Jakarta – The Indonesian military will court-martial a colonel who allegedly promised a Suharto-linked foundation a huge sum if he were reelected as a local government official, a report said Wednesday.
"The military high court has already agreed to court-martial Sri Roso, maybe the case will begin to be heard next week," the head of the Diponegoro military command which oversees security in Central Java, Major General Bibit Waluyo, was quoted by the Suara Karya daily as saying.
Colonel Sri Roso was head of the Bantul district in the Yogyakarta special territory in central Java when he was widely reported by the press to have had promised one billion rupiah (then about 417,000 dollars) to a foundation controlled by then-president Suharto.
The promise, allegedly made in a letter in 1996, was on condition that he be re-elected for a second five-year term in 1998. "It is only the letter promising the one billion rupiah that we can prove so far," Waluyo said, adding that the court martial will be held in Jakarta. Sri Roso was removed from his post in February by the home minister.
A local journalist who first reported Sri Roso's pledge of money was murdered in August 1996. Syafruddin, 33, died after three days in intensive care in Yogyakarta after being beaten by two strangers who visited his home.
Police arrested a man they accused of killing Syafruddin but many saw him as a scapegoat. A court in 1997 cleared the man of all charges.
The National Commission on Human Rights has said police violated procedures in investigating the case and arresting the man, Dwi Sumaji.
Sumaji was given large amounts of alcohol at a local resort hotel and offered a prostitute before police arrested him, the commission said. He testified that police offered him money and a better job if he admitted to the killing.
Since the fall of Suharto in May last year armed forces chief General Wiranto has ordered all active military men who are also provincial officials to chose whether to keep their civilian posts or stay in the military. Scores of high provincial officials were military officers under Suharto, a factor seen as helping him sweep provincial votes in general elections.