Terror and the military in Indonesia; Munir

http://www.indonesiaalert.org/article.php?id=64

Sources include: 'Terrorism Links in Indonesia Point to Military' by By Gary LaMoshi , Asia Times, October 8th, 2004

Some people believe that Indonesia's President Yudhoyono 'did practically nothing to reform the Indonesian military during his three years as security and defense minister'.

There is evidence that 'the military encourage the radical religious violence largely responsible for creating Indonesia's terrorism problem'.

The Indonesian military 'has a history of using terrorism for political purposes'.

When Suharto was president, the military and its militias terrorized civilians in East Timor and elsewhere.

The military has used 'Islamic' militias for political purposes.

In 1965, Suharto and the military, supported by Britain and America, used Moslem organizations to help kill up to one million opponents.

Before the 1977 elections, the military tricked radical Moslems into reviving the militia group Darul Islam. The military then arrested the leaders in order to discredit the Moslem political party.

At the time of President Wahid, there was terror in parts of Indonesia such as the Malukus, the Spice Islands. The military reportedly supplied weapons to the terror groups and collected protection money from the affected civilians and businesses.

'Moslem' thugs have reportedly been used in the wars between the police and the military over who is to collect protection money.

The Islamic Defenders Front, suspected of being linked to elements of the police, ransacked nightspots 'that failed to pay protection money'.

Laksar Jihad has got involved in clashes between Christian gangsters and Moslem gangsters in places such as the Malukus.

Laksar Jihad received military training and supplies.

Jemaah Islamiya, the allegedly al-Qaeda-linked group blamed for the bombings in Bali, the Jakarta Marriott in August 2003 and the Australian Embassy, is thought to have shadowy links to sections of the military.

A September 2000 car bomb at the Jakarta Stock Exchange killed 15. Two members of the military's elite Kopassus commandos were arrested.

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http://laksamana.net/vnews.cfm?ncat=45&news_id=8163

Indonesian human rights campaigner Munir was murdered.

Laksamana.net reported, May 18, 2005, that a government-backed fact-finding team investigating the murder Munir says it will consider questioning former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief, retired lieutenant general Ahmad Hendropriyono.

The main suspect in the murder is Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto.

Pollycarpus had made several telephone calls to BIN headquarters when Hendropriyono headed the agency.

35 telephone calls were reportedly made from Pollycarpus’ mobile phone to former BIN deputy chief Major General Muchdi Purwopranjono.

The team is planning to question Muchdi over allegations that BIN recruited Pollycarpus and ordered him and other Garuda personnel to murder Munir. Muchdi is a former chief of the Army’s elite Special Forces (Kopassus). He was dismissed from the position in 1998 after Munir exposed his role in the kidnapping and torture of numerous pro-democracy activists. Many of the activists are still missing, apparently having been murdered by the military.

Munir, founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) was killed by arsenic poisoning in September 2004 while on a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Singapore to Amsterdam.

"Investigators believe the arsenic was placed either in Munir’s in-flight meal of noodles or in a glass of orange juice he consumed on the Jakarta-Singapore leg of Flight GA-974...

"Police have so far named three suspects in the murder case: Pollycarpus, who was assigned to the flight as an ‘aviation security officer’ and convinced Munir to switch from economy to business class; aircraft galley worker Oedi Irianto, who prepared meals on the flight; and senior flight attendant Yeti Susmiarti, who served Munir his food and drink.

"Garuda on Tuesday announced that it had suspended the three suspects. The airline's board of directors has already been fired following Munir's murder."