Jenny Grant – The discharging of the once powerful son-in-law of former president Suharto from the military should protect other senior figures from the abduction scandal.

Diplomats and military analysts said the retirement of Lieutenant-General Prabowo Subianto was a way of containing damaging evidence that would have emerged from an open military court. "He has a lot of mud to fling around and he may have done that in an open military court," said a diplomat.

That mud may have stuck to Mr Suharto, former armed forces chief General Feisal Tanjung, now Minister for Politics and Security, and former army chief General Hartono. General Tanjung denies any knowledge of the abductions. The now reclusive Mr Suharto has remained silent on the scandal which heaped disgrace upon his son-in-law and his beloved military.

It is almost impossible such high-ranking men would not have known about the kidnappings. News of the missing activists was widely reported in February, yet no senior government or military figures moved to probe the Latin American-style disappearances until July. "I am afraid the honourable discharge is not to protect Prabowo, but to protect other senior people," said military analyst Salim Said.

Mr Said said the fact that the military denied any knowledge of 12 activists still missing clearly pointed to the involvement of other military units. In his Monday announcement, General Wiranto stressed that a military court for General Prabowo and the two other offending officers was an "option" reserved further down the track.

History, however, has a strange way of repeating itself in Indonesia. In 1992, the military discharged Lieutenant-General Sintong Panjaitan for commanding the troops which massacred about 200 people in Dili the year before. General Panjaitan came quietly back into the fold later on, and is now a senior security adviser to President Bacharuddin Habibie.

Pundits said the lame administrative sanction against General Prabowo would spark a backlash in Indonesia and stir up foreign human rights groups. "There will be an outcry if Prabowo is not brought to a military court. Everyone wants this case investigated fairly and openly. This smacks of a cover-up," said a Western diplomat.

Military sources said former Special Forces intelligence chief Colonel Chairawan would be brought before a military court to provide a scapegoat.