20: Regarding Abductions
9th-13th May 1998:
With his delegation, President Try Sutrisno touched down in Egypt on the night of the 9th. The 10th was spent in informal talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India.
The G15 Summit was opened on 11th May 1998 with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt as the Chairman of the Summit. When given the chance to address the summit in its opening session, Try said that the first priority in economic recovery should be the national interest. Once the national interest is determined, everything follows on naturally.
In between sessions, State Secretary Edi Sudrajat and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas could only smile when they saw various leaders come up to Try to congratulate him and talk about how to manage an economic recovery. Try would play it down and say that “We’re not out of the woods yet” but couldn’t hide his smile. Even Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad of Malaysia said that Try was doing a great job even as he warned Try to be careful of the IMF.
The summit concluded on 13th May, with a joint communiqué between all the G15 Nations encouraging closer trade and investment between the member nations of the G15 and the Non-Aligned Movement more broadly.
Back in Indonesia, a trio of Minister of Defense and Security Wismoyo Arismunandar, Commander of ABRI Wiranto, and Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo kept abreast on the national situation. Try had gone overseas as president before, but that was when everyone thought he would not last long. This time precautiosn were taken. Maj. Gen. Sugiarto Maksum, the former Try aide-de-camp turned Commander of West Java Regional Military Command stationed his troops close to the West Java-Central Java borders to watch if the Central Java Regional Military Command will try anything suspicious.
Perhaps to insist that the work the government continues even when he is overseas, Try gave Vice President Sumarlin some homework to do.
On 12th May just as the President got himself deep into the G15 Summit, Vice President Sumarlin accompanied by Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad, Governor of Bank Indonesia Boediono, and Head of IBRA Bambang Subianto fronted the press. The three announced that the government will be taking a set of measures related to the banking sector.
The first measure will be amendments to the Banking Law which are as follows.
*All banks will now be subject to the Limited Liability Law of 1995. Ie. They are now subject to corporate governance requirements (having a Board of Director, having to hold Annual General Shareholders Meeting etc.)
*Measures providing government takeover of banks which are in trouble and the authority of the government during its takeover of said banks.
*Punitive measures for bank management and owners who “willfully provide inaccurate information” to the government were also included in these amendments.
Boediono said that the government has no intention to take over banks. There has been no need to liquidate additional banks in addition to the 16 liquidated last November. This is in no small part to the government’s ability to halt the Rupiah’s decline.
The second measure will be external audits conducted on state and private banks.
The government will be inviting Price Waterhouse Coopers to conduct external audits on the nation’s state and private banks. The government will use the audits to ensure compliance to existing banking regulations particularly with regards to legal lending limits and the amount of loans given to affiliates and take the necessary action accordingly.
The third measure is in relation to the Bank of Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI).
The BLBI was rolled out in September 1997 under the instructions of President Soeharto. Up to that point the liquidity assistance which has been given has totaled nearly Rp. 70 trillion. The government will begin taking repayments for the BLBI starting 1st September 1998.
Sumarlin announced that the Banking Law amendments has been submitted to the DPR and that the external auditing will begin with state banks in June. For the rest of the banking sector, Sumarlin said that they shold use this time to “get their affairs in order.”
In between his sessions at Egypt, when asked by the Indonesian press about Sumarlin’s policy announcement, Try said that he “Wholeheartedly supports what the Vice President said.”
14th May 1998:
President Try’s final meeting in Egypt was with none other than President Hosni Mubarak. In between pledging closer ties between each other’s nations, the two bonded over the fact that they were vice presidents who succeeded to their present office because of their predecessor’s deaths.
After the meeting with Mubarak, the President would spend one final night in Cairo and fly first thing in the morning. While going through paperwork, Edi Sudrajat reported that the Minister of Defense and Security, the Commander of ABRI, the Army Chief of Staff, and the Commander of Kopassus would like an urgent meeting with the President. Try said that he will see them just as soon as he lands in Jakarta.
Having conveyed the request, Edi also advised that Try probably would like Harsudiono and Ari Sudewo to attend the meeting as well. Try agreed with the advice.
