Penculikan Aktivis 1998 Inisiatif Pribadi Prabowo, kata Wiranto
Kidnapping of Indonesian Activists in 1998 as Personal Initiative of Prabowo Subianto: Wiranto
Reporter : Rizki Saleh
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
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Jakarta (B2B) - Mantan Menhankam/Panglima ABRI Wiranto mengemukakan penculikan aktivis merupakan inisiatif pribadi Prabowo Subianto ketika menjabat Danjen Kopassus.
"Seingat saya pada saat menanyakan langsung kepada Letjen Prabowo saat itu, tentang siapa yang memberi perintah (penculikan), yang bersangkutan mengaku bahwa apa yang dilakukan bukan perintah panglima, namun merupakan inisiatifnya sendiri dari hasil analisa keadaan saat itu," kata Wiranto di Jakarta, Kamis.
Wiranto menegaskan informasi itu sudah ditulis di surat kabar nasional Kompas pada 9 Agustus 1998.
Dia menjelaskan. "Saat aksi penculikan dilakukan pada medio Desember 1997 sampai Februari 1998, Panglima ABRI saat itu adalah Jenderal Feisal Tanjung (alm)."
Sedangkan saat kasus itu terungkap sekitar Maret 1998, Wiranto mengaku baru saja menggantikan posisi Feisal.
Karena itu, kata Wiranto, dirinya tidak mengerti dengan pernyataan Prabowo (dalam debat capres) yang mempersilakan publik mempertanyakan aksi penculikan kepada atasannya.
"Perlu diketahui bahwa kebijakan panglima saat itu untuk menghadapi aktivis dan demonstran mengedepankan cara-cara persuasif, dialogis dan komunikatif, serta menghindari tindakan bersifat kekerasan atau represif. Maka aksi penculikan jelas tidak sesuai kebijakan pimpinan," katanya.
Lebih jauh Wiranto juga menjawab tudingan keterlibatan dirinya terhadap kasus Trisakti, kerusuhan Mei dan penculikan 1998.
Menurut dia dalam rentetan aksi itu ada pihak-pihak yang terlibat dan bertanggung jawab.
"Sebagai Panglima ABRI saat itu secara otomatis saya terlibat, bukan sebagai dalang, namun sebagai pihak yang tidak melakukan pembiaran," kata dia.
Dia menyebut apabila dirinya mendalangi penembakan, kerusuhan, penculikan, maka Indonesia sudah hancur dengan tingkat kerusakan tak terbayangkan.
Selain itu apabila dirinya memerintahkan penembakan di Trisakti 1998 maka korban bisa mencapai ratusan jiwa.
"Kenyataannya penembakan di Trisakti telah saya usut dan menghukum pelakunya. Kerusuhan secara nasional juga dapat saya netralisir hanya dalam dua hari, dan untuk penculikan sudah jelas saya yang mencegah dengan kebijakan persuasif, dialogis dan komunikatif," kata Wiranto. (Ant)
Jakarta (B2B) - Former Indonesian Military Commander, General (ret) Wiranto stated here on Thursday that the kidnapping of activists in 1998 was the personal initiative of Prabowo Subianto. Prabowo, then commander of the armys special Kopassus forces, had taken the initiative and had personally admitted it, Wiranto said.
"I remember when I asked in person the then lieutenant general Prabowo on who had given him the order (to abduct the activists), he admitted that it was not the order of the armed forces commander but his own initiative taken based on his analysis of the situation then," he said.
Wiranto said that the issue had also been reported by national newspaper Kompas on August 9, 1998.
The issue had become a hot button issue following Prabowos participation in the presidential election scheduled on July 9.
Wiranto said when the abduction happened between mid-December 1997 and February 1998, the commander of ABRI (armed forces) was (the late) General Feisal Tanjung.
Wiranto pointed out that when the case was unveiled around March 1998, he had just then taken over the post of ABRI commander from General Feisal Tanjung. So, he could not comprehend why Prabowo (during a presidential debate recently) had asked the public to clarify the issue with his superior.
"It must be understood that the policy of the then ABRI commander to deal with activists and demonstrators were persuasion, dialog, and communication, while at the same time avoiding violent or repressive methods. So, abduction was clearly against the policy of the leadership then," he said.
Regarding accusations that he was involved in the Trisakti student shooting case, May riots, and abduction of activists in 1998, he explained that certain quarters had been involved in the series of incidents and were responsible.
Some acted as perpetrators while others acted to prevent, investigate, and punish the perpetrators, he said.
"As an ABRI commander then, naturally I was not involved as a perpetrator but as those who prevented such incidents from happening," he said.
He said if he had been the perpetrator of the incidents, Indonesia certainly will have been totally ruined, and if he had ordered the shooting at the Trisakti University in 1998, the victims will have been in the hundreds.
"The fact is that I have investigated the Trisakti shooting incident and have punished the perpetrators. The nationwide rioting then was also neutralized within two days, and with regard to the case of abduction, it is clear that it was I who prevented it through dialog, persuasion, and communication," he said.
Prabowo Subianto, with former economic minister of current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonos cabinet as his running mate, will meet Jakarta Governor Joko Widor (Jokowi) who has paired with former vice president Jusuf Kalla in the upcoming election.
