Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi was not well-known to the public

 

 

EVERY JAVANESE PEOPLE WERE BORN TO BE GREEDY AND CORRUPTED GENERATION FROM GENERATION TO THE NEXT GENERATION.JAVANESE PEOPLE MANAGED TO BRAIN WASHED ALL BATAK OR ANY ONE WHO LOVES MONEY AND POWER IN INDONESIA….There had been speculation that Koesmayadi was involved in the arms trade.

The military is one of Indonesia’s most corrupt institutions and its
weapons and equipment procurement division is seen as its most
graft-ridden.

Soldiers have been accused of supplying weapons to criminals,
separatist rebels in outlying regions, and to Christian and Islamic
militia in the Maluku islands, which was wracked by religious violence
in 2000.

here some news for you guys,

– Why the Guns?

– The General’s Secret Weapons

– The Tale of an AWOL General

– Death on Raffles Hills

——————————-

Tempo Magazine No. 44/VI July 04-10, 2006

Cover Story

Why the Guns?

The discovery of weapons and ammunition at the home of the late Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi arouses suspicion. The booty was enough to arm two companies of soldiers.

HUNDREDS of soldiers filed into a home in Puri Marina, North Jakarta, on Monday night of last week. Arriving in cars, trucks, and buses, they immediately went into action. Some stood guard in the yard, while others went in and out of the house. They busily loaded up a truck, which then drove off. These troops finally headed home at 4am early Tuesday morning.

At first, neighbors did not suspect anything out of the ordinary, since the home belonged to a high-ranking military officer, Brigadier-General Koesmayadi, Army Deputy Chief Assistant of Logistics. The general had passed away on Sunday of last week, and was buried the following day, just a few moments before soldiers arrived at his home.

However, on Friday of last week, Koesmayadi’s neighbors were in for a shock. “We heard on the radio that hundreds of weapons were found in the home. Of course we were surprised,” said one neighbor. The public was no less shocked by the discovery. “This incident is truly unnerving,” said Muhaimin Iskandar, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR).

The number of weapons collected at the general’s house is truly astonishing: 96 rifles, seven ungrooved rifles, and 42 short-barreled rifles. In all, the 145 weapons were of varying makes: SS-1, MP-5, M-16, and AK. These are types used by the military for warfare. Also found at the home were 28,985 bullets, eight grenades, and 28 pairs of binoculars.

Then a chilling rumor started. These weapons were to be used, the rumor went, for taking up arms against the government. This disturbing news started circulating on Thursday of last week, concurrent with the plan of Army Chief of Staff (KSAD) General Djoko Santoso to hold a press conference.

The press conference was held at night at Army Headquarters in Jakarta. In addition to speaking about the discovery of the weapons, Djoko Santoso said that the stockpile of guns and ammunition at Koesmayadi’s home was clearly “inappropriate.” It was an understatement.

Suspicions abounded. On Friday of last week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a hastily-convened meeting. In attendance were, among others, Commander in Chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto, the Army Chief, head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Major-General (ret) Syamsir Siregar, and a number of high-ranking military officials.

A joint team was formed, consisting of members of the TNI Military Police Center (Puspom) and the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS). This team is currently gathering evidence on the origin of the weapons and the reasons for stockpiling them. “We are waiting for the results of their investigation,” said Djoko Santoso.

| | |

BORN on October 5, 1953, Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi was not well-known to the public, yet he was famous in military circles. This 1975 graduate from the Military Academy was known as a general who was skilled in the rapid mobilization of forces, as well as being a hard worker.

Koesmayadi was in the same graduating class as Army Chief of Staff General Djoko Santoso. For the past four years, he dealt with the procurement of military equipment for the army. In this position, the duty of this one-star general was to search for guns and ammunition for the army.

After the discovery of the weapons and ammunition in his home, people say that this case is a reflection of the disarray regarding procurement in the TNI. “This case just might be the tip of the iceberg regarding military problems in Indonesia,” said military observer Edi Prasetyono, in a discussion held in Jakarta on Saturday last week.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono tended to agree, saying, “We have known for the past several years that many are working independently in each unit of the TNI.” This unofficial network involved in the purchase of weapons started before the US weapons embargo against Indonesia was lifted. Now, said Juwono, the purchase of military equipment is done only through the Defense Department. “What we want to secure is the unofficial channel and network which has been growing in each branch of the TNI and in each unit,” said Juwono.