15th May 1998:
Wiranto rubbed at the goosebumps in his arm. Nearly 6 months prior, he had been in Halim Perdanakusuma Airport’s VIP Room in a similar meeting like he was attending now. It had been at that room and that meeting that Soeharto had slumped over in his chair and died without anyone being able to do anything about it.
The President was listening intently to Commander of Kopassus Luhut Panjaitan deliver the report.
Luhut recounted that he conducted unannounced visits to Kopassus units to get himself familiar with the red beret unit. On one of these visits, he was just about to leave when his entourage claimed hearing noises from a storage room. Luhut followed the noise despite the protests of the Kopassus soldiers and found a man all tied up and gagged. Luhut took the man into his custody. When he had recovered enough the man deliriously said “There are others!”
Luhut said that he kept the number of those involved in his internal investigation small. But overall he said that he had found 8 people in Kopassus custody with a further 8 are still missing. After cross-checking with Kopassus intelligence and with BAKIN assistance the following may be inferred:
*All 18 have been identified as activists in the NGO community and/or sympathizers of PPP and/or PDI.
*The first series of abductions were made in April-May 1997 during the 1997 Legislative Election campaigns and on the day of the election itself. The dates of the abduction are determined by determining the date of the last known sighting of the disappeared persons through intelligence.
*Most of the abductions were made in the January-March 1998 time period. All 8 of the surviving abductees were abducted as early as 2nd February 1998 and as late as 13th March 1998.
“In your discussions with the surviving abductees, did they gather any information at all about why they were taken into Kopassus custody?” asked Try looking very pale.
“The abductees overheard conversations about their abduction being about ensuring that the 1998 MPR Session was secure, Mr. President”, Luhut replied.
Try facepalmed. There was absolutely no inkling that such operations were going on as he was preparing for re-election.
“Well, now that we know the facts and now that I know the facts, we need to do something about these people”, Try said “I want you to release the 8 you have in your custody . Me knowing all this mean I don't have plausibility anymore.”
Edi glanced sideways at Harsudiono and Ari Sudewo.
“Yes Sir”, said Luhut.
“That leaves the 8 still missing”, said the President.
There was quiet in the room.
“Commander of ABRI and Army Chief of Staff” Try began “I order you to make the investigation of this missing 8 a Military Police operation. Second these Military Police offiers to Luhut. Let Luhut guide them around the Kopassus to investigate in a way that doesn’t attract unwanted attention.”
“Yes Sir!”, said Wiranto and Agum Gumelar jointly.
“The next order of business is who gave the orders for the abduction”, said Try.
“Logically speaking, Mr. President, that order would be from my predecessor as Commander of Kopassus”, said Luhut.
“Have you revoked the order?” asked Try.
“Begging your pardon, Mr. President”, Luhut said “But there are no orders to revoke. I checked Kopassus’ internal files and there were no written orders of that nature”
“Perhaps direct orders from a higher level?” ventured Harsudiono Hartas.
“Then you would have to check the archives of the Army Headquarters and ABRI Headquarters, Mr. President”, responded Edi Sudrajat.
“Permission to speak, Sir”, interjected Wiranto.
“Granted”, replied Try.
“The Army Chief of Staff, and myself have checked the files available to us, there were no orders, at least written ones, made by us or our predecessors regarding this matter”, explained Wiranto.
“Actually, Mr. President”, said Wismoyo Arismunandar “There is reason to believe that there were orders but that there were not written.”
“No speculations”, said the President sternly before turning to Wiranto and Agum Gumelar “We need to be sure. Have Feisal Tanjung and Hartono interviewed about their dealings with the Kopassus. I also need the State Secretariat to check its own archives as well in the event that I missed something coming across my desk.
“I’ll give all of you two weeks, but if you can get it earlier to me, even better”, said Try again before closing the meeting.
The officers and Wismoyo were then dismissed leaving Try to chat with his inner circle.
“How the hell did we miss this?” asked Try to Ari Sudewo.
“From my end, I can only say that this was an operation designed to be as top secret as top secret can be”, said Ari “The most I got was chatter about missing activists, their relatives looking for them, and these relatives being suspicious of the authorities.”
