Prabowo Subianto
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Prabowo Subianto is an Indonesian career soldier and politician. Married to former President Suharto's daughter, 'Titiek', he was influential under the New Order administration.
The 1998 Revolution cut short his career, and was accused of involvement in various "riots, plunderings, rapes and murders".[1] Similar accusations were made by various NGO's of his efforts to preserve Indonesian rule in East Timor. The controversial special forces unit Kopassus, which he commanded between 1995 and 1998, was implicated in these alleged crimes.
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[edit] Pre-1998 career
Prabowo is the son of former finance minister Sumitro Djojohadikusumo. His brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, was the controller of one of Indonesia's larger conglomerates, the Tirtamas Group, until it went bankrupt during the 1997-98 economic crisis.[citation needed] He graduated from the Indonesian Military Academy in 1974 together with others who would gain senior positions such as Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who would later become a prominent reform-minded general and be elected President of Indonesia in 2004.[citation needed]
As a Lieutenant-General in command of the special forces unit, Kopassus, between December 1995 and March 1998, Prabowo returned to East Timor, where according to Prof. Ronald Palmer of George Washington University, former US Ambassador to Malaysia, "[Prabowo] turned East Timor into a personal fief and a training ground for Special Forces black operations. He extended his protection to the notorious East Timor 'Ninja' criminals and used them in extra-legal operations involving torture, extortion, murder, kidnapping, etc. in other regions of the nation, before and after he become Special Forces commander in 1995"[2]
Outside Indonesia he was considered a likely heir presumptive, underlined by the fact that he was said to be "lionized by his American counterparts as a future national leader".[3]
[edit] "Terror Squads" in East Timor
The Australia-based East Timor International Support Center demanded that Prabowo be prosecuted at the International War Crimes Tribunal "for the atrocities committed in East Timor by Kopassus under his command". Specifically, the human rights group charged that[4]
Prabowo has been implicated in the control of 'ninja squads', operated by the paramilitary groups in East Timor, which have been used by Kopassus and other elements of the military to terrorise and torture East Timorese suspected of supporting the pro-independence resistance.
According to the group, "leaked documents on actual ABRI troop numbers in East Timor indicate the existence of 13 paramilitary squads and contradicts ABRI's long-time claims of having no links with paramilitary groups in East Timor". Further, "the documents name groups like Team Alpha and Team Saka, which are known terror squads in the Indonesian-occupied territory, and support claims that [these groups] were supported by Kopassus, which was then under the command of Prabowo.
The numerous kidnappings, disappearances, torture and killings by instruments of the state, to keep Suharto in power and to consolidate ABRI's presence and control over East Timor, can be traced back to Prabowo.
[edit] 1998 resignation of Suharto
A senior US official told The Sunday Times that a major reason for that decision - "taken after considerable deliberations" -was "a reasonable belief that [Prabowo] was involved in the riots which devastated Jakarta in 1998" and that "witnesses had testified to his involvement in torture and the organizing of rapes during the May riots, both being crimes covered under the [UN] convention".[5]
In Indonesian political debate, attention centered more on the accusations linking Prabowo with acts committed in the heart of Indonesia itself during the final year of the Suharto Regime and especially in during the Jakarta Riots of May 1998, and targeting groups - such as the followers of Megawati Sukarnoputri - which came to prominence following 1998.
Prabowo was accused of involvement in "the kidnappings, tortures, abuses, and murders" of anti-Suharto intellectuals and activists.[citation needed] In their testimonies, former detainees told of being tortured for days in an unidentified location, allegedly a military camp where most of their time was spent blindfolded, while being forced to answer repeated questions, mainly concerning their political activities. According to the testimonies, they were kicked, punched, terrorised physically and mentally, and given electric shocks.[6]
Prabowo is believed to have used Kopassus - and the army in general - as the instrument to trigger chaos - during 1997 and 1998 mostly targeted the Indonesian-Chinese minority.[citation needed]
[edit] Fall from grace
The fall of Suharto and his replacement by the Vice-President Habibie deprived Prabowo of his most important power source, though for a short time he and his associates still retained their positions in the army.[citation needed] In his published memoires, Habibie discloses that during his early days in power, there were wild movements of Army units around the Presidential Palace, organized by Prabowo.[7]
As described by Palmer, the fall of Prabowo was essentially accomplished in the space of three days:[8] "On May 21 Prabowo met Habibie and demanded that Wiranto be replaced by his own man Gen. Subagiyo; however, Habibie decided instead to appoint Wiranto Minister of Defense and Security, as well as TNI commander. Wiranto then fired Prabowo as commander of the Strategic Reserve in the night of May 22.[citation needed] He was summoned by Wiranto on May 23 and reassigned to Bandung".[citation needed]
In August, a "court of honor" found Prabowo guilty of "exceeding orders" in the kidnapping of anti-Suharto activists in 1998 but imposed no term of imprisonment.[citation needed] He then went into a kind of "voluntary exile" in Jordan, but was forced to leave and go to Germany and then Bangkok.[citation needed]
In May 2000, Prabowo returned to Jakarta, gave several press interviews to Indonesian and international papers, in which he attempted to clear his name, and was received for a cordial visit at the home of then Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his 1974 classmate from the Military Academy - who had distinguished himself as the leader of the pro-reform officer faction in 1998 and who was at the time on his way up, gathering the popularity which would get him elected President in 2004.[citation needed]
By end of 2003, Prabowo attempted a Presidential candidacy but was defeated by his former military superior Wiranto in the party congress convened to nominate a candidate for the Presidency.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Loren Ryter (1998). "Pemuda Pancasila: The Last Loyalist Free Men of Suharto's Order" (abstract). Indonesia 66: 45–73.
- ^ Ronald D. Palmer, "From Repression to Reform? Indonesian Politics and the Military, 1997-1999", in "American Diplomacy", Winter 2000 [1]; Douglas Kammen, "Notes on the Transformation of the East Timor Military command and Implications for the U.S.", Indonesia 67, April 1999, Cornell Modern Indonesia Project.
- ^ Susan Sim, The Straits Times 30 December 2000 [2]
- ^ "Prosecute Prabowo for crimes against the Timorese people", Media Release from The East Timor International Support Center, Darwin, Australia, 4 November 1998 [3]
- ^ The Sunday Times article quoted in "Prabowo Denied US Visa", Straits Times, 30 December 2000. According to the article, investigations in Indonesia itself had failed to find conclusive proof against Prabowo due to "intimidation of witnesses and investigators" [4].
- ^ Testimony of Andi Arif [5]
- ^ Jusuf Habibie, "Detik-detik yang Menentukan: Jalan Panjang Indonesia Menuju Demokrasi" (roughly translated as "Decisive Seconds: Indonesia's Long Way to Democracy")
- ^ Ronald D. Palmer, "From Repression to Reform? Indonesian Politics and the Military, 1997-1999", in "American Diplomacy", Winter 2000 [6]
