Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's decision to pick Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo as the sole National Police chief candidate has disappointed colleagues and families of victims of the 1998 Trisakti shootings.
Hundreds of Trisakti University alumni have filed a petition demanding Yudhoyono recall Timur's candidacy, which they consider "very insensitive toward families of human rights victims".
"When Timur was announced on TV as the sole candidate [for the next police chief], I was shocked. This is not right. I should do something to stop this," Trisakti alumnus Julianto Hendrocahyono told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
If the President refused to reconsider his decision, the parliament should reject Timur and ask him to propose another candidate, the petition says.
The Trisakti tragedy in May 1998 saw hundreds of students injured and four others (Hendriawan Lesmana, Hafidin Royan, Heri Hartanto and Elang Mulya) shot dead. Soldiers and police officers allegedly shot the students while they were demonstrating at their campus in West Jakarta, demanding the resignation of then president Soeharto.
Timur was then West Jakarta Police chief, and also the vice commander of the Mantap Jaya III Operation, which was in charge of all security operations at the time. The government has so far failed to prosecute the perpetrators of this bloody incident.
"Instead of pushing for investigations into the case, Yudhoyono picked a figure with a tainted human rights track record to lead a law enforcement institution," Julianto said.
Without providing any explanation, Timur also refused a summons from the National Commission for Human Rights in 2003, when the commission was investigating the incident. The results of this investigation were also unsatisfactory.
"We never accused Timur of deliberately killing our friends. The only institution with the authority to judge that is the court. But he has never been tried. He has repeatedly refused to testify before a human rights commission," Julianto said.
Julianto is the head of the Brotherhood Forum for the 1998 Trisakti Incident, which boasts more than 500 members nationwide.
Shortly after Timur's candidacy was publicized last week, Julianto and several other members of the forum began calling up other alumnus using telephones, short messages, social networks and online mailing lists.
"Apparently we all have the same opinion about Timur's candidacy. We all deeply regret Yudhoyono's move, which led us to produce this petition," said John Muhammad, another forum member who went to Trisakti University
Also a member of the forum is Usman Hamid, the former coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). "We are of various ages and backgrounds, ranging from activists to entrepreneurs and engineers. But, when it comes to this matter, we are all the same."
A year after the Trisakti incident, Timur, as Central Jakarta Police chief, was also criticized for his role in another shooting incident in which eight student demonstrators were shot dead in the Semanggi area.
This year, a number of violent incidents erupted during Timur's four-month tenure as the Jakarta Police chief. These included an attack on antigraft activist Tama S. Langkun, a raid on HKBP leaders in Bekasi, and a recent clash between two ethnic groups on Jl. Ampera in South Jakarta, which left three people dead.