“Was this not actionable intelligence though?” asked Try.
“If there was some sort of operation, I would know, Mr. President, either from you then from other sources”, said Ari “In the absence of that, the plausible explanation left was that these activists were going underground and disappearing on purpose to avoid being arrested by authorities.”
Looking more haggard than usual, the President then attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new junior high school building at Bekasi. The new building will be constructed as part of the stimulus package.
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro thanked Try for the funding that was given, saying that it was difficult to get funding in the previous term.
17th May 1998:
BJ Habibie pays his respects to Soeharto at the latter’s tomb at Astana Giribangun. After that he departed for Semarang where he dined with Commander of the Central Java Military Command Prabowo Subianto.
After pleasantries, Prabowo commented that Habibie missed out on being president “but not by much”. Habibie admits that it was a painful defeat. Prabowo commented that Hartono had the right idea of wanting to bring over Tutut supporters to Habibie. But Tutut herself wavered and there were Tutut supporters who ended up voting for Try.
“Tell me, Mr. Habibie”, Prabowo began “Do you ever regret…
“I’ve been over this myself a hundred, a thousand times, Prabowo and I’ve concluded that it’s something I have to live with”, said Habibie before diverting the conversation to other issues.
Harmoko dined with the executives of Golkar’s East Java Provincial Branch. Harmoko said that Golkar has become strong in the last 5 years and mentions that it won 74% of the votes at the last election. At the same time, Harmoko argued, Golkar must chart a course for the future to be even stronger again.
18th May 1998:
Harmoko presides over the swearing in of Hartono of Golkar and Matori Abdul Djalil of PPP as DPR members; both members taking over the seats of Albert Hasibuan and Khofifah Indar Parawansa who became cabinet ministers.
At the Department of Transport, Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirdja gave a direct briefing to the first batch of “Seatbelt Inspectors”. Soerjadi Soedirdja said that the aim of this recruitment is to support the government make compulsory the wearing of seat belts. It is the seatbelt inspectors’ task to identify which vehicles do not have seat belts or, if the vehicles do have seat belts, if they are road worthy or not.
Edi Sudrajat reports to Try that after checking the State Secretariat’s files there were no orders made by Soeharto to Prabowo on the issue of “Securing” activists to safeguard the 1998 MPR Session; at least not written ones.
19th May 1998:
Early in the morning and before the hustle and bustle of Jakarta city life, Kopassus-owned vehicles drop off the 8 activist abductees in East Jakarta. Over bubur ayam (Chicken Porridge) they discussed their next step.
All agreed that what happened to them and the others still as yet to be found ought to be recorded for posterity. All agreed that the man to help them in that task would be human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
The debate occurred about their intention to go public with the story. Pius Lustrilanang who prior to Soeharto’s death had welcomed the idea of alternative presidential candidates challenging Soeharto welcomed the idea of going public to the story as early as possible. He wants to start “throwing stones” at Try Sutrisno’s government because “Try is just an extension of Soeharto”.
“Try Sutrisno is part of the New Order, he’s even got his share of blood on his hands as well”, Nezar Patria countered “But he’s just let us go. I don’t think we would be seeing that sunrise behind us if it had been Soeharto still sitting in that chair. And if Luhut’s anything to go by, he’s conducting an investigation into what we went through. Maybe we should give him a chance first.”
A consensus was reached that they will eventually go public with an account of their abductions but that they will give the government a month to at the very least announce their preliminary findings.
--------
OTL the G15 Summit in Egypt was why Soeharto was out of the country during the 1998 May Riots.
Regarding the kidnappings of activists, I used the data from this Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997–98_activists_kidnappings_in_Indonesia
OTL there are 22 activists kidnapped but I modified the number to suit this TL.
The 9 activists released OTL becomes 8 because one activist was kidnapped on 28th March 1998 which is impossible in this timeline because Luhut was Commander of Kopassus.
The 13 activists still missing in OTL becomes 8. Because 1 activist was kidnapped on 30th March 1998 and another 4 in May 1998 which is again impossible in this TL because Luhut was already Commander of Kopassus during those two occasions.