Whether or not the cache of weapons in Koesmayadi’s home was intended for the black market is not clear. Regarding the discovery, Juwono could only stress that, “This is a development which began several years ago which we were unable to root out from the policy and administrative sides.”

A Tempo source in the TNI corroborated Juwono’s statement about the lack of administrative order regarding the procurement of military equipment. Long before the discovery of armaments in the home of Koesmayadi, said the source, high-ranking army officials also noted that some weapons did not have the full administrative documentation.

The source cited the procurement of 95 weapons in June 2002 as an example. The procurement of these weapons of varying types was done by cooperating with a private company, an army contractor. The purchase cost was US$209,200, which was taken from non-budgetary funds.

These weapons should have been stored in an army warehouse on December 14, 2002 at the latest. For some reason, the weapons were shipped on June 7, 2005. In addition to being late, the weapons were completely without any administrative paperwork.

On February 14, 2006, Brigadier-General Heru Gunaedi, the army’s equipment director, sent a letter to the Army Chief through the Assistant for Logistics. In the letter, Gunaedi explained that the weapons in storage were completely without documents.

On account of the lack of documentation, the equipment section stored the weapons in a warehouse while waiting for the paperwork to be taken care of. “We hope that you are willing to send the administrative documents for these weapons to the Equipment Director,” read the letter to the general. Also in this letter, Gunaedi made a detailed breakdown of the types of weapons which had been received.

The Army Chief then ordered the Oversight and Internal Affairs Team to inspect the weapons. The outcome was the same, and the weapons remained undocumented. When asked about the existence of this letter from the Equipment Director, Brigadier-General Ricardo Siagian, head of the Army’s Office of Information, answered succinctly, “I have not heard of this letter.”

Were the weapons discovered in Koesmayadi’s residence also undocumented? This has not yet been answered, and the military team of investigators is still looking into the matter.

However, a Tempo source in the TNI said that the discovery of a number of weapons in the home of Koesmayadi, on Monday night of last week, was a part of an effort to put things in order. The source confirmed that the weapons had piled up there purely on account of this administrative problem. “It had nothing to do with insurrection or a coup,” he said.

It is indeed surprising that so many weapons came to be stored in Koesmayadi’s private home. Were there any ulterior motives for the stockpiling? A number of top brass were also astonished. “How on earth could those weapons end up there?” asked Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto. The storing of so many weapons at a private residence, he said, is clearly a breach of procedure.

It is precisely this breach which is causing people to speculate. Some have said that this was merely the general’s private collection. However, this does not make sense, as these were clearly assault weapons. Moreover, thousands of rounds of ammunition were also found.

Others suspect that business motivations were behind the stockpiling, given that these weapons are in high demand on the battlefield. Even more unsettling is the suspicion of an attack on the government. “It is not unthinkable that they were to be used for a coup d’etat, sold, or channeled to separatist movements,” said Yuddy Chrisnandi, a member of the House’s Defense Commission.

Suspicions of a coup are based on the high level of rivalry within the TNI, between those who support President Yudhoyono and those who oppose him. This rivalry has long been a subject of discussion. Fortunately this terrifying news was rejected by Djoko Santoso. He said, “I don’t want to make any presumptions in that direction.”

High-ranking military officers confirm that Koesmayadi did not act alone in stockpiling those weapons. This means that the late general had a team. “It is not possible that he administered the process on his own,” said Djoko Suyanto. He also doubted that the weapons were collected in a short period of time. He said, “It needs to be checked if the stockpiling took place in a year or over several decades.”

Unfortunately, the Koesmayadi family did not want to discuss the case. Tempo was at the family residence almost every day. The home in Raffles Hills, Cibubur, West Java, was heavily guarded by soldiers. “No interviews,” said one guard. Tempo also went to the home of his parents in the heart of the city of Binjai, North Sumatra. Near this home his family had opened a restaurant and cafe, which they named Mallioboro. A young woman named Nia, who claimed to be related to Koesmayadi, said, “The whole family has gone to Jakarta.”

In Puri Marina, Tempo was only able to meet a close friend. “At a time of mourning like this, the family is reluctant to meet with reporters,” said the friend, who wished to remain anonomyous. This relative said that Koesmayadi did indeed enjoy collecting weapons. However, he said that, “Those close to him were surprised to hear that he had stored so many.”

