Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesia's military may reject the findings of an official investigation into May's devastating riots, which has found that some officers provoked violence so the then Soeharto government could activate extraordinary security powers to maintain political control.

The findings were another humiliating blow to the once all-powerful armed forces, which have faced a string of damaging human rights investigations since the fall of the Soeharto government.

The report on the riots paints a disturbing picture of a splintered military, dogged by dangerously politicised factions acting outside the chain of command. However, it stops short of holding the military responsible for the widespread chaos, which claimed at least 1,200 lives in Jakarta and more elsewhere.

The Chief of the Armed Forces, General Wiranto, warned yesterday against accepting the analysis of the riots by the Government-appointed fact-finding team as final.

The team found that not only had some members of the military acted as agents provocateur in the three days of mob violence which rocked Jakarta and other provincial cities, but that the military had failed to protect the city.

The riots followed weeks of growing student protests against the Soeharto government, as well as the kidnappings and torture of pro-democracy activists by some members of Kopassus – Indonesia's elite special forces.

"A series of incidents of violence culminating in the outbreak of the May 13 to May 15 riots can be perceived as an effort geared towards the creation of an emergency situation which would require the invocation of extra-Constitutional powers [by Soeharto] to keep the situation under control, with the preparation towards this having started at the highest decision-making level," the report said.

However, General Wiranto said yesterday: "Please remember that this team was formed to look for facts, so the analysis they made is not necessarily the final analysis. We will take follow-up measures." He said the military would compare the fact-finding team's conclusion with the analysis provided by other government departments, such as the Ministry of Defence and the Interior.

The Government-appointed fact-finding team was made up of Government representatives, private citizens, human rights activists and representatives of the security forces.

The team recommended that Prabowo Subianto, son-in-law of former President Soeharto, be brought before a military tribunal for his role in the kidnapping and torture of anti-Government activists before the riots. It also called for the former Jakarta military commander, Major-General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, to be held accountable for failing to secure the capital.

The report confirmed 66 rapes and 10 other cases of sexual assault against mainly ethnic Chinese women.