9th-13th May 1998:
With his delegation, President Try Sutrisno touched down in Egypt on the night of the 9th. The 10th was spent in informal talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India.
The G15 Summit was opened on 11th May 1998 with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt as the Chairman of the Summit. When given the chance to address the summit in its opening session, Try said that the first priority in economic recovery should be the national interest. Once the national interest is determined, everything follows on naturally.
In between sessions, State Secretary Edi Sudrajat and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas could only smile when they saw various leaders come up to Try to congratulate him and talk about how to manage an economic recovery. Try would play it down and say that “We’re not out of the woods yet” but couldn’t hide his smile. Even Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad of Malaysia said that Try was doing a great job even as he warned Try to be careful of the IMF.
The summit concluded on 13th May, with a joint communiqué between all the G15 Nations encouraging closer trade and investment between the member nations of the G15 and the Non-Aligned Movement more broadly.
Back in Indonesia, a trio of Minister of Defense and Security Wismoyo Arismunandar, Commander of ABRI Wiranto, and Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo kept abreast on the national situation. Try had gone overseas as president before, but that was when everyone thought he would not last long. This time precautiosn were taken. Maj. Gen. Sugiarto Maksum, the former Try aide-de-camp turned Commander of West Java Regional Military Command stationed his troops close to the West Java-Central Java borders to watch if the Central Java Regional Military Command will try anything suspicious.
Perhaps to insist that the work the government continues even when he is overseas, Try gave Vice President Sumarlin some homework to do.
On 12th May just as the President got himself deep into the G15 Summit, Vice President Sumarlin accompanied by Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad, Governor of Bank Indonesia Boediono, and Head of IBRA Bambang Subianto fronted the press. The three announced that the government will be taking a set of measures related to the banking sector.
The first measure will be amendments to the Banking Law which are as follows.
*All banks will now be subject to the Limited Liability Law of 1995. Ie. They are now subject to corporate governance requirements (having a Board of Director, having to hold Annual General Shareholders Meeting etc.)
*Measures providing government takeover of banks which are in trouble and the authority of the government during its takeover of said banks.
*Punitive measures for bank management and owners who “willfully provide inaccurate information” to the government were also included in these amendments.
Boediono said that the government has no intention to take over banks. There has been no need to liquidate additional banks in addition to the 16 liquidated last November. This is in no small part to the government’s ability to halt the Rupiah’s decline.
The second measure will be external audits conducted on state and private banks.
The government will be inviting Price Waterhouse Coopers to conduct external audits on the nation’s state and private banks. The government will use the audits to ensure compliance to existing banking regulations particularly with regards to legal lending limits and the amount of loans given to affiliates and take the necessary action accordingly.
The third measure is in relation to the Bank of Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI).
The BLBI was rolled out in September 1997 under the instructions of President Soeharto. Up to that point the liquidity assistance which has been given has totaled nearly Rp. 70 trillion. The government will begin taking repayments for the BLBI starting 1st September 1998.
Sumarlin announced that the Banking Law amendments has been submitted to the DPR and that the external auditing will begin with state banks in June. For the rest of the banking sector, Sumarlin said that they shold use this time to “get their affairs in order.”
In between his sessions at Egypt, when asked by the Indonesian press about Sumarlin’s policy announcement, Try said that he “Wholeheartedly supports what the Vice President said.”
14th May 1998:
President Try’s final meeting in Egypt was with none other than President Hosni Mubarak. In between pledging closer ties between each other’s nations, the two bonded over the fact that they were vice presidents who succeeded to their present office because of their predecessor’s deaths.
After the meeting with Mubarak, the President would spend one final night in Cairo and fly first thing in the morning. While going through paperwork, Edi Sudrajat reported that the Minister of Defense and Security, the Commander of ABRI, the Army Chief of Staff, and the Commander of Kopassus would like an urgent meeting with the President. Try said that he will see them just as soon as he lands in Jakarta.
Having conveyed the request, Edi also advised that Try probably would like Harsudiono and Ari Sudewo to attend the meeting as well. Try agreed with the advice.
