II. Kopassus: A History of Abuse

Komando Pasukan Khusus, or Kopassus, was formed in 1952 to fight armed insurgencies in Java,[1] and has participated in many of the country’s high-profile military campaigns, from “Confrontation” with Malaysia in the early 1960s to armed conflict and covert operations in East Timor and Aceh.  There are now approximately 6,000 Kopassus soldiers. They are divided into five groups.

Group 1 and 2 are Para Commando, meaning they are trained to work in extreme conditions behind enemy lines. They are specialists in airborne operations and trained to drop by parachute. Group 3 is Sandi Yudha, especially trained and mobilized to conduct covert operations, gathering intelligence and “conditioning” or spearheading low-intensity conflict.[2] These three groups have between 1,200 and 1,500 soldiers each. Kopassus has a training facility in Batujajar, West Java. It also has the 81st Anti-Terror Unit, with two battalions, headquartered in Cijantung, Jakarta.

Kopassus is currently headed by Maj.- Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, brother-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the son of the late Lt.-Gen. Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, who commanded the special  forces in the 1960s[3].  Major-General Pramono officially reports to the chief of staff of the Indonesian army, Gen. Agustadi Sasongko.

Kopassus has a long record of human rights violations in its operations across Indonesia, particularly during the 1970s in East Timor, Aceh, Papua, and Jakarta. In 1974-75, Kopassus infiltrated then Portuguese Timor (now East Timor), allegedly involved in the killing of five international journalists in the border town of Balibo in October 1975. The sixth, Roger East, went to East Timor to investigate the murder and was shot to death in Dili, allegedly on the orders of a former Kopassus commander, in December 1975.[4]

In 1998, a military court found 11 Kopassus officers guilty in the kidnapping and torturing of student activists in Java. Kopassus Maj. Bambang Kristiono admitted that he and his men abducted the activists, though he denied killing them (seven of 22 remain missing to this day). He and his immediate superiors—Col. Chairawan, Maj.- Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono, and Lt.-Gen. Prabowo Subianto—were dismissed from their posts in Kopassus as a result, but they were never tried. Muchdi later became a deputy director of Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency (BIN). In December 2008, in a controversial decision, the South Jakarta court acquitted Muchdi of manslaughter for the 2004 murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Thalib. Prabowo is now a candidate for vice-president of Indonesia.

Kopassus has a long history in Papua, stemming back to when Papua was still under Dutch rule.[5] In 1962, Kopassus was involved in a covert operation to infiltrate Merauke, which was then under Dutch authority. Capt. Benny Moerdani led a unit that parachuted behind enemy lines into a swamp near Merauke to attack the Dutch military.[6]  

After the Dutch withdrew later that year, Kopassus continued to be involved in the often bloody campaign of intimidation that ensued, culminating in the UN-sponsored “Act of Free Choice” in 1969, in which just 1,054 Papuans, hand-picked by Jakarta, voted unanimously to join Indonesia, an event viewed by many Papuans today as a fraudulent basis for Indonesian annexation of the territory. Estimates of the number of Papuans killed during the period are unknown because United Nations officials faced tight restrictions inside Papua from Indonesian commander Maj.-Gen. Sarwo Edhie Wibowo,[7]

Impunity remains a huge problem for the Indonesian military across the country and continues to mar the reputation of Kopassus in Papua. While Papuans allege widespread violations by Kopassus in remote locations, even prominent Papuans in the capital, Jayapura, have been targeted. In a notable case that many Papuans still cite, Kopassus soldiers arrested and tortured anthropologist-cum-musician Arnold Ap of Cenderawasih University in Jayapura in November 1983.[8] On April 25, 1984, after his escape from a Jayapura police station, he was killed by a gunshot to his stomach.

In November 2001, Kopassus soldiers kidnapped and killed Papuan separatist leader Theys Eluay in Jayapura. Eluay had attended a Kopassus celebration on the eve of his death. Initially, Kopassus denied involvement in the murder. But international outrage prompted the Indonesian police to investigate. In 2003, a court in Surabaya found seven Kopassus soldiers and low-level officers, including Lieutenant – Colonel Hartomo, guilty of mistreatment and battery leading to Eluay’s death, but crucially not of murder. Sentences served by the seven ranged from two to three-and-a-half years. The controversial murder also prompted then President Megawati Sukarnoputri to order Kopassus to leave Papua that year, but the army chief of staff, Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu, hailed the convicted men as “Indonesian heroes” for the killing of a “rebel.” No further investigations have been undertaken into who ordered the killing and no senior officer has been held accountable.

In another case, on October 17, 2007, a Kopassus soldier working undercover as a driver to a local Papuan government official beat Charles Tafor, the district head of Arso in Keerom, Papua, over a traffic incident.[9] The beating prompted Arso residents to demand the withdrawal of Kopassus from Keerom. Lt.-Col. Isak Pangemanan, the Kopassus commander in Jayapura, apologized publicly. However, there has been no public disclosure of any punishment or action taken against the Kopassus soldier responsible for the beating.