Jakarta – Indonesia's military tribunal should be reformed because it allows notorious officers with abduction convictions against their names to be awarded with promotion, said the human rights monitor group Imparsial on Wednesday.
Imparsial spokesperson Donny Ardyanto said army officers convicted for abducting pro-democracy activists were promoted despite initial verdicts calling for their immediate discharge.
"The military tribunal has to be reformed because it is not clear whether the officers were really put behind bars or not," Donny told Detik.com news portal. "The military does not take into account human rights (violation) records when promoting these officers."
Donny said the Indonesian Military (TNI) might consider the abduction cases as acts of patriotism – but the public considered such behavior criminal.
Eleven special force officers from the Tim Mawar (Rose Team) were found guilty of abducting nine activists in May 1998. The Jakarta Military High Court in April 1999 sent five officers to prison and discharged them from active service. Six others were jailed but remained in the Army. Most of them now hold the rank of lieutenant colonel.
The officers appealed to the Supreme Court but no verdicts have been made public.
Capt. Fausani Syahrial Multhazar was deputy chief of Rose Team. Today, he is the Jepara Military District Commander in Central Java. And Capt. Untung Budi Harto, also from Rose Team, is the Ambon Military District Commander in Maluku. Both officers were given a 20-month jail term and discharged from active service.
Another team member, Capt. Dadang Hendra, is now the Pacitan Military District Commander in East Java. And Capt. Djaka Budi Utama now leads the Macan Leuser 115th Infantry Battalion in Aceh. But both officers, although not discharged, were sentenced to 16 months in jail.
TNI chief spokesman Rear Marshall Sagom Tamboen said based on dossiers at the TNI Legal Department that Rose Team chief, Maj. Bambang Kristiono, was the only officer actually discharged from active service.
"The officers (were) imprisoned at the Military Prison in Cimahi, West Java," Sagom told Detik.com. "The military still needs these officers, we have their career records. Career wise, they are left behind by their classmates."