15th May 1998:
Wiranto rubbed at the goosebumps in his arm. Nearly 6 months prior, he had been in Halim Perdanakusuma Airport’s VIP Room in a similar meeting like he was attending now. It had been at that room and that meeting that Soeharto had slumped over in his chair and died without anyone being able to do anything about it.
The President was listening intently to Commander of Kopassus Luhut Panjaitan deliver the report.
Luhut recounted that he conducted unannounced visits to Kopassus units to get himself familiar with the red beret unit. On one of these visits, he was just about to leave when his entourage claimed hearing noises from a storage room. Luhut followed the noise despite the protests of the Kopassus soldiers and found a man all tied up and gagged. Luhut took the man into his custody. When he had recovered enough the man deliriously said “There are others!”
Luhut said that he kept the number of those involved in his internal investigation small. But overall he said that he had found 8 people in Kopassus custody with a further 8 are still missing. After cross-checking with Kopassus intelligence and with BAKIN assistance the following may be inferred:
*All 18 have been identified as activists in the NGO community and/or sympathizers of PPP and/or PDI.
*The first series of abductions were made in April-May 1997 during the 1997 Legislative Election campaigns and on the day of the election itself. The dates of the abduction are determined by determining the date of the last known sighting of the disappeared persons through intelligence.
*Most of the abductions were made in the January-March 1998 time period. All 8 of the surviving abductees were abducted as early as 2nd February 1998 and as late as 13th March 1998.
“In your discussions with the surviving abductees, did they gather any information at all about why they were taken into Kopassus custody?” asked Try looking very pale.
“The abductees overheard conversations about their abduction being about ensuring that the 1998 MPR Session was secure, Mr. President”, Luhut replied.
Try facepalmed. There was absolutely no inkling that such operations were going on as he was preparing for re-election.
“Well, now that we know the facts and now that I know the facts, we need to do something about these people”, Try said “I want you to release the 8 you have in your custody . Me knowing all this mean I don't have plausibility anymore.”
Edi glanced sideways at Harsudiono and Ari Sudewo.
“Yes Sir”, said Luhut.
“That leaves the 8 still missing”, said the President.
There was quiet in the room.
“Commander of ABRI and Army Chief of Staff” Try began “I order you to make the investigation of this missing 8 a Military Police operation. Second these Military Police offiers to Luhut. Let Luhut guide them around the Kopassus to investigate in a way that doesn’t attract unwanted attention.”
“Yes Sir!”, said Wiranto and Agum Gumelar jointly.
“The next order of business is who gave the orders for the abduction”, said Try.
“Logically speaking, Mr. President, that order would be from my predecessor as Commander of Kopassus”, said Luhut.
“Have you revoked the order?” asked Try.
“Begging your pardon, Mr. President”, Luhut said “But there are no orders to revoke. I checked Kopassus’ internal files and there were no written orders of that nature”
“Perhaps direct orders from a higher level?” ventured Harsudiono Hartas.
“Then you would have to check the archives of the Army Headquarters and ABRI Headquarters, Mr. President”, responded Edi Sudrajat.
“Permission to speak, Sir”, interjected Wiranto.
“Granted”, replied Try.
“The Army Chief of Staff, and myself have checked the files available to us, there were no orders, at least written ones, made by us or our predecessors regarding this matter”, explained Wiranto.
“Actually, Mr. President”, said Wismoyo Arismunandar “There is reason to believe that there were orders but that there were not written.”
“No speculations”, said the President sternly before turning to Wiranto and Agum Gumelar “We need to be sure. Have Feisal Tanjung and Hartono interviewed about their dealings with the Kopassus. I also need the State Secretariat to check its own archives as well in the event that I missed something coming across my desk.
“I’ll give all of you two weeks, but if you can get it earlier to me, even better”, said Try again before closing the meeting.
The officers and Wismoyo were then dismissed leaving Try to chat with his inner circle.
“How the hell did we miss this?” asked Try to Ari Sudewo.
“From my end, I can only say that this was an operation designed to be as top secret as top secret can be”, said Ari “The most I got was chatter about missing activists, their relatives looking for them, and these relatives being suspicious of the authorities.”