This source also acknowledged that a number of people close to Koesmayadi were being questioned by investigators. “If I am questioned, I will let you know,” said the source. The home in Puri Marina is no longer full of soldiers. Now there are only relatives who are still amazed at how Koesmayadi was able to collect so many weapons.

The answer to this question is not only being sought by relatives, but by the public as well. — Wenseslaus Manggut, Tito Sianipar, Badriah, and Bambang Soed (Binjai)

Sidebar-1: Armaments in Puri Marina

The home of Koesmayadi was like an armory. The Military Police discovered 96 rifles and 42 short-barreled rifles at Jalan Pangandaran V No. 15 Puri Marina, Ancol, North Jakarta. The weapons were of the SS-1, MP5, M-16, and AK-47 type. Also found were 28,985 rounds of ammunition, eight hand grenades, and 28 pairs of binoculars.

HK MP5
Type: Submachine gun
Heckler & Koch, Germany
Designers: Tilo M?ler, Manfred Guhring,
Georg Seidl, Helmut Baureuter
Introduced: 1966
Weight: 2.6 kg
Length: 680 mm
Caliber: 9 mm
Effective Range: 200 meters

Details: This weapon uses a compact carbine. It is only used by elite forces, such as Indonesia’s Kopassus. The factory receives orders for special variant designs, such as used for elite forces such as the US Navy Seals and the elite forces of France. Sales are very closely regulated. The request of the TNI to update their MP5s was even turned down about a decade ago.

AK-47
Type: Assault rifle
Mechanical Works, Russia
Designer: Mikhail Kalashnikov
Introduced: Cold War (1951)
Weight: 4.3 kg
Length: 870 mm
Caliber: 7.62 mm
Effective Range: 300 meters

Details: The first and most widely available assault rifle in the world. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and China freely shared the technical knowledge of the manufacture of the AK-47 to pro-Communist countries and rebel groups. At present, the number of countries manufacturing the AK-47 number in the teens, making it the assault rifle which is the easiest to obtain, whether from the official or black markets.

M-16 Rifle
Type: Assault rifle
United States
Introduced: 1960
Weight: 2.9 kg
Length: 1,006 mm
Caliber: 5.56 mm
Effective Range: 550 meters

Details: This weapon has been the mainstay of the United States military since 1967. This assault rifle replaced the M-1 carbine. It is used in 80 countries, and can only obtained by direct purchase from the US.

SS-1
Type: Assault rifle
PT Pindad, Indonesia
Introduced: 1991
Weight: 4.01 kg
Length: 997 mm
Caliber: 5.56 mm Effective Range: 450 meters

Details: This is the standard issue assault rifle of the TNI. This FN-based rifle technology, as made by FNC (Fabrique Nationale Carabine, Belgium), was modified for the tropical environment. This weapon uses an automatic carbine (shorter and less powerful than a full rifle), and meets NATO standards. It is relatively difficult to obtain on the market. — Agung Rulianto, Arif Kuswardono

Sidebar-2: Koesmayadi’s Exploits

2000

August 2, 2000 Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu is appointed Commander of Army Special Forces (Kostrad). Koesmayadi is appointed as the Assistant of Logistics to the Kostrad Commander.

2002

June 4, 2002 Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu is appointed Army Chief of Staff (KSAD), Koesmayadi joins him at Army Headquarters, filling the post of Officer for Logistical Support.

June 14, 2002 Koesmayadi, representing the Army Logistics Staff (Slogad), enters into a contract for the purchase of armaments and military equipment, working with a contractor. It is later discovered that this supplier was not a regular contractor to the Army’s Equipment Directorate, and this contract was suspected to have been only an administrative formality to authorize the purchase of the weapons. This purchase, which was based on the verbal orders of the KSAD, was for the ASEAN Armies Rifle shooting contest. The weapons purchased were: 20 M-16 A2s, 20 spare barrels for M-16 A2s, 15 GPMG MAG 58s, and 40 spare barrels for GPMG MAG 58s.

2003

July 25, 2003 Koesmayadi, representing the army, enters into a binding contract for the purchase of a Fokker 50 airplane with PT Abadi Sentosa Perkasa. The purchase, valued at Rp20 billion, is later canceled because the money issued for the purchase was suspected of being used for other purposes by Koesmayadi’s contractors.

