December 7, 1999 Indonesia Generals To Avoid Charges Filed at 11:03 a.m. EDT By The Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's top generals will escape prosecution for murders, torture, rapes and other atrocities committed by their troops during more than three decades of authoritarian rule, the defense minister said today. Juwono Sudarsono, Indonesia's first civilian defense minister in nearly half a century, also warned that the military could seize control of the world's fourth most populous nation, perhaps within months, if newfound democracy does not take hold across the sprawling archipelago. ``We can't go up into the high ranks as they were just carrying out state policy,'' he said. Sudarsono said the first trial of soldiers charged with atrocities in the strife-torn Aceh province would start within a week. He said only five cases would be brought before a joint military-civil court, despite claims by state investigators that the military committed about 4,000 separate incidents of human rights abuses during a 10-year campaign to suppress Aceh's separatist insurgency. ``Only five cases would be enough to make the Aceh people believe there is justice,'' Sudarsono declared. Guerrillas in Aceh have waged a bitter, decade-long war against Indonesian rule in which at least 5,000 people have died. Secessionist sentiments and demands for an independence referendum have increased dramatically since East Timor broke away from Indonesia in October. Indonesian soldiers and police went on a rampage in Aceh today after an unidentified assailant killed a policeman and wounded another, witnesses said. The two officers were stabbed while shopping in Peureulak, a district town about 25 miles west of Langsa, the capital of East Aceh, said Nurmi M. Ali, a student volunteer helping refugees at a mosque in the town. One policemen died instantly and the other was hospitalized, he said. A police spokesman, Maj. Said Hussein, confirmed the stabbings. Soldiers and policemen who arrived on the scene after the stabbing rounded up all men at a mosque, Nurmi said. They beat them and shot randomly at shops and passing cars, he said. Reports of Indonesian troops committing numerous atrocities have fueled secessionist demands. The Acehnese also accuse the central government in Jakarta of shortchanging the province of its fair share of the revenues from the lucrative oil and gas industry. Many analysts believe that if Aceh breaks away, other disaffected regions and islands in the far-flung archipelago could follow. While Indonesia's new reformist government appears unwilling to take on the powerful military directly, the United Nations is considering establishing a war crimes tribunal to try top generals for atrocities in East Timor. The half-island territory was ravaged by Indonesian troops and their militia proxies after the people voted overwhelmingly to secede from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored referendum in August. Sudarsono said he met Monday with Sonia Picado, head of the U.N. human rights inquiry in East Timor. The panel will present its findings to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who must decide whether the scale of atrocities warrants the creation of a war crimes tribunal similar to those for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. ``I leave it to them to decide on the degree of culpability for alleged human rights abuses before, during and after the referendum,'' he said. Since seizing power after crushing what it claimed was a communist coup in 1965, the Indonesian military has been a law unto itself and critics of the army were often imprisoned or killed. Historians estimate that as many as 500,000 people died in an anti-Communist purge in the late 1960s. During the 32-year reign of former President Suharto -- himself a five-star general -- several Indonesian provinces were run as virtual military fiefdoms and the army employed mass repression to control local populations. In another development, Indonesia's attorney general has reopened an investigation into allegations that Suharto had illegally amassed a fortune for himself and his family. Even so, new President Wahid has promised to pardon Suharto for any wrongdoing. Sudarsono said the government would try to reduce, but would not be able to eliminate, corruption within the military, which operates hundreds of commercial businesses to bankroll its activities without government oversight. ``We cannot get rid of corruption,'' he said. Sudarsono told a business conference that while there was talk of democracy at a national level, military representatives remained the highest and unquestioned authority in hundreds of thousands of villages across Indonesia. He said civilian leaders must try to encourage democracy to take hold at a grassroots level or ``sooner or later the military will come back in full force and take over from civilian control,'' Sudarsono warned. He said this could happen ``within months or years.'' He also said that government must grant Indonesia's provinces more autonomy to quell growing separatism. Meanwhile it is unclear when four generals, who were appointed ministers in Wahid's Cabinet in October, would make good a promise to become civilians. Sudarsono said it was up to Wahid to decide if the generals, including Security and Political Affairs Minister Gen. Wiranto, the former military chief, should resign their commissions. A presidential aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wahid wouldn't pressure the generals to resign as he ``didn't think dual-function of the military in his Cabinet was a problem.''