“Was this not actionable intelligence though?” asked Try.
“If there was some sort of operation, I would know, Mr. President, either from you then from other sources”, said Ari “In the absence of that, the plausible explanation left was that these activists were going underground and disappearing on purpose to avoid being arrested by authorities.”
Looking more haggard than usual, the President then attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new junior high school building at Bekasi. The new building will be constructed as part of the stimulus package.
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro thanked Try for the funding that was given, saying that it was difficult to get funding in the previous term.
17th May 1998:
BJ Habibie pays his respects to Soeharto at the latter’s tomb at Astana Giribangun. After that he departed for Semarang where he dined with Commander of the Central Java Military Command Prabowo Subianto.
After pleasantries, Prabowo commented that Habibie missed out on being president “but not by much”. Habibie admits that it was a painful defeat. Prabowo commented that Hartono had the right idea of wanting to bring over Tutut supporters to Habibie. But Tutut herself wavered and there were Tutut supporters who ended up voting for Try.
“Tell me, Mr. Habibie”, Prabowo began “Do you ever regret…
“I’ve been over this myself a hundred, a thousand times, Prabowo and I’ve concluded that it’s something I have to live with”, said Habibie before diverting the conversation to other issues.
Harmoko dined with the executives of Golkar’s East Java Provincial Branch. Harmoko said that Golkar has become strong in the last 5 years and mentions that it won 74% of the votes at the last election. At the same time, Harmoko argued, Golkar must chart a course for the future to be even stronger again.
18th May 1998:
Harmoko presides over the swearing in of Hartono of Golkar and Matori Abdul Djalil of PPP as DPR members; both members taking over the seats of Albert Hasibuan and Khofifah Indar Parawansa who became cabinet ministers.
At the Department of Transport, Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirdja gave a direct briefing to the first batch of “Seatbelt Inspectors”. Soerjadi Soedirdja said that the aim of this recruitment is to support the government make compulsory the wearing of seat belts. It is the seatbelt inspectors’ task to identify which vehicles do not have seat belts or, if the vehicles do have seat belts, if they are road worthy or not.
Edi Sudrajat reports to Try that after checking the State Secretariat’s files there were no orders made by Soeharto to Prabowo on the issue of “Securing” activists to safeguard the 1998 MPR Session; at least not written ones.
19th May 1998:
Early in the morning and before the hustle and bustle of Jakarta city life, Kopassus-owned vehicles drop off the 8 activist abductees in East Jakarta. Over bubur ayam (Chicken Porridge) they discussed their next step.
All agreed that what happened to them and the others still as yet to be found ought to be recorded for posterity. All agreed that the man to help them in that task would be human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.
The debate occurred about their intention to go public with the story. Pius Lustrilanang who prior to Soeharto’s death had welcomed the idea of alternative presidential candidates challenging Soeharto welcomed the idea of going public to the story as early as possible. He wants to start “throwing stones” at Try Sutrisno’s government because “Try is just an extension of Soeharto”.
“Try Sutrisno is part of the New Order, he’s even got his share of blood on his hands as well”, Nezar Patria countered “But he’s just let us go. I don’t think we would be seeing that sunrise behind us if it had been Soeharto still sitting in that chair. And if Luhut’s anything to go by, he’s conducting an investigation into what we went through. Maybe we should give him a chance first.”
A consensus was reached that they will eventually go public with an account of their abductions but that they will give the government a month to at the very least announce their preliminary findings.
--------
OTL the G15 Summit in Egypt was why Soeharto was out of the country during the 1998 May Riots.
Regarding the kidnappings of activists, I used the data from this Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997–98_activists_kidnappings_in_Indonesia
OTL there are 22 activists kidnapped but I modified the number to suit this TL.
The 9 activists released OTL becomes 8 because one activist was kidnapped on 28th March 1998 which is impossible in this timeline because Luhut was Commander of Kopassus.
The 13 activists still missing in OTL becomes 8. Because 1 activist was kidnapped on 30th March 1998 and another 4 in May 1998 which is again impossible in this TL because Luhut was already Commander of Kopassus during those two occasions.