2005

February 18, 2005 Lt. Gen. Djoko Santoso replaces Ryamizard as the KSAD. Djoko exposes several cases of financial mismanagement in the army, such as the embezzlement of Rp129 billion from the soldiers’ housing savings fund and the Fokker 50 transaction. The exposure of this case involved the name of Koesmayadi as the Deputy Assistant for Logistics.

June 7, 2005 Slogad delivered the weapons and related equipment which were “purchased” by Koesmayadi on June 14, 2002 to the Tactical Operations Central Armory of the Army Equipment Directorate. Head of the Central Armory, Heru Gunaedi, stored the weapons in Warehouse 1001 because the documentation was incomplete, and it was not clear when the weapons were received by Slogad.

2006

January 24, 2006 Heru Gunaedi reports to Army HQ about receiving the weapons from Slogad.

February 14, 2006 Heru Gunaedi sends a letter to the KSAD requesting the administrative documents for the weapons sent by Slogad.

March 24, 2006 An oversight and investigation team inspects Warehouse 1001 and finds that the weapons in question were delivered without the proper authorization. According to the Head of the Central Armory & 1st Cooperative of the Equipment Directorate, the full administrative documents would be sent later.

June 25, 2006 Koesmayadi dies at Meilia Cibubur Hospital at 12:50pm. The body is taken to the Gatot Soebroto Army Central Hospital, Jakarta.

June 26, 2006 The army’s Military Police discover over 100 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition at the home of Koesmayadi on Jalan Pangandaran V No. 15, Puri Marina, Ancol, North Jakarta. The exact number found is 145 weapons, among them 96 rifles, seven ungrooved rifles, and 42 short-barreled rifles.

June 29, 2006 Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Djoko Santoso announces the discovery of the weapons at the home of Koesmayadi. “The army feels that this is inappropriate and unusual,” says Djoko Santoso. — Agung Rulianto, Arif Kuswardono

———————————————-

Tempo Magazine No. 44/VI July 04-10, 2006

Opinion

The General’s Secret Weapons

SHOCKING news emerged last week. Some 103 rifles, 42 pistols, six grenades and almost 30,000 rounds of ammunition were found at the home of the late Gene?ral Koesmayadi. This arsenal, which is enough to equip two companies, was confiscated, and the Indonesian Military (TNI) high command ordered the Military Police to investigate. No less an individual than Army Chief of Staff General Djoko Santoso immediately held a press conference to announce the discovery at the home of the recently deceased Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi, an army deputy assistant for logistics. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono even felt it necessary to summon the TNI commander to discuss the matter.

This, after all, poses a serious pro?blem. Given the many armed conflicts in the country, both in the recent past, such as Aceh and Maluku, as well as the long-running violence in Poso and Papua, one unanswered question has been how criminal elements have been able to obtain standard military weaponry. For example, in the same week, police arrested a man selling an Uzi automatic weapon in North Jakarta. Before this, the police reported they had seized the same type of weapon from the Jamaah Islamiyah group.

It is to be hoped that the discovery at the home of Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi will shed some light on the origins of these illegal arms that are causing so much violence in this republic. Mari Alkatiri, it is worth reminding, was recently forced to resign as Timor Leste’s prime minister, when he was charged with secretly arming his party’s militias and importing thousands of weapons, including rifles and pistols manufactured by Indonesian company PT Pindad, without going through official channels. The former leader of our neighboring country is now a criminal suspect.

We have no choice but to take stern action against illegal arms traders, whoever they may be, to provide people a sense of security. This is a universal concern, as demonstrated by the fact that the problem is currently being discussed at the United Nations in New York, at a conference which brought together about 2,000 experts and officials from UN member countries.

The international community is concerned because small arms are thought to kill around a thousand people every day. The illegal trade in these lethal weapons may be behind 90 percent of fatalities in conflict areas. “Small arms create conflicts and they support the activities of organized crime groups and the trafficking of drugs and human beings,” said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the UN and chairman of the conference.

The huge profits reaped from the illegal arms trade tempt many law enforcement officials to become involved. Illegal transactions, which are thought to be worth around Rp10 trillion per year, have spread around the world and led to bloody conflicts that seem difficult to stop. This is the reason why many nations, since 2001, have toughened the sentences handed down to illicit arms traders in their respective jurisdictions.

