me Hendropriyono, perhaps inadvertently, ended up submitting himself to close questioning.

By the time it was over he had abandoned some of his and TNI's longest standing defenses, and had agreed to stand trial for three major atrocities: the Munir murder, the 1999 terror campaign that devastated occupied East Timor, and the 1989 Talangsari massacre that earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Lampung."

Hendropriyono also ended up agreeing that he was calling for the release of all internal documents held by the Indonesian and US governments relating to these cases.

By admitting "command responsibility" and opening to the door to certain facts, Hendropriyono places legal pressure on two men -- the general, Wiranto and the intelligenge man, As'ad -- who have moved to the center stage of Indonesian politics after being touted for the Jokowi cabinet.

The encounter with Hendropriyono was unexpected and at times bizarre. The first session started with him trying to flatter me, and ended with me telling him that I hoped Munir's killers would be jailed for life.

In between, the discussion was, at times, complex. It will be described in several installments.

-----

I had called Hendropriyono's cell phone, from New York, on October 14 hoping that I could get a comment from him on his role in killing civilians.

During last summer's Indonesian presidential campaign that resulted in Jokowi's election, I had repeatedly called for Hendro to be tried for crimes against humanity.

But what got far more attention, indeed, at times saturation coverage, was my running confrontation with Jokowi's opponent, General Prabowo. I had published an off-the record interview with Prabowo in which Prabowo ruminated on fascist dictatorship, talked about how to do massacres, discussed his extensive work with the Pentagon/ US Intelligence, and insulted the highly regarded cleric and late President, Gus Dur.

Prabowo demanded that the army capture me, called me a liar, an American imperialist, an "enemy of the state," and pointed out -- correctly -- that the TNI had previously captured me seven times and that Suharto had banned me from the country as "a threat to national security." Responding to Prabowo, TNI declared that I had become an "Operational Target" (TO).

I challenged the army to grab me, challenged Prabowo to bring me to court, and -- on the matter of American Imperialism -- challenged Prabowo to join me in calling for the living US presidents to be put on trial for atrocities, and for the US mining giant, Freeport McMoRan, to be expelled from Indonesia. Prabowo backed down on all fronts and received ridicule, so finally, on the campaign's last day, he filed criminal charges against me. His aides later explained that among other things the charges related to "inciting hatred of the army," and, after the election results were in, "causing Prabowo to lose."

It was against this background that Hendropriyono, one of the pillars of the Jokowi campaign, indicated that rather than talking on the phone he wanted to talk in person, in Jakarta. I was heading to Jakarta anyway, and within hours of entering the country, went to Hendro's corner estate in Senayan, Jakarta.

As he entertained a delegation from Malaysian intelligence, and I waited in a sitting room, a member of Hendro's family told me that Jokowi had already offered him three ministries, including MENKOPOLKAM, the top military/ intelligence post. Relatedly, just that day, Hendro's son-in-law, General Andika, had been announced as the new head of PASAMPRES, Jokowi's personal security detail. In a cabinet in front of me was a photo of Hendro with Generals Wiranto and Sutiyoso, and to the right a photo of Hendro with his old aide, General Susilo, who later became President. In between was a bust of Napoleon -- a Hendro favorite, a family member explained.

----

After he ushered me in, Hendro started by saying that he was "honored" to meet and receive me because I had hurt Prabowo in the campaign. He suggested that Prabowo was "totalitarian."

I replied that I attacked all the generals, including him. Hendropriyono said he knew that, and said that if he was not mistaken I had attacked him particularly for Talangsari.

I said that was true, but I had attacked him for many things, also including Munir and 1999 Timor.

Hendro wanted to talk about Talangsari first.

By all accounts -- including Hendro's to me, what had happened there had been a bloodbath, but he started by saying: "There was no other way to do it, Allan Nairn."

He said that as regional commander he controlled both the army and the National Police BRIMOB, and moved in to confront religious militants who were armed with "bows and arrows."

He said "They said I was togut. Togut means extremist who will always finish the Muslims..."

He said of the rifles vs. arrows showdown, "Of course ... we won because we were stronger."

Hendro said: "We encircled the huts that they built in the village together with the villagers. Nobody was out (of the huts) because of forbidden by their chiefs, by their leaders... I said that 'we will attack you and I ask you to go out from the house and surrender.'"

Then at some point, by Hendro's account -- and that of everyone else -- the encircled huts went up in flames.

Survivors and witnesses say Hendro's men lit the fires, and shot and tortured unarmed villagers.

Their testimony to the government human rights commission (KOMNASHAM) and to human rights groups like Munir's Kontras is detailed.

But, to my astonishment, as we sat there in his Jakarta mansion, Hendropriyono said that the dead at Talangsari had actually killed themselves.

"Suddenly they burned their own huts. That made so many people die," he said.

(He estimated the death toll at 100, maybe 200, overwhelmingly unarmed, with many women and children)

I asked incredulously, "So you're claiming they killed themselves?"...

"Yes, they burned, they burned their huts."

"In effect you're saying they committed suicide."

"Yes ...

"Bunuh diri?" ('Committed suicide?'), I asked in Indonesian.

"Bunuh diri" ('Committed suicide'), General Hendropriyono replied.

He suggested they might have done this out of fanaticism.

I returned to the point, seeking clarity:

"Jadi, bapak kata bahwa orang itu bunuh diri?" ('So you're saying that those people committed suicide?')

"Bunuh diri," -- suicide, Hendro replied with finality.

