---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Jakarta Post, 3 July 1999 WIRANTO SETS LIMITS ON PROBE INTO ACEH ABUSES TNI Commander-in-Chief General Wiranto has announced that investigations into the appalling human rights abuses that occurred during the period from 1989 till 1998 when Aceh was treated as a 'military operational zone' are 'unnecessary' and could 'open the floodgates for similar grievances left over from the Suharto era. This betrays a pledge made by President Habibie during a visit to Aceh in March this year when he promised that these abuses would be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. Two months later, Justice Minister Muladi follow this up by saying the President had agreed to set up an independent committee to investigate human rights violations in Aceh. Speaking at a meeting of a parliamentary commission, Wiranto said that it was 'the consensus of the government and the National Commission of Human Rights that the teams' subjects of investigation would only be right viola-tion cases that occurred over the past year'. But this was denied by Commission's chairman Marzuki Darusman, who said the Commission's position was that alleged abuses committed in the past year should be investigated first but 'there is no limitation whatsoever in the (proposed) investigation'. Acehnese leaders have said that mounting calls for a referendum to determine whether Acehnese want to remain part of Indonesia stem from the government's failure to settle injustices committed during those military opera-tions. Wiranto also said it would be 'unfair' to investigate only those cases in which civilians were killed during the Suharto period when numerous servicemen also lost their lives. 'Technically, it would be quite difficult to prove the alleged killings and seek those involved,' according to Wiranto. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 16 Jul 1999 jam 03:41:10 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