In Indonesia, the penalty for posses?sion or supply of weapons is already severe: 20 years in jail. At least this is what is stipulated in Article 1 of Law No. 12/1951. Unfortunately, the enforcement of the law around the world has been ineffective, especially against those in power.

This weak law enforcement has led to an increase in the illegal trading of weapons in Indonesia. According to data from National Police Headquarters, around 12,000 illegal weapons, manufactured outside as well as in the country, have been seized. Assuming that the number of weapons in circulation is greater than police estimates, this is a worrying situation that must be dealt with immediately.

The TNI commander said that the late Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi could not have been acting alone in any illegal arms transactions. Therefore, there are others who must be investigated, arrested and severely punished. The case could be a shock therapy aimed at eradicating the illegal arms trade in Indonesia. There are many ways of finding out who is involved. One way is to determine how a one-star general was able to acquire a house in an exclusive area worth more than his entire earnings since he joined the military.

We hope that the group behind the Koesmayadi case-if there is one-can be exposed, tried and punished. In this way, we will have reached a turning point in our efforts to eradicate the illegal weapons trade and stop the bloody conflicts in various parts of the country. In the words of the late Munir, “we are tired of violence,” and we hope that peace will soon come to our beloved nation.

————————————————

Tempo Magazine No. 44/VI July 04-10, 2006

Cover Story

The Tale of an AWOL General

Koesmayadi was under army surveillance for his unusual hobby of gun collecting before he died two weeks ago.

GENERAL Djoko Santoso made a confession to his former classmates: that he used to go AWOL during his first year of military training and that he was almost discharged for what he did. Djoko told it all during an alumni reunion of the Indo?nesian Military Academy, Class of 1975, in Magelang, Central Java, late last year.

Djoko, now Army Chief of Staff, said he was not alone. Three other former cadets, Koesmayadi, Djaelani Sakur and Sjafriel Marasin, did the same thing. The three were among those present at the reunion. “Please, all three stand up,” Djoko called out. “Yes, Sir!” the three responded in unison as they stood up and saluted.

Pointing his finger at the three gene?rals, all of them now his subordinates, Djoko said: “Judging by their looks, one would see that these men love ngrembes (which, in the cadets’ language, means going out of the campus without permission).” Djoko stopped for a moment, then continued: “And of the four of us I was the only one who repented and rose to be Army Chief.” To which, everyone present, members of Alpajuli, an acronym for Alumni Perwira Akabri Tujuh Lima (Alumni of the Indonesian Military Academy, Class of 1975), broke into laughter.

On Thursday night last week, Djoko again mentioned his classmate Koesmayadi by name. Four days before, Koesmayadi died of a heart attack. This time Djoko was not speaking in humor. He was talking of a serious matter: the discovery of hundreds of rifles, rounds of ammunition, hand grenades and binoculars at one of Koesmayadi’s two houses.

Djoko said the large number of guns and ammunition kept by Koesmayadi was “beyond propriety.” He ordered the Military Police to investigate the discovery.

Despite sharing the same habit of going AWOL while in military training, Djoko and Koesmayadi went their sepa?rate ways in their military careers. Djoko, who was the second best graduate after Syaiful Rizal, now Commander of the Army Special Forces, rose rapidly to be Army Chief, with the potential to be chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Koesmayadi didn’t? do as well as Djoko. He was removed from a position at the Army Strategic Command (Kostrad) when Lt. Gen. Prabowo? Subianto was chief of the green berets in 1997. He was sent to Papua as chief of a mili?tary district command.? Koesma?yadi, who was born in Kebumen, Central Java, on October 5, 1953, returned to Kostrad when Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu was chief of the elite unit in 2000. He was appointed Kostrad assistant for logistics. Two years later Ryamizard was appointed Army Chief. Koesmayadi followed him into the Army Headquarters to become assistant for logistical support. In 2003, Koesmayadi was promoted to brigadier-general and appointed deputy assistant for logistics at the Army HQ.

In his new post, Koesmayadi dealt mostly with army suppliers. A Tempo source said that it was through Koesmayadi that most suppliers did business with the army. Few carried on transactions with Logistics Assistant Maj. Gen. Kiswantara Partadiredja, who was actually Koesmayadi’s superior.