So I said:

"As I'm sure you know, there are many witness testimonies from survivors of Talangsari given to KOMNASHAM and others that say that those hundred or 200 were killed by your troops, were killed by you in a massacre. So why not face this in a trial? Would you agree to be put on trial and make the argument in a court like you've just made to me?"

"Yeah, of course it was not true," Hendro replied, skirting the question.

I said: "You could say that in court. You could tell it to the judge."

But again, Hendro did not want to answer.

Instead, he digressed. He started with an attack on "the Indonesian human rights organizations," i.e. Munir's Kontras, and similar groups.

Hendro said that the human rights groups had paid off witnesses to implicate him, a charge that was ironic since it had been extensively reported that Hendro himself had made payments to witnesses, for, he said at the time, religious purposes.

(When I later mentioned Hendro's payoff charge to a table full of Kontras people, they were shocked -- and couldn't stop laughing; "As if we had the cash!," one exclaimed.)

But the thing that most bothered Hendro was the fact that the rights groups, including KOMNASHAM, had agreed to hear testimony from child survivors of Talangsari, ie. from people who were still minors at the time of the inferno.

He was evidently upset that these surviving children had been taken seriously.

They "were still kids," he said. They "didn't know what was going on."

It was, of course, the case that Talangsari child witnesses were resorted to.

But this was because Hendro and his men had killed their parents, according to the rights groups.

And in fact there was testimony from adult survivors as well, and in any event child testimony was often used in such cases.

In 2013 I was called to testify in a genocide trial in Guatemala. In the dock was the US-backed ex dictator, General Efrain Rios Montt.

In that case, then-child testimony was used extensively. Rios Montt was convicted of planned massacres and sentenced to 80 years (the oligarchy later froze the case; the General remains under house arrest.)

General Hendropriyono didn't want such testimony here.

----

But while complaining about the children, General Hendro appeared to slip up.

He himself reopened the issue of possibly being compelled to stand trial.

"I'm quite sure that if we go to court, (the) court will go and look at the witness(es)," he remarked, his point being that the court would disregard the children and false, paid-off witnesses.

So I jumped in: "So then what you're saying is that it should go to court, and you should be put on trial for Talangsari, and you do not fear that, you would accept that? You would accept being put on trial for Talangsari?"

Hendro, paused, recoiled and mumbled: "I cannot, mmm, I think I have..."

And then he said, incredibly: " If anybody instead of me -- say like yourself -- if you were me at that time I'm quite sure that you would do the same thing."

This appeared to be the breakthrough.

But I wanted to nail it down, and he hedged.

"So you would accept being put on trial for Talangsari?"

"At that time," he replied.

He was referring to 1989, the time of the massacre.

"I'm talking about now," I said. "Because that time has passed. I'm talking about now."

The breakthrough had indeed happened. General Hendropriyono had agreed to face trial.

After decades of the TNI -- and himself -- erecting defenses, excuses, for not facing justice, this commanding general -- and CIA partner -- had set a precedent.

"Because everything that I did, I'm not animal, I'm human," he said.

----

It had particularly significant repercussions for our later discussion regarding Munir.

Repercussions not just for Hendro, but for BIN, As'ad, and the CIA.

End of Hendropriyono: Part 1.

Bloody Hands and a Crucial Victory

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 04:23:00 +0000

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

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

Lembaga Negara Mendesak Jokowi Tidak Memasukkan Pembunuh ke Kabinet

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 17:28:00 +0000

25 Oktober 2014

Komnas HAM telah menyerahkan daftar 174 nama bertanda merah yang terkait kasus Hak Asasi Manusia kepada Presiden Jokowi.

Nama-nama ini terdiri dari para pejabat (bekas atau masih menjabat) yang terlibat dalam pembunuhan, penculikan atau kejahatan-kejahatan serupa. (Komnas HAM jelas menyiratkan bahwa Jen. Wiranto dan Jen. Hendropriyono tercatat dalam daftar tersebut).

Komnas HAM meminta agar Presiden Jokowi tidak memasukkan seorangpun dari daftar nama itu ke dalam kabinetnya.

Jokowi menggunakan data KPK guna mendiskualifikasi calon-calon yang bermasalah.

Apakah ia akan melakukan hal yang sama dengan daftar yang telah dibuat Komnas HAM?

Jika tidak, maka pemerintahan Jokowi seolah akan lebih mementingkan kasus-kasus pencurian uang ketimbang pembunuhan tak berperikemanusiaan.

Allan Nairn

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

A Government Body Asks Jokowi to Exclude Murderers from the Cabinet.

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 15:18:00 +0000

The Indonesian government human rights commission, KOMNASHAM, has submitted to President Jokowi a list of 174 people who have their own human rights red marks ("tanda merah").

These are current or ex officials implicated in massacre, abduction or similar crimes. (The commissioners strongly implied that Gens. Wiranto and Hendropriyono were among them).

The commission asked President Jokowi not to appoint any of them to his cabinet.

Jokowi used the anti-corruption commission (KPK) data to disqualify cabinet candidates.

Will he do the same with the human rights commission list?

If he doesn't, that will show that the Jokowi government acts as if the unlawful taking of lives is less important than the unlawful taking of money.

Allan Nairn

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

A Question for President Jokowi

noreply@blogger.com (allan.nairn@yahoo.com (Allan Nairn)) — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:15:00 +0000

A question for President Jokowi: How many civilians does a general have to kill before he becomes ineligible for your Clean Cabinet?

Allan Nairn

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