A high-ranking army officer told Tempo that Koesmayadi exercised powers beyond the authority vested in his office. But Brig. Gen. Ricardo Siagian, head of the Army Information Office, denied the charge. “Gene?rally speaking, the army has a rule in which, however special an officer is, he should respect those with a higher rank,” said Siagian.

According to Siagian, Koesmayadi was a hard working officer respected by his subordinates. “That’s my evaluation as a junior to Pak Koesmayadi,” said Ricardo, a 1978 graduate of the Indonesian Military Academy.

Koesmayadi was Ryamizard’s right-hand man when Aceh was declared an emergency military zone. A Tempo source said Koesmayadi was instrumental in the rapid mobilization of troops and equipment in Aceh, despite slow disbursement of funds for the military ope?ra?tion.

Koesmayadi was also instrumental in the dispatch of troops to help victims of the tsunami which hit Aceh on December 26, 2004. Two weeks after the disaster, Koesmayadi mobilized thousands of troops and heavy equipment from East Java to southern Aceh. His arrival with his troops was welcomed by Ryamizard and Maj. Gen. Tri Tamtomo, chief of the East Java Brawijaya Military Command.

Koesmayadi’s closeness to Ryamizard was also clearly shown when he was involved in the negotiation for the purchase of a Fokker 50 aircraft in 2003. The Rp20 billion deal was canceled because the money, already disbursed for the purchase, was believed to have been used by Koesmayadi’s suppliers for other purposes. When Tempo reported the case in its April 17-23 edition and asked him abut the charge, Koesmayadi declined any comment.

As assistant for logistics, Koesmayadi was known to be an avid gun collector. Wherever he went, said a supplier close to him, Koesmayadi always carried two firearms: a rifle and a handgun. “Gun collection was his hobby,” said the supplier.

Fate again brought Koesmayadi and Djoko together in 2004 when the latter was appointed Deputy Army Chief of Staff. A year later when he took over from Ryamizard as Army Chief of Staff Djoko began reducing Koesmayadi’s role in logistics. “General Djoko put Koesmayadi back to his proper position as deputy assistant for logistics,” said a Tempo source.

Djoko also began cleaning up the army, ordering investigation into the misappropriation of Rp19 billion in army savings funds and the stalled purchase of the Fokker 50.

Meanwhile, a team of army investigators had for the past year begun a surveillance of Koesmayadi’s activities. A knowledgeable source recently showed Tempo documents detailing the process of investigation. But until Koesmayadi’s death two weeks ago, no results of the investigation had been made public. When asked for confirmation, Siagian said he knew nothing of the report. “I knew of it only now,” he said on Friday last week.

Literary figure Emha Ainun Nadjib, said he knew Koesmayadi as “a very generous and modest person.” Emha said that when at one time he commended Koesmayadi for a mobile phone in his hands and said: “Wah, apik rek! (Wow, beautiful, man),” the general gave the phone to him,

Emha, who joined the tahlilan religious service at Koesmayadi’s house that Friday night, said that he and Koesmayadi planned to build tuition-free schools in East and Central Java. But the plan fell through with Koesmayadi’s death.

Paying their respects at the hospital, at Koesmayadi’s house and at his fune?ral were colleagues Djoko, Ryamizard and Prabowo. Djoko bowed his head in prayer as he stood in front of his deceased AWOL classmate. Koesmayadi was buried at Pemakaman Taman Bahagia, a public cemetery at Pondok Aren, Cileduk in Banten. Until Friday last week, the red-and-white still flew at half-mast at the Army HQ.

— Budi Setyarso, Tito Sianipar, Badriah

————————————-

Tempo Magazine No. 44/VI July 04-10, 2006

Cover Story

Death on Raffles Hills

ITS sirens wailing, the ambulance arrived at the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in the Senen area of Central Jakarta on Sunday two weeks ago. The stiff body of Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi was carried into a room where it was to be bathed and prepared for burial. Koesmayadi’s daughter and eldest child Diana Nirmalasari tried to look in, but her father’s colleagues stopped her. “Let us in first. Family members please wait until we are sure everything is cleared,” a colleague told Nirmalasari.

Koesmayadi’s colleagues had every reason to do what they did. There was some speculation on the cause of Koesmayadi’s death. Not a few doubted that Koesmayadi, a man with many connections, died of heart attack. “Everything is yet to be proven. Pak Koes died peacefully like a man falling asleep,” said one colleague who didn’t conceal his relief.

Koesmayadi died at his house on Raffles Hills, a housing complex at Cibubur at noon on Sunday, June 25. Reportedly, he fell in his bathroom. “We saw bruising on his temple the size of a golf ball,” said a colleague who helped bathe him at the hospital in preparation for the funeral. The bruises didn’t ooze blood, raising speculation as to the real cause of Koesmayadi’s death. Did he fall after a heart attack or did he have a heart attack after a fall? Nobody is sure.

A business colleague said he saw blood dripping from Koesmayadi’s stomach. “Could be from a wound he had when he underwent an operation to extract fats from his body,” he said. But Tempo sources denied any such possibility.

Koesmayadi’s medical records show that the 53-year-old had a heart problem. Four years ago, the flamboyant general collapsed from a heart attack. “I helped carry him up before he was taken to the Pertamina Central Hospital,” recalled Emha Ainun Nadjib, who was at Koesmayadi’s house when Tempo met him during a tahlilan religious service on the seventh day of the general’s death.

Later Koesmayadi was flown to Singapore for heart surgery at Gleneagles Hospital. A catheter at the end of which a balloon was inflated was inserted into the coronary arteries of his heart. To prevent any future constriction of the arteries, a metal ring was placed around Koesmayadi’s vital arteries.

The heart attack might have been caused by Koesmayadi’s chain smoking. “He was an eccentric, saying smoking had an effect only on a person’s lungs, not on his heart,” said a colleague with a laugh.

The confusion over the cause of his death could have ended with a certificate of autopsy. But neither doctors at the Meilia Hospital in Cibubur that issued Koesmayadi’s death certificate nor doctors at the Army Central Hospital carried out an autopsy on the deceased. “Family members didn’t want it,” said a close friend. Without an autopsy, it was difficult to ascertain the cause of Koesmayadi’s death.

An army colleague who met him a week before his death said Koesmayadi didn’t show any signs of ill health. “On Friday he attended a meeting at the Army Headquarters, the next day he went to Bandung to see his daughter and returned to Jakarta the same night.” Koesmayadi died on the following Sunday.

Tempo, which tried to see the Koesmayadi family at his house inside the Raffles Hills residential complex got an unwelcoming reception. “Our duty here is only to guard this house, not to make any comments,” said a man dressed in a green T-shirt with a Kostrad logo. The mystery of Koesmayadi’s death continues.

— Wahyu Dhyatmika, Agung Rulianto, Tito Sianipar, Badriah

===================0000=========0000==============

Three Koesmayadi case-related foreigners to be questioned further

Cilodong, Bogor (ANTARA News) – Chief of the Army`s Military Police Maj Gen Hendardji Soepandji said that the three foreigners who may have a connection with the hundreds of fire arms in the illegal possession of deputy assistant to the Army Chief of Staff for logistic affairs, the late Brig Gen Koesmayadi, would be interrogated further.

Their identities, domiciles and home and cellular phone numbers are already known, so that there is no worry that they might leave the country, he said after attending the opening of a training for troops to be sent to Lebanon under the auspices of the UN Peacekeeping forces at the headquarters of the Army`s Strategic Reserves Command in Cilodong, Bogor, on Tuesday.

“We will question them on the basis of the results of the ongoing investigation,” Hendardji said.

“The three foreigners were still cooperative during the questioning and said they were ready for further interrogation if needed,” Hendardji said.

“The most important thing is that we will work according to a time schedule. Based on the results of the investigation, the suspects having a connection with Koesmayadi`s arms cache will be continously processed,” he said.

Two of the three foreigners allegedly involved in the case were identified as Italians, while the other one was a South African.

The investigation aimed at finding all the parties involved in the arms storage and determining what legal action would be taken against them.

Koesmayadi died of a heart attack at his home in Cibubur, East Jakarta, June 25.

Under the army`s standard procedures, the military police on the same day searched a second home of the late deceased in Ancol, North Jakarta, to identify and recover the army`s property and in the process they found the arms cache.

In all the arms stash comprised 145 fire arms including 96 rifles, 42 pistols, nine hand grenades and 985 rounds of ammunition. Also found were 28 pairs of binoculars.

The rifles consisted of SS-1, MP5, M16 and AK fire arms in standard use by the